Speed skating takes off at new hockey centre.
ROUNDING THE TURN: William Preudhomme, 16, (second from left) competes at a provincial level meet in Ottawa last February. The Swansea resident, who's father is president of the Toronto Speed Skating Club, has just secured ice time for speed skating at the Mastercard Centre. Plans are underway to turn the state-of-the-art facility into a training headquarters.
Photo/CHRISTOPHER PIKE
Desmond Preudhomme may have been the driving force that brought the sport of speed skating to Etobicoke and the Mastercard Centre for Hockey Excellence, but it's his children who perhaps should get the bulk of the credit.Like many, the Swansea-area hockey dad's interest in the sport was limited to what he could find on the tube for most of his life.
But, that all changed a few years ago when his eldest son William, who is now 16, decided it was time for a change from organized hockey.
William shined in the skating part of hockey, explained his father, "but he didn't have a lot of stick-handling skills."
"I wanted to make sure he was still being integrated into Canadian society, and certainly on the ice is a great way to do that," said Preudhomme, who migrated to Toronto from Trinidad.
After some deliberation they decided on speed skating. The only place that offered it in the city, as it turns out, was the Toronto Speed Skating Club in Scarborough.
"It was a bit of a trek, but he did very well in that first year.
"Then my younger son decided he wanted to join too."
Soon Preudhomme found himself in with both feet and taking a stake in his sons' new interest, signing on to the club's board of executive and securing a spot as an equipment manager.
A year later he took over as club president.
And now, his two sons are deeply involved in the sport - William is a provincial level competitor working on the national stage while Aidan, 13, is taking more a recreational approach.
Having secured funding from the Trillium Foundation and the added ice time at Mastercard Centre, plans are well underway to turn the state-of-the-art facility into a training headquarters.
"That's the vision. And there is a huge market for it; it's not being done in Toronto."
The access to the hockey arena will mean less travelling for its west-end membership and it opens a portal to stronger speed skating communities to the west. It also expands its catchment reach.
"In the last three Olympics, 58 per cent of our medals have come from speed skating, which is pretty phenomenal if you think about it," he said, pointing out Quebec is responsible for most of those. "Canada is actually one of the premier countries in the sport and yet the Toronto-area and Ontario is totally under-represented.
"It's not that we're worse, it's just we're not training."
Currently in Ontario there are about 2,000 skaters training out of 20 clubs, while Quebec has approximately 7,000 out of 45 clubs.
"Our little club would have to increase to about a 300 to 500 member club in order for speed skating to thrive in Ontario and the Mastercard Centre is key to that strategy."
As an alternative of increasing membership fees, the plan is to attract grassroots interest to its six-week Learn to Skate initiative and by charging elite athletes and other guests for use of the facilities.
"If you're from Ontario and you're a high caliber skater then you should be training out of Etobicoke," he said. The club, which will also operate out of Scarborough Gardens Arena, is hosting its popular Toronto International Speed Skating meet Jan. 30 to Feb. 3.
"We've always had to rent ice time somewhere else because Scarborough (arena) wasn't big enough. Now, thanks to Desmond we don't have to do that," explains club treasurer Jacqueline Engholm, who has two kids involved in the sport.