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Club Spotlight


U.S. Figure Skating Online will feature a different club-related story every couple weeks in the Club Spotlight.

Club Spotlight: Sandy: Nearly One Year Later, Skaters and Coaches Grateful for the Helping Hands
by Joanne Vassallo Jamrosz, special to U.S. Figure Skating Online

Nearly one year later there are few signs the Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers was ever hit by the devastating Sandy. Hockey and figure skaters skate nearly 24/7 on the facility's two operational rinks and it's business as usual for this rink that sits squarely on the Hudson River in New York City.

November 2012, when Chelsea Piers closed its doors, is just a memory. However, for the skaters and coaches who were displaced, the memory is still fresh. They recall the many "skating angels" who stepped up to the plate to assist a community in need, an act of kindness that is still not forgotten.

Nearly five feet of water swarmed the Chelsea Piers Sports Complex and entertainment facility; damaging all four piers hosing gymnastics, ice skating, gym and golf centers. Although the two rinks on the second floor were still intact, compressors on the first floor were damaged and the complex was without electricity.

"It was definitely challenging," Sky Rink Figure Skating Coach Marni Halasa said. "Not only was half the city inoperable due to power and gas shortages, all of a sudden, I had no place to teach, and therefore no income. No one knew how bad the damage was or when the rink was going to reopen. In just a matter of days you were effectively unemployed with virtually no options. I remember just sitting in my apartment in disbelief, scrambling for ideas, racking my brain trying to figure out what to do."

The Wollman Rink, City Ice Pavilion, The Ice House in Hackensack N.J. and Chelsea Piers Connecticut stepped up to the plate, welcoming the Chelsea Piers coaches to guest coach on their freestyle and public sessions. Aviator Sports in Brooklyn N.Y. and the Yonkers NY Figure Skating Club allowed Chelsea Piers coaches to guest coach commission free.

Eileen Sullivan of the Yonkers Club and Slava Rozanski the Figure Skating Director at Aviator agreed it was important to help coaches hit hard by the hurricane.

"This was a time where we should all come together," Sullivan said. "We've always enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm of the Sky Rink coaches and students and enjoy supporting each other's competitions. It's an important relationship and we wanted to help out."

In addition, many Sky Rink and other New York City coaches, networked daily and even hourly when modes of communication failed due to power outages. These coaches, members of an organization called the "New York City Skating Coaches Collective" made phone calls and wrote daily emails to coaches as well as parents informing them about local rink schedules, commuting advice and even information on car pooling.

Yet even with availability of additional local ice, Halasa and sky rink coaches Maria O'Connor, Kurt and Michelle Nichols and Melody Champion could not reach everyone. They made house calls to students who lived in buildings with gyms or dance studios and invited students to their apartments for choreography sessions. During this time Halasa and O'Connor had to keep up an active training pace, training 15 students for an upcoming skating competition in Yonkers.

"If you had students that already had the passion to skate they will travel with their coach to skate," O'Connor said. "It was the recreational once a week skater that many coaches were worried about losing. Typically in New York City if a time slot is not filled the parent will fill that slot with another activity, and then we may have lost that student, sometimes permanently."

Fortunately for most of the Sky Rink coaches this did not happen. Nearly all of the community came back to the rink once it reopened a month later in December 2012, with the coaches throwing a big "Welcome Back" party for the parents and skaters. Sky Rink also did their part hosting free public and coffee sessions in addition to having staff available to answer questions.

"We really missed our rink," Miranda Tyson and Mona Johnson, two members of the Sky Rink for the past six years, said."We went to other rinks to skate but it just wasn't the same. Sky Rink is our home."

Both girls are also members of the Sky Rink artistic ensemble team "Reach for the Sky Rink All Stars" and will compete in the national Theatre on Ice Competition in Hyannis in August.

All the coaches agreed they were very fortunate compared to the many Sandy victims who lost loved ones, homes, jobs and possessions.

"We had obstacles, but nothing like the real hurricane victims who were truly resilient," Halasa said. "Every Sky Rink Coach, even now, months later, is counting their lucky blessings. Our rink is back. Our skaters are back and we can continue where we left off, teaching our students how to be great skaters and to love the beauty and athleticism of this sport. It's an honor to do this kind of work and I think we all know that it doesn't get much better than this."

Photo 1: This young skater lets everyone know she was able to skate with the help of skating angels.

Photo 2: Coaches welcome skaters back after Hurricane Sandy

All Photos Courtesy of Marni Halasa

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