WELCOME TO THE KW SERTOMA SPEED SKATING CLUB!

Join us today!

About Us

The K-W Sertoma Speed Skating Club was formed in 1963 by a group of interested families with a love for the sport. It remains a strong sports organization in Waterloo Region, balancing being a family-oriented club with training skaters of all ages, including Special Olympic Athletes.

Our team of dedicated volunteer coaches develop a program tailored to groups of different ages and abilities. Our NCCP coaches receive ongoing training from the Ontario Speed Skating Association (OSSA), as well as other training programs.

Our competitive skaters, the KW Cobras, participate in many short track speed skating meets run by clubs in the province of Ontario. Some competitive skaters qualify to go to Provincial A and National Championships, as well as the Ontario and Canada Winter Games.

So whether you are interested in our competitive stream, or you simply want the fitness and social aspects of the sport, we have a program for you! Young children, youth and adults of all ages are welcome.

Come out and see what our club is all about. Remember to skate hard and go left!

History

Directors

Policies

Coaching Team

Patti Walsh

Head Coach: FUNdamentals, D-Squad, Learn to Speed Skate, Masters

Coach: Elite

Patti has been speed skating for over 30 years. She started with her family, but as a lifelong learner and educator, it was natural that she found her way into the coaching world of speed skating. She is also an NCCP Coach Developer/Facilitator /Evaluator. Her coaching philosophy in all sports has always been: “Did you try your best? Did you learn something new? Did you have fun? Then we are all winners!”

“Skating is the most wonderful feeling in the world. The feel of the ice and the power of the glide is amazing. Sharing that feeling and the comraderies of the speed skating family across all of Canada and beyond is something that brings me great joy.”

Julie Byers

Head Coach: Elite

Julie has been a member of the KW Speed Skating Club since she was 2 years old! Julie’s older sister and brother skated, her mom coached and her dad was the equipment manager. Every week, they carted her along to the rink for practice – sometimes with her skates and helmet already on before they got to the rink! Julie started coaching as a teenager while she was still skating competitively. She says it took her a while to build her confidence as a coach, but she’s happy she started coaching and it has led her to where she is in speed skating today! Julie has found that the best way to stay interactive with others in the club and give back is to volunteer in any capacity she can. Julie’s favourite part of speed skating is watching a pack of skaters effortlessly skate by with good technique, quiet skates and powerful strides. To her, technique is the main driving factor to success in speed skating. We have been so lucky over the past couple of years to learn from inspiring coaches and current or recent national team members about some of the most advanced technical cues in speed skating. Julie’s favourite practices include setting the general outline of what she wants the skaters to achieve, and letting them bounce ideas off each other to execute the task at hand

“You only truly fail at a task if you don’t try in the first place. When skaters tell me they “can’t” do something, you might hear me remind them: “not with that attitude you can’t!” I once heard that if you feel you can’t do something then you Certainly Are Not Trying! With the right support, resources and encouragement, skaters can find their own version of success in speed skating!”

Sydney Cook

Head Coach: Masters
Coach: FUNdamentals, D-Squad, Elite

Sydney joined KWSSSC with her mom as a young teenager looking for a sport that spoke to her. Now, many years later, she tries her best to pass on her enthusiasm for the sport in her coaching. She loves how speed skating brings people together, and offers opportunity for sport and community to all ages, interests and abilities.

“When I coach I want to be as inclusive as possible, so that hopefully everyone can find the sense of belonging in the skating community that I did.”

Doug Gibbons

Coach: Elite

Bio coming soon

Teresa Ruetz

Coach: FUNdamentals

Teresa has always known speed skating to be a great family sport, given the over 30 year involvement of her sister’s (Coach Patti!) family. She had loved being on the ice as a figure skater, and so in 1995 found the great opportunity to continue with skating as well as spend time with her nieces and nephews, including a young Coach Julie! She enjoys watching kids learn skills and improve over the weeks and months, and likes to do what she can to help the club reach more young skaters. As we like to say, practice makes performance!

“I love being on ice, the speed of it, the sport’s gracefulness. I like trying to improve and remember all the lessons I’ve had.”

Jerry Slusarek

Coach: FUNdamentals

Bio coming soon

Aaron Clarke

Coach: Elite

Aaron got started in speed skating at age 16 as a side sport to hockey, but was quickly hooked! At 18 he took a Greyhound bus to Calgary and began training full-time at the Olympic Oval. When a series of broken helmets and head injuries kept him from being able to train or compete in 2010, he started to coach as a way to stay involved and give back to the sport while waiting to recover. Aaron loves the community of speed skating and that there’s a spot for everyone – families will bring their kids out to try the sport, then next year you’ll see the rest of their kids trying it out, and then a year or two later their parents come on the ice! As Archimedes the Owl says in The Sword in the Stone “The best way to learn is to do it.”

“Speed skating may be an individual sport during races, but you still get to train and show up as a tight knit team, and at the end of the day, that’s the best of both worlds.”

Brittney

Coach: Masters, Learn to Speed Skate

Bio Coming soon