An active member of the Carman community recently won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Skate Canada Ice Summit, where she was awarded the Canadian National Volunteer of the Year award.
Donna Wytinck has been involved in figure skating all her life, starting in the sport when she was three. She was a competitive skater in singles and synchronized skating, competing with the Notre Dame Silhouettes adult team until last year. Eleven years ago, Wytinck joined the Carman Skating Club as her three-year-old daughter started following in her footsteps. Since joining, she’s held almost every position in the club — CanSkate coordinator, vice president, president, and treasurer.
“I have a passion of using my business background and analyzing the costs and revenue of our club, and we have built up to a place where we have been able to keep fees reasonably flat, and the Carman Skating Club has a long and sustainable future of offering skating of all types to the people in our community,” she said.
With Wytinck, the Carman Skating Club was one of the earliest Manitoba clubs to move to a fully online registration and payment system, accomplishing the task in 2015. With her on the board, the club has also hosted a regional figure skating competition, put on numerous ice shows, and introduced new programs like Adult Skate and Shooting Stars.
Because of all she does for the club, a few members submitted an application and three reference letters to Skate Manitoba for Wytinck to be considered for Volunteer of the Year. Of all the applicants in the province, Skate Manitoba chose Wytinck as the provincial winner. Then, out of all the provincial winners, Skate Canada chose Wytinck to win the national title.
“I was very emotional,” she said. “The board didn’t tell me they had nominated me, so it was a complete surprise.”
Skate Canada hosts the Ice Summit every two years, where more than 500 skating leaders from across Canada meet in person to participate in workshops and Skate Canada’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). This year’s event, which took place in Vancouver, BC, saw the 2023 and 2024 award recipients attend.
Wytinck and Carman Skating Club president Kirsten Nicolajsen flew to Vancouver May 23 – 25, staying downtown at the Sheraton Wall Centre. On Thursday, they went to the Scotia Barn for a day of training on and off the ice, going over synchronized skating essentials, skating skills essentials, positive body image tools, pair skating essentials and dynamics, single skating essentials and intricacies, elevating team dynamics, creating dynamic and visually stunning performances, and more.
On Friday, event attendees listened to various speakers on safe sport, exceeding CanSkate expectations, best practices for different forms of disability, moving from strategy to action, the technical side of the judges’ score location, improving board functionality, minimizing liability risks, and more. They ended the day with a Kairos Blanket Exercise.
The 2024 Ice Summit keynote speaker was Tyler Smith, a mental health advocate, Humboldt Broncos crash survivor, and Amazing Race Canada winner. Twenty-one-year-old Smith shared his journey with mental health and advocated for it at the summit. Wytinck said his speech gave her chills.
Some of the speakers included Jodi Abott, president and CEO of the University Hospital Foundation; Debra Armstrong, Skate Canada CEO; Alison Purkiss, world and Olympic coach and choreographer; Yebin Mok, international coach and performance specialist; Nancy Lemaire, world and Olympic coach; Jackie Kwan, co-founder and CEO of Uplifter; Janice Hunter, an official.
Saturday of the summit started with the AGM, which was also live-streamed and ended with the awards banquet and black-tie gala on Saturday night, complete with fancy dresses and suits. Wytinck was excited to see Olympian-class figure skaters among them at the dinner. At that dinner, Wytinck received her award and was recognized as Skate Canada’s Volunteer of the Year for 2024.
A personal highlight for Wytinck was meeting and receiving congratulations from the Canada Pairs team, Maxime Deschamps and Deana Stellatto-Dudek, who won the 2024 World Championships in Montreal earlier this year.
“She is especially inspiring to us as she won the Worlds at age 40,” said Wytinck. “The oldest female in the history of the sport to win Worlds. Skating is really for any age.”
Receiving her National Volunteer of the Year award was an incredibly emotional moment for Wytinck, and she said it’s a memory she’ll talk about into her retirement years. Until then, she’ll remain an engaged skater in Carman Skating Club’s adult program for as long as possible.
