Skating Club show is March 11

Ready to perform: from left to right are Skating Club members Chelsey Walker, Antoinetta Ratleff, and Melissa Mankowski.

When it comes to learning how to skillfully and gracefully glide on ice, there’s probably no “hotter” venue than SUNY Fredonia’s cool Steele Hall Ice Arena. Scores of talented skaters who enthusiastically flock to this facility will be on display at several shows during March, all of which are free and open to the public.

 

Some 30 members of the College Skating Club, under the direction of veteran ice skating coach Joan Disbrow, will present a show Wednesday, March 11, at 8:45 p.m. In addition to assembling twice a week for their own practices, these college students serve as assistant coaches for Ms. Disbrow at public skating classes she conducts Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons.

 

Icers enrolled in these public skating classes will present their own show Sunday, March 8, at 3 p.m., and Thursday, March 12, at 6:30 p.m. Comprised of children and adults as well as SUNY Fredonia students and faculty, these skaters have steadily grown in numbers in recent years. They begin learning basic skating techniques and then progress into figure or hockey styles. Many travel significant distances, including from Buffalo, Jamestown and Westfield, to skate at Steele Hall.

 

That there’s such a wide following for these classes is not surprising to Disbrow, who teaches ice skating at 10 different facilities and has taught classes at SUNY Fredonia for the last 15 years. She unabashedly says Steele Hall easily “puts them all to shame,” and contends that public ice skating opportunities at Steele Hall are the “best-kept secret in town.”

 

Regardless of skill level, skaters benefit from their pursuit of this winter activity in a variety of ways, both on and off the ice, she explained. “They learn to focus and concentrate on developing body coordination. These lessons assist them in the preparation for life as they grow into adulthood. It doesn’t matter if they have two left feet; the important part is they can still succeed enough to experience real accomplishment, discipline and self control,” Disbrow said.

 

“Self esteem can come from the simplest thing as long as they can say, ‘I did it!’ That follows them forever and will help them succeed in many other ways,” she added.

 

As an added bonus at the two public skating shows, Disbrow’s college figure skaters will present routines that they recently performed in Jamestown.