News
WTSC UPDATE
posted Aug 20, 2020, 10:48 PM
Dear Members,
We hope that you and yours are keeping well during these unprecedented times. We would like to give you an update on the West Toronto Skating Club’s summer activities and the Fall 2020 season.
The WTSC COVID Oversight Committee has been hard at work developing safe return-to-play policies and procedures for our Members. This includes compliance with Skate Ontario and public health requirements and strategies for proper sanitation, physical distancing, mask wearing, health screening, and contact tracing.
We have had the opportunity to test some of these strategies as part of our summer field trips, i.e. weekly training sessions at York University’s Canlan Ice Sports arena. These field trips have involved a smaller number of our skaters who have a pre-approved level of ability, according to Skate Ontario standards. Our goals for these field trips were to provide some on-ice training access, and to refine the implementation of our return-to-play guidelines for a smooth transition into expanded programming for the Fall 2020 season.
Since April, we have also been providing off-ice fitness classes online, via the Zoom platform, for our STARSkate community.
Throughout the summer, WTSC has been working diligently with McCormick Arena’s Board of Directors, and we had secured provisional approval to return to Fall and Winter programming. Unfortunately, our return to McCormick Arena will now be further delayed due to unforeseen emergency facility upgrades, over which our Club has no control. These necessary repairs need to be completed before McCormick Arena is able to reopen.
For this reason, we are currently working with the City of Toronto to try to access to an interim facility where we could offer skating classes on a temporary basis. Of course, we are also in constant communication with McCormick Arena management regarding timelines and status of repairs.
We will be using our email system, website and social media platforms to share information with our Members as we receive updates. Please stay tuned for future communications regarding locations, registration and opening dates. Although our Club office at McCormick Arena will remain closed, we will be monitoring messages remotely, and we will endeavour to respond within two business days. Please direct all inquiries to office@wtsc.ca.
We would like to thank you, our Members, for your ongoing patience in this difficult situation. We would also like to express our appreciation to McCormick Arena’s Board of Directors and management for their continued support of the West Toronto Skating Club.
Sincerely,
Michael Coreno (Program Director) & the WTSC Board of Directors