King Tornadoes host first local meet

November 5, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner
For the past three years, the King Tornadoes Speed Skating Club has offered something challenging and different to athletes of all ages and skill levels, as popularity in the sport continues to grow.
The club will hit a bit of a milestone when it hosts King Township’s first-ever sanctioned Ontario Speed Skating Association meet on Nov. 16 at the Trisan Centre in Schomberg.
The meet will also include a Special Olympics Ontario speed skating competition.
As one of the only clubs in the area, the King Tornadoes serve all of King Township and surrounding areas including Aurora, Vaughan and New Tecumseth.
There are 15-20 regular skaters in the club and roughly 120 skaters are expected to attend the event.
Rose Kimber, president of the club, said such events take an enormous amount of volunteers and is looking for a few more helping hands to run the event.
“The number of volunteers that we need from officials, referees, timers and track stewards, it probably takes about 30 to 40 people to run this event,” she said. “We’re a very small club, so we really have to rely on a lot of other clubs to provide these officials and people to help us do this event. So far the community has been great in helping out.”
The club itself is also looking for volunteers who can help on a consistent basis.
“We’re always looking for volunteers. We’re looking for help with coaching and help on ice and off ice. It really takes a village to run a speed skating club.”
The club was recently the beneficiary of a Trillium grant, which helped purchase various equipment and items, but Kimber said the growing club is looking for some sponsorship help as well, particularly to help subsidize the Special Olympians that will be taking part.
“We want to make it easy for them to come and make it a positive experience and obviously if we get sponsorship we can get some medals and make the experience a little more special and give them some hardware to take home,” Kimber said.
In order to get started, the club has had many expenses including on-ice mats for along the boards and an inventory of skates for its members.
With Canada hosting the 2010 Winter Games and the Sochi Games quickly approaching, Kimber said the popularity of the sport will continue to be on the rise.
“Speed skating is absolutely growing in popularity since the last Olympics,” she said. “I think speed skating is growing faster than they’re able to keep up with the officiating and the demand for it. This year being an Olympic year, I expect there to be a surge in the popularity again.”
The Tornadoes have members from all ages who come out for a variety of different reasons.
“It’s for fitness, competition; you can make it what you want. Some people want to just be recreational skaters and come out for the exercise, some people want to go faster and go into competitions,” she said.
“In speed skating you’re always competing against your own time. It’s always about bettering yourself and not necessarily about trying to beat the person beside you. It really lends to having a great club atmosphere because the kids aren’t always trying to beat each other. It’s really about trying to beat your own personal best.”
For more information on the club, its upcoming events or how you can get involved, visit their website at www.kingspeedskating.com.
“We really want to grow the program and show people the benefits of skating as far as developing individuals, not only for their athletic ability, but also for fun and companionship and everything that goes with it.”