Gay Dubeau

Gay Dubeau began a skating career at the tender age of two in Cabri, Saskatchewan. There, she developed her love of the sport, but it wasn’t until age 11 when her family moved to Swift Current (1966) that Gay began her formal training as a figure skater.

With a considerably late start in a highly technical sport, Gay worked hard and progressed quickly, training year-round, spending summers at skating camps in Saskatoon or London, ON with the support of her parents Nick and Marg Resnoe. By age 17, Gay had achieved Skate Canada Triple Gold status and won her first Saskatchewan Junior Ladies Singles Championship qualifying her to compete in the Singles event at the Canadian National Figure Skating Championships in 1973. She was the Saskatchewan Junior Ladies Singles Champion again in 1974 and toured with the Ice Capades for the 1974-1975 season alongside Olympic silver medalist and World Champion Karen Magnussen.

Gay had a desire to share her knowledge. She returned to the technical side of skating and began her long and distinguished career as a coach in July of 1975 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Planning to be in Medicine Hat for only two years, Gay found herself falling in love with the community that has now been her home for over forty years. Hour for hour, no one has spent more time on the ice in Medicine Hat than Gay Dubeau.

Gay was one of the charter coaches when the Cypress School of Skating opened in 1987 and spent countless hours volunteering at bake sales, bingos, casinos and bottle drives to fundraise for the club. In the early years, she even paid her own expenses when coaching skaters at out of town competitions or test days, in an effort to build the competitive program. The club still continues to this day and Gay remains a substitute coach when needed.

Gay is one of Skate Canada’s most revered coaches. Since 1994, she has been a course facilitator for Skate Canada’s CanPowerSkate program for Alberta/NWT-Nunavut and is one of less than ten people in Canada who can certify coaches in this program. In 2001, she was recruited by Skate Canada, alongside Bruno Delmaistro from British Columbia and Brent Carty from Ontario, to expand and revise the curriculum for the CanPowerSkate program and to create a “Pre Power” program for four to six year-olds. She was named the Alberta Figure Skating Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2002. Gay has been the power skating instructor for the Hockey Academy at Notre Dame Academy in Medicine Hat since 2004. Gay is so respected in the skating world that other coaches from North America refer to learning from Gay Dubeau within their own biographies.

In 2009, Gay founded Platinum Star Power Skating and works with hockey and ringette players in communities all over Alberta and Saskatchewan. She worked with many Western Hockey League (WHL) and National Hockey League (NHL) players including Stefan Meyer (Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames) and David Schlemko (Phoenix Coyotes). Her ability to build genuine relationships within the hockey and ringette community has resulted in the development of successful players, but more importantly, active, positive members of our community.

Colleagues describe Gay’s work ethic as unstoppable. “Hard work pays off” is a motto Gay lives by, but also a motto she passes on to her students as they strive to be their best. The devotion to her students surmounts all else, sacrificing time and energy for the benefit of others. It is not uncommon to hear Gay’s voice in the lobby of any rink, speaking to friends (many of whom are now retired “snowbirds”), saying “While you are away enjoying the sun, I am going to stay here and teach your grandchildren to skate.”

And so she has: in more than four decades, Gay has taught thousands of children to skate, some for more than 20 years from the time they are toddlers to when they embark upon a career in hockey, ringette, or figure skating. She takes a life-long interest in her students, continuing to support and encourage them in their chosen careers many years after they leave her charge. Not only is each student taught, supported and encouraged by Gay, but she also supports and guides parents though the sometimes daunting learning curve they experience when an athlete reaches a certain level of achievement.

Gay is known and will be remembered for her infectious enthusiasm. You will hear “Awesome!” and “You can do it!” ring out if you are within earshot of Gay, and the sound of her laughter will waft through the rafters of Medicine Hat’s rinks for eternity.