Approximately 500 participants showed up at the RAWC’s gym A and B on Remembrance Day to participate in the third annual Move U Skate. The event was designed by UTM’s campus “body-breakers”, Move U, to inspire UTM students to get moving, to integrate regular exercise into their lifestyle, and to participate in athletics.
The centerpiece of the event was the “skating rink” set up in the middle of the gym. To achieve this, a special form of plastic was laid on the floor of the gym as a form of imitation ice, and equipment was provided to all students who wanted to give skating indoors a shot. The plastic surface was slightly sticky and had a bit more resistance than what one would expect but overall, it was a great approximation of ice-skating inside our gym. The rink was undoubtedly the main attraction of this event, and UTM students streamed to it in droves.
Next to the rink, there was an electronic hockey shooting simulation, which proved popular and had an ever-growing lineup.
In the other corner of the gym, there was a garage sale of used UTM jerseys and other gear from the athletics department. Proceeds from the sale went towards supporting the UTM varsity teams and the athletics department. Comprising mostly previous years’ jerseys, the sale’s success was quite decent, with over 50 jerseys sold. Along with the garage sale, the UTM varsity teams also used this time to spread the word and to do some recruiting by promoting the info sessions for the UTM varsity soccer teams.
There were free drinks and snacks, and the Career Centre made an appearance. Nothing on this campus is more beloved than free food, and the hot chocolate in the corner brought quite a few students into the event. (Come for the hot chocolate, stay for the skating.) The giveaways were also massively popular, undoubtedly drawing many students in who later decided to stay and give skating a shot.
“It’s a great way to relax, to take your mind off classes and deadlines, and to get a bit of exercise between classes,” said econd-year computer science student Stefan Djuric. “The indoor skating concept was brilliant, and I loved the electronic hockey machine.”
The sentiment was echoed by most students who decided to drop by in between classes, with the vast majority hoping to see events like this in the future.
