By Spencer Seymour
Currently operating out of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, Perfect Skating has plans to expand into Wilmot Township – specifically New Hamburg and Baden – and is reaching out to the hockey community in the area to start developing connections well in advance.
Perfect Skating offers a scientifically formulated program for hockey players to improve their skating ability by improving their movement efficiency, speed and agility. The Perfect Skating program is one of the most elite skating-development programs and has worked with more than 350 NHL players.
Todd Jones, the director of operations for Perfect Skating, explained what Perfect Skating is all about.
“Our program is catered to hockey players of all ages and skill levels,” Jones told the Gazette. “We work with everyone from U8 and U9 players to minor and junior players, right up to professionals. No matter where you’re at as a player, we’re still going to teach you the exact same program so nobody is getting left behind. The program is designed in a way that is easily adaptable to who we’re teaching, and at the core, it’s about making you a more powerful, dynamic skater.”
It should be noted that Perfect Skating doesn’t offer learn-to-skate sessions for young children and is more for hockey players with at least a fundamental basis of skating skills.
Jones explained one of the main features of the program that they believe ensures better development of their players’ skating skills.
“A big part of what makes our program work so well is the smaller group sizes. We usually put around 12 kids on the ice and will not put more than 18 on the ice, and our player-to-coach ratio is either four-to-one or six-to-one at the most. Every kid is going to get more individual attention. We have done smaller group sizes but those are the biggest group sizes we will put out there.
“Those smaller group sizes mean that the kids aren’t getting left behind,” Jones continued. “When you have a larger player-to-coach ratio, the kids aren’t getting as much individual attention. With the smaller group sizes, the kids are going to get the help they need to learn the skillsets that we’re presenting. We don’t want to just throw a bunch of kids on the ice to get their parents to pay us a bunch of money; we want kids to develop and have fun doing it.”
Jones recounted a specific example of how the program helped a young player ascend to a level of hockey she was never expected to reach.
“We had a young girl come to our program who is now an ambassador of our program and she had reached a point in her hockey career where it didn’t seem like she was going to go any further. She and her parents were always told she wasn’t a good enough skater to play at the collegiate level, but after working with us, she went on to play at that level. Seeing that type of success and seeing players like her enjoy the game more is what we all strive to see.”
Jones said seeing how the program can help kids with their enjoyment of hockey while improving their skill level is what drives him and the Perfect Skating coaches.
“It’s really satisfying to see the kids be engaged with the program. When you see the smiles through the cages and they’re coming off the ice high-fiving the coaches, it’s really rewarding because you can see them be more confident in themselves and more engaged in a sport that they love. It takes them to a different level off the ice just as much as on the ice and that’s a really gratifying thing to watch.”
Due to logistical issues stemming from the timing of the organization’s planned expansion, the program is currently operating in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. However, it was noted that Perfect Skating has intentions to expand outside of the larger centres in the region in the not-too-distant future.
“Eventually, we’re going to be here directly. We unfortunately came in a little bit late to the ice-allocation game so, for now, we’re just operating in Cambridge, Waterloo and Kitchener. But we will be expanding out into Baden and, in the meantime, we still want to take in kids from the New Hamburg and Wilmot areas and make it known that we aren’t just interested in the bigger cities.”
Jones can be contacted directly by emailing todd@perfectskating.ca or by calling 519-697-7207. To learn more about the Perfect Skating program, visit www.perfectskating.ca.
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