Students at a Burnaby school are getting a rare (and COVID-19-safe) chance to learn one of Canada’s favourite sports.
Staff at St. Helen’s Elementary have taken advantage of plunging temperatures to construct an outdoor curling rink for the kids.
It’s the latest in the school’s attempts, which have included outdoor checkers sets and outdoor ping pong tables, to move students out of the classroom amid COVID concerns.
School principal Waldemar Sambor said he was inspired to craft the ice surface after a recent hike to the top of Grouse Mountain.
“I noticed a beautiful ice rink, there was only two kids on it, and I went on it without skates and the idea just came out,” he told Global News.
The school had initially hoped to create a full-sized ice rink, and even bought a specialized tarp designed for ice sheets.
“The temperatures weren’t working for us, but now that they were and they were coming up pretty quick, we thought this would be a quick solution,” athletic director Rico Perotta said.
Using an existing long jump run, an indoor curling set and the tarp they’d hoped to use for a full sized ice rink, staff were able to quickly assemble the curling rink.
Conditions were still a little sloppy when Global News cameras visited Tuesday, but with the region now in the grips of one of its deepest cold snaps in years, staff are hopeful students will get several days of slick surface.
“I think the kids are loving it right now, and I think they’re going to love it for the next few days,” Perotta said.
“To teach these kids a sport that they wouldn’t normally play I think is going to be pretty special for them.”