Skate Like a Little Husky

The EY and MP1 Skate Days

Text: Roman Constantine

Photos: Roman Constantine, Omar Kassem, and J. Pangier

Video Footage: Roman Constantine, Theodore Brennan, J. Pangier

Video: Theodore Brennan

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When I signed up for the job of taking pictures for the publications article for the elementary school, I thought it was going to be fun to re-learn how to skate. Instead, my ego was severely bruised by little kids being infinitely better than I am. Although I would like to change that aspect, it was very endearing to watch the little ones grow and learn to skate so quickly! 

The skating event was coordinated by our Athletic Director Justin Rankin and hosted in Tsukisamu Gymnasium and consisted of both EY and MP1 students, who (most of them) seemed to know what they were doing — by the end, some were even skating like little professionals!

For the first skating day, most of the little kids had not gone skating in a long time, and from what I understand, some kids had not gone skating ever! Some were very scared of the ice, maybe considering they have never stood on something so slippery. Many of the kids were hugging the walls, slowly improving faster than me. The first day showed the kids what skating is and how potentially fun it can be.

On the second day, all of the kids knew what skating was and had much more confidence than on the previous day. Many fewer kids were scared when skating. Because my ego was still being repaired, two high schoolers were sent in my place — and they just happened to be much better at skating than me: Omar and Theodore. With the little ones progressing, and everyone having fun, Omar challenged Mr. Rankin (coordinator for both days) to a race with Theo and himself. Mr. Rankin then won the race (much to the dismay of Omar). Unfortunately the video of the race they took mysteriously disappeared. Wait? Who was on video? [Cough]. Omar! Theo! (Proof lies in the video below.) 

All [true] jokes aside, both skating days taught the children how to skate and how fun it was — it also proved enjoyable for the older skaters too (except for me). One thing that can be 100% proven from the skating days is that I am never going skating again.

If you would like to know more about the places in this article or further insight into the skating days, check out these Instagram hashtags or the fantastic video by Theo!

#tsukisamugymnasium #tsukisamu #hokkaidointernationalschool #skatinglittleones #skatinghuskies