A Brief History of our Club

Initially there were two figure skating clubs in Petawawa – the CFB Petawawa Figure Skating Club and the Petawawa Civic Centre Figure Skating Club.  In 1982 they were amalgamated into a single club, the Petawawa Skating Club.  With the amalgamation, CFB Petawawa, the Village of Petawawa and the Township of Petawawa entered into an agreement on how ice would be allocated and shared between the two local arenas for minor hockey and figure skating (referred to as the Greater Petawawa Minor Hockey and Figure Skating Associations). This “Memorandum of Agreement” was amended 5 years later in 1987, and reads in part: “The Base and the Village/Township will each provide equal usable indoor ice time according to the needs of the ‘Greater Petawawa Figure Skating Association”.  This agreement ensures the children of our community have access to reasonably low cost organized skating activities. 

Our Club has hosted many skating competitions and events over the years:  the Valley Interclub Competition in 1984; the 1989 Eastern Ontario Section Interclub Championships; the Valley Interclub Competition in 1991; a 4-day National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) for Level 1 Technical Figure Skating in 1992, which even had international skaters in attendance (a first for this Region).  In 1992/93, our Club ran the Skate Canada KidSkate pilot program -- one of only four clubs in Canada selected to test this new program.  In 1995 our Club hosted the first Primary Competitive Judges Clinic in this Region.  In 1998 our Club hosted the Valley Interclub Competition.  In 2002 we hosted the Skate Canada Winter Invitational Skating Championships.  In 2005 our Club again hosted the Valley Interclub Competition (now called Region 6 Interclub).  Interclub will be hosted by the Pembroke Skating Club in 2011, and by the Petawawa Skating Club again in 2012.

Many of our skaters have reached high levels of achievement, including Gold test levels, and a few have gone on to skate competitively internationally as well as professionally.  Several of our current members are Skate Canada Officials.  Past and present Club members have served on the Skate Canada Eastern Ontario Board of Directors.  Our Club has a tremendous reputation throughout our Region and Eastern Ontario – our skaters have competed at many prestigious events including Skate Canada Sectionals, Divisionals, Canadians and even international events.

Our Club in Relation to Skate Canada

Skate Canada (and its predecessor) has been in existence since 1887.  Its mission statement is “Skate Canada is an Association dedicated to the principles of enabling every Canadian to participate in skating throughout their lifetime, for fun, fitness and/or achievement.” It initiates and develops many programs in support of every level of skating, from the Canadian “grass roots” local skating club to international world levels, including development and training of elite skaters, skating judges, data specialists  and paid coaches.  Skate Canada is the largest figure skating governing body in the world.  It is organized into 13 regional sections:  one for each province, and 4 in Ontario (Northern, Central, Western and Eastern).  Our Club is in the Eastern Ontario Section (EOS), which stretches from Deep River, to Ottawa, Kingston, and Oshawa and includes over 100 skating clubs.  EOS is further divided into 6 Regions, of which we’re in Region 6 (including Deep River, Petawawa, Pembroke, Eganville, Barry’s Bay, Renfrew and Arnprior).  Your Club Registration fee requires a $30 membership fee, which includes insurance for our skaters while on the ice and part of which goes to EOS as well as to the national office.  These fees help Skate Canada provide support to skaters, skating volunteers, coaches and Clubs by various means such as workshops and clinics.  Information on upcoming clinics and workshops is  posted on our Club bulletin boards in the Petawawa Civic Center and the Silver Dart arenas and is available on the Eastern Ontario Skate Canada website, www.skate-eos.on.ca.

Sharlene Desjardins is our Region representative, representing the interest of the 7 Clubs in our Region with Skate Canada.   Kevin Boczar (who skated for many years in the Petawawa Skating Club, and now skates at the national competitive level in Senior Dance in the Minto Skating Club) is the Skater Representative in EOS.  Skaters are welcome to address concerns or questions to Kevin (kboczar@live.com).  Skating judges go through extensive (and exhaustive!) training.  In our Region, several judges make our competitions and test days possible, including Breena Binzig, Sherry Roberts, Pam Theilmann, Judith Plante and Sandra Tramer.  “Data Specialists” tally the scores from the judges, and determine the placement of skaters.  Sharon Binzig, Lesley Juneau, Pam Theilmann, Sharlene Desjardins, Josee Barrette, Rita Barrette and Bill Slater are data specialists  in Region 6.  All of these people make our test days and competitions possible.