AGM 2020

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ESSA Annual General Meeting
Monday June 22, 6:30pm
The meeting will be a virtual meeting, in accordance to the Provincial health guidelines.
Elections for the 2020 2021 Board will be held at this meeting.
Any members interested in being on the Board in either a main or supporting role are welcome to contact our secretary Kelly (secretary@edmontonspeedskating.ca).
Unsure of how we can use your available time and skills?  Contact Kelly.
AGM Registration
The Zoom platform will be used for an online meeting.
We need people to register for the meeting so we can send the link by email.
Annual reports and the agenda will be sent out along with the link.
If you are interested in attending the meeting, please sign up using the following link:

West Edmonton Mall Fun Meet – CANCELED

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THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED

Meet Announcement
ESSA West Edmonton Mall Short Track Meet
March 21, 2020
11am – 5pm
Short Track season finale meet for all ages and all abilities at the Mayfield Toyota Ice Palace at the West Edmonton Mall.
Join skaters from around Alberta as short track speed skating invades the West Edmonton Mall.
All ESSA registered skaters are invited to participate in the crazy fun.
Each skater chooses 4 distances in which to participate, along with some fun races.
The meet finale is the Puddle Slide (if you wish to take part) – the track stewards flood a section of the ice and skaters penguin slide through it. Coaches and track stewards have been know to show their moves sliding.
Whether you are a first year skater or have been with the club for many years, come join the action.
Entry deadline:  March 6th.
Form and fee (cash or cheque payable to ESSA) can be handed to Diane or other ESSA executive members.

Questions:  programcoordinator@edmontospeedskating.ca

https://mcusercontent.com/994a78fac0f8119f490dd215c/files/75cd310a-5068-4dad-8aaf-0f25a2dadb68/WEM_Registration_Form_2020.pdf

RU Fast

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Race Announcement
RuFAST Short Track meet 2020
March 7 & 8
Calgary, Alberta
All ages and abilities welcome.
Registration is online through the CSSA website RAMP system (make sure you select ESSA as your club).
Registration deadline is Thursday February 20.
T2T skaters – this is the second CanWest qualifier, so register early.
CSSA is proud to present our annual RU Fast Meet on March 7-8 2020!
Registrations and payments are Online only through CSSA’s RAMP system.:
http://CalgarySpeedSkating.rampregistrations.com select seasons/ 2019-2020 competitions division/RU fast.
The Announcement Detail and Information Package are attached.

Registration deadline 9:00 PM, Thursday, February 20th, 2020. * Late entries will not be accepted.
DUE TO THE ANTICIPATED HIGH NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS AS THE CANADIAN YOUTH SHORT
TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER, REGISTRATION NUMBERS WILL BE CAPPED, DEPENDING ON
VOLUME OF REGISTRATIONS RECEIVED
If you have any questions please let us know. If you have trouble with any of the links try copying them directly to your browser.

Information Package

Announcement

ESSA Junior Event

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Meet Announcement:
New Year 2020 Junior and Almost Junior Short Track Meet
January 2, 2020 (Yes, it is a Thursday.)
Clareview Arena, Edmonton
1pm – 7:30pm (includes a post-race pizza party)
FEMALES: Junior C1 (T2T13) through NeoSenior 1
MALES: Junior C2 (T2T14) through NeoSenior 1
Registration deadline is December 27th.
Registration is going online, but paper registration will also be accepted until it is live. The form is part of the race announcement.
Address questions to Diane Anderson (programcoordinator@edmontonspeedskating.ca)
Please see below for the reasons why this type of event is being hosted by ESSA (written very well by our president, Chris Padbury).
At the 2019 Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association (AASSA) AGM one of the significant concerns raised was the lack of competition opportunities once children age out of the T2T age group.  Whilst there is some opportunity at the Olympic Oval in Calgary (Single Distance Series, Western Elite Circuit), those events come with minimum time standards, and have goals that are not necessarily inclusive of all skaters.  This is not a bad thing.  We obviously need those events to continue to develop elite athletes in western Canada.
However, there is a concern for those skaters that may not want to (or are not yet ready to) compete at that level, but find themselves in their mid teens with nowhere left to compete in a sport they still enjoy.  These athletes include:
  • Existing skaters that like to skate and race on a more recreational level with a primary objective of having fun and staying fit
  • Existing skaters that still participate in multiple sports and may use speed skating as a secondary training ground
  • Athletes transitioning from other skating sports (hockey, ringette, figure skating) that may already be past the T2T age
  • Athletes from communities far from Calgary, that cannot justify a long trip for a morning of skating
Some of our regional events often have an open class, but these are generally sparsely attended and many times only by skaters local to those events.  The open class event can also feel a bit “tacked-on” to the Ability and/or T2T qualifier meet.  I feel there is a need for events specifically for these athletes, where the racing is about them.
As a first step to “fill the gap” for these athletes, the Edmonton Speed Skating Association is hosting an event specifically geared towards junior/neo-senior athletes.  This event is open to the following athletes.  Everyone is welcome from first time racers to elite athletes.
FEMALES: Junior C1 (T2T13) through NeoSenior 1
MALES: Junior C2 (T2T14) through NeoSenior 1
Why are  Junior C1 (T2T13) males not included?
It is our belief that there is still ample opportunity for these athletes outside of an event like this.
Event Details:
Thursday January 2, 1:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Clareview A Arena (International Size Ice Surface)
Edmonton, AB
All races will be on the 111m track.  The number of races (minimum 4, some combination of 500, 1000m, 1500m) will depend on the number of registrants.  Having never tried this before, we are currently exactly unsure how popular this event will be.
Manual timing
Pizza party for athletes after racing
Why is this on a Thursday?
As you all know, ice time throughout the country is at a premium.  Because ESSA’s decision to host this event came after the special event deadline for booking ice through the City of Edmonton, we had to look for alternative open blocks.  We chose this date because most kids are still out of school, and many people already will take Jan 2-3 as vacation.  If the event proves successful, ESSA will try for a weekend date in future seasons and perhaps for a longer time block.  We know the Jan 2 date will not work for everyone, but we felt it was important to host this event this season even if the date was not optimal.
What else should we know?
ESSA will be asking everyone who attends to volunteer in some way.  Adding this event to our schedule means ESSA is hosting 4 racing events in total.  That is a lot to ask of our relatively small volunteer base.  As such, we would mostly like to lean on the families attending as a means to put on this event.  ESSA is running this as a break-even event (no expected profit for the club).
What is the long term outlook?
That is up to the speed skating community as a whole.  If this event is successful, ESSA will be back with it next season.  But one event per season will probably not be enough to keep these athletes in the sport.  As such, I would implore anyone who thinks this is important to look into hosting similar events of their own.  Even 3-4 events in AB/SK would make a significant difference to what we have today.
Remember that many of these athletes become our coaches, officials, volunteers, and eventually parents of a new generation of speed skaters.  It is in our best interest to keep them active and happy in the sport as long as possible.

Thank you for your time, and I hope to see many of your athletes in Edmonton in the New Year!