Skate Canada's Pond to Podium Program

Pond to Podium is a national promotional campaign to encourage skating among children, youth, families and new Canadians. With $60,000 in funding from the BC Sport Participation Program in 2004-2007, Pond to Podium promoted skating as a basic movement skill for hockey, figure skating, speed skating and ringette, enabling participants and organizers of these sports to work together for the first time. The now-trademarked campaign promotes the health benefits for skaters of all ages, and demonstrates how skating crosses cultural boundaries and can cultivate audiences for the 2010 Winter Games.

The BC Sport Participation Program aims to increase sport participation in community and school-based sports. From 2004-2007 the program gave more than $2 million to 22 sport organizations running programs in 109 communities for close to 85,000 participants and more than 4,600 coaches. The program is funded by the Province of British Columbia and Sport Canada.