Oshawa Skating Club CanSkate Excellence Highlight

Oshawa Skating Club takes pride in their engaged group of Program Assistants that help make their #CanSkate program great! From leading the off ice warm, to setting up the circuits, to helping the skaters have an awesome time, these PA’s can do it all!

We asked the Oshawa Skating Club: What makes your CanSkate program great?

Our Program Assistants are always active and engaged during our off-ice warm up.  They are absolutely amazing at helping to clean up all of our teaching aids, packing them up quickly and efficiently and putting them back into storage.  Many take the initiative to help set up our welcome table, teaching aids, fast track or finding noodles and bridges for our limbo! They are attentive and caring with the skaters, making sure they stay on task and have fun each session.

Our older program assistants are great role models for our younger ones.  It is evident that they love helping with our program – so much so that our younger skaters can’t wait to help out – they are always asking when they can start! While many clubs are struggling to find program assistants for their programs, we are so fortunate that we have so many who are willing to come out…and love it!

What type of rewards/incentives do you provide to your Program Assistants?

At the end of every session, our program assistants receive a homemade baked ‘treat’ as a thank you!  They get to wear a club PA jacket, which makes them feel like an important, valued part of the team.  At the end of the season, during our AGM, they receive a small gift of thanks and recognition by the membership.  Additionally, we recognize their outstanding contribution with a ‘PA of the Year’ Award.

How do you recruit your Program Assistants?

We find it easy to recruit program assistants!  Most of our skaters can’t wait until they meet our criteria to begin helping out!  However, we have also reached out to local high schools and hockey teams in our recruitment efforts.

Oshawa Skating Club has achieved Advanced Standard in the CanSkate Excellence Program.