Views of the rink

Rink Diary 2009 - 2010

Nov.28, 2008

There is never anyone working at this rink, it seems. The compressors are still on, and since there was some rain, a few patches have frozen. But there's nothing to bridge the patches together. The "Weather permitting, Nov.25" sign is still up, but the one I put up has been removed.

Dec.1 2009

There must have been some flooding right after the last entry -- because today the news came that Regent South is open.

Dec.8 2009

At 1 pm there are two skaters in the rink house, plus one rink building attendant. They say that the lunchtime skaters from Nelson Mandela School just left. The rink's puck collection is still in the net -- the building attendant says he keeps a collection of pucks for when the school comes or when people come with no puck. When told that Dufferin Rink sells skate laces as well as pucks and tape, they laugh. "If you break a skate lace, you just tie it back together. Or use duct tape."

The building attendant says that the big primary school next door has had a hockey team for some years, which uses this rink to practice. Kids also come over from there in their phys ed times, just to skate around. He's not sure if the school has a skate collection fro kids who don't have their own.

He mentions that the NHL Players' Association donated some hockey sets to the nearby Wellesley Community Centre. These sets were given out to kids who couldn't afford their own equipment. But the days when the recreation staff ran a hockey program and set up tourneys are over.

The rink change areas has only benches,not even one table, no board games, no food, no lockers. The building attendant says that the rink is meant for sports, not for socializing -- hinting since the social activities that might happen there would not be good ones. He does say that families come out to the rinks on weekends, and that they might enjoy having some food at the rink.

But on weekdays, family use is not so much. As I leave, five more hockey players get onto the ice. They look like they might be people on lunch or on shift work.

Wednesday Dec.30 2009

Numbers at 2.45: 14 shinny hockey players, three pleasure-skaters, 8 inside. Staff: one building attendant.

This rink has the feel of a real neighbourhood rink. On the rink there were mostly younger kids and youth but also some older players who slowed down around the kids learning how to skate while holding on to the fence. Inside there were some young girls, several wearing hijabs, just taking off their skates.

The building attendant said that last winter there was a fun fair at the rink which attracted lots of kids.

Wednesday January 13, 2010

At 12.30 pm the rink is full of lunchtime hockey players from Nelson Mandala School. Their phys ed teacher, Shaka Abdul-Rashid, says they come over most lunchtimes for extra practice, and he's there with phys ed classes all day on Tuesdays. The school has a room for the skate collection, so that no kid needs to be without skates. And on Tuesdays, they get a lot of help from a woman named Laura Levtov, who runs a skating school called funskate. They said she even brings her instructors, without charge.

The Regent South rink attendant says they have more skates in a storage room at the rink, so that kids who have outgrown their skates can trade them in there. He said that somebody donated a skate sharpener but they've never used it -- there may be some parts missing. It would be good to get that going, with the volume of kids skating over there, through the school. They said also get skate sharpening and equipment through the Hockey Heroes program at Moss Park Arena. It all looks like pretty much fun.

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To see the (2007-2008) report card, click here

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Content last modified on January 13, 2010, at 09:06 PM EST