News
PARENT INFORMATION MEETING
posted Sep 29, 2026, 3:27 PM
PARENT INFORMATION MEETING
First let us introduce you to Coach Sherri Desroches who is The Ajax Skating Club’s on-ice Canskate Coordinator as well as the Startskate Director. She has coached at this club since she was 19 years old.
Next we would like to introduce you to Ajax Skating Club’s President, Debbie Pazilli. This is the second time that Debbie has held the position of President. She was President back in the 1990's when her daughter skated, and now President again as her granddaughters both skate on our StarSkate sessions.
The Ajax Skating Club is a not for profit association. We are overseen by Skate Ontario as well as Skate Canada. Our club is run 100% by volunteers.
The PreCan/Canskate programs are run as per the guidelines set out by Skate Canada.
- PreCan skaters receive each session an off-ice 10min coach led warm up group. This off-ice time gives these little skaters a chance to get used to moving on skates, how to get up from the ground/ice on skates and to warm up their muscles prior to taking to the ice.
- On the CanSkate sessions you will notice there are three focus areas — Agility, Balance and Control. Each group of skaters will rotate to all three stations during each session. During these focus groups they will learn a variety of skating elements that will help them advance with their own skating abilities. Each group is also led by one of our professional coaches that we have on staff.
- The older skaters on the ice in the-red-vests are our Program Assistants and take part every September in our on/off ice training session. These skaters are skaters that are currently enrolled on our StarSkate sessions. Each of our Program Assistants volunteer their time to assist our coaches and help our new/younger skaters, just as when they were the new/younger skaters on the Learn to Skate sessions and we thank them for paying it forward. These skaters are also allowed to collect their volunteer hours to put toward their schooling volunteer hours.
Now let us remind you of some very important items:
1. A parent/guardian MUST stay in the stands or in the upper lobby of arena while your children are on the ice. The coaching staff and our
volunteers are NOT allowed to take your children to the washroom. And let me tell you, when it is cold in the arena, having to use the washroom, happens more often than you think.
Also, if they fall and injure themselves, we need to have you available immediately to help us give your children the best care and attention needed at this time. There have been several times when a child was hurt and there has been no parent/guardian around or we have been unable to reach them by phone. This means that your child will be left to sit in the penalty box by themselves. If the incident was to be an emergency, we will need to have you there.
2. Did you know that you can track your child’s progress by going into your account, clicking on participants, then child’s name and then clicking
on evaluations.
3. We will be having our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, November 18th. We would love to have you attend in person. There will be an
email sent to you from our Office Email, as a reminder. You will be given a QR Code or a link to join remotely. It is important that we have quorum
for this meeting — as per the guidelines of Skate Canada. We would very much appreciate your attendance at this meeting either in
person or remotely.
We are also always looking for volunteers to sit on our executive. We do meet once a month on the 3rd Monday of the month. If you have
any questions, or would like to become part of our board, please reach out to us via email or speak to Debbie in the office or Coach Sherri
and we will get back to you.
4. As I said earlier, our skating club is run completely by volunteers. We have various events during our season, such as —
our Holiday skate, participating the Ajax Santa Claus Parade again this year, and we also have our Club Competition (All CanSkate, PreStar
and StarSkate skaters are invited to participate).
5. I also would like you know that ne year the Ajax Skating Club will be celebrating our 60th anniversary. We are hoping to have an Ice Show
next year to celebrate. This event is quite similar to a dance recital. Lighting, costumes, props, guest skaters. This event cannot happen
without your help. If we do not get enough volunteers, we may not be able to put this show on.
6. If you have any questions anytime, please reach out via email office@ajaxskatingclub.ca!