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CLUB MATTER

April 2004

by Jenny Plattenberger

Do you want to add excitement and new members to your skating club? Well, from the stories we've been hearing, National Skating Week will help you do just that.

This year U.S. Figure Skating hosted its third National Skating Week, held Jan. 10–18, with 215 clubs and Basic Skills programs participating in the week long promotion. National Skating Week got national exposure when spokesperson Michael Weiss appeared on the TODAY show to promote the event. National Skating Week is becoming more known, and we expect that each year it will get bigger and better.

Many clubs have hosted clinics for the past three years and have personalized and expanded the National Skating Week festivities to bring in more people from the community.

Detailed here are the stores of three clubs and how they've seen National Skating Week work for them.

Louisville, Ky.

First we hear from Sharon B. Carey, president of the Louisville Skating Academy, about the ripple effect they've seen happen with National Skating Week.

For those considering hosting a National Skating Week clinic, I would like to share our experience and observations. Now that the Louisville Skating Academy has hosted three National Skating Weeks I can see the ripple effect such an event can have locally, regionally and even nationally.

Our primary goal each year has been to raise awareness that figure skating is available in Louisville, Ky. It never ceases to amaze me that I still meet people who live or work within a mile or so of our rink who are shocked to learn there is ice skating in Louisville.

In a southern city that has nationally rated high school soccer and football teams, has produced Olympic gold medal swimmer Mary T. Meagher, Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan, World Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali, NCAA basketball champions, and has the Kentucky Derby, figure skating isn't the first sports option to come to mind. Consequently, we at the Louisville SA viewed National Skating Week as bait to raise awareness of this great sport and the opportunities Louisville SA can offer the public.

For build-up and promotion of our free clinic we gave talks at schools and public libraries. These presentations included a brief history of skating's origins, viewing U.S. Figure Skating's 75th Anniversary video, and a six-minute slide show depicting Louisville SA programs and events. We invited the audience to try some off-ice jumps, which illustrated the need for body control, balance, strength and courage. Then we brought out the popular spinners for them to try (under close supervision of course). While having fun, they gained knowledge and a respect for the sport and the athletes who master it. This was also a great way to scout some natural talent.

In addition, we advertised with handouts and by word of mouth during our Christmas fundraiser (a gift wrapping service at a local bookstore). We also distributed the posters U.S. Figure Skating supplied and invited local morning TV news shows to broadcast live from our home rink to promote National Skating Week and our learn-to-skate classes.

Once prospective skaters arrived we followed the U.S. Figure Skating recommended clinic format and schedule. Our synchronized team performed and assisted with classes. With approximately 30 volunteers, including our staff coaches, we accommodated 152 registered participants who ranged in age from 3 to 52, including 37 adults (24 percent). Of the 152 skaters, 89 of them (58 percent) had never skated before.

The prize drawings for U.S. Figure Skating T-shirts and public session free passes were a hit. Several of those in attendance signed up for classes and many took home brochures for learn-to-skate and summer recreational camp.

Meanwhile, manning the registration table was the mother of 6-year-old Sarah Van Winkle. Van Winkle's grandmother brought her to the 2003 clinic to experience ice skating for the first time and a whole new world opened up to her.

Van Winkle signed up right away for the Louisville SA Skate With U.S. program.

By mid-summer she was on her way to her first competition at the Troy FSC in Troy, Ohio. In September, she competed in Carmel, Ind., at the ISC of Indianapolis Invitational, then in January in Columbus, Ind., at Lincoln Center FSC's Martin Luther King competition.

It is in these situations that one begins to see the ripple effect one skater can have. Not only have Van Winkle and her mother, Melissa, added to the growth and strength of the Louisville SA and the local skating scene, but regional clubs benefited from her participation in their events. U.S. Figure Skating benefits by the continual influx of new skaters who are passionate and enthusiastic about this incredible sport and who eagerly volunteer their time to welcome others into their world of skating.

Cleveland, Ohio

The Cleveland Skating Office had a similar experience. But this year they put a new twist on National Skating Week. Diane Murphy shares their experience.

“This year the Cleveland Skating Office in conjunction with area rink managers and learn-to-skate directors decided to carry National Skating Week one step further. The managers and directors wanted to have a skating month in our area in order to capture new Basic Skills members.

Normally our Basic Skills classes have already begun by the time National Skating Week starts, so some rinks chose dates that began earlier so that the skaters could take advantage of the class sign-ups. Therefore, we had Cleveland Skating Month starting Dec. 22, 2003, and running through Jan. 19. Nine area clubs/rinks participated and the response was overwhelming at all nine facilities.

One of the most helpful tools used was a ValPak coupon that was distributed to homes in the greater Cleveland area. The coupon entitled each home to free admission/lessons at the participating rinks.

Giveaways, raffles and exhibitions were among the fun offered at the rinks, and information was given out on all skating programs.

Twice a week our local newspaper listed all of the participating facilities in both the sports and entertainment section.

Our local Fox affiliate also covered the event by hosting one of its morning shows from the Winterhurst Ice Rink. All areas of skating were included in the broadcast, and interviews were done with representatives from figure skating (children and adults), hockey and speed skating.

Thank you U.S. Figure Skating for providing the skating communities with a great tool for increasing membership! We look forward to National Skating Week in 2005.

Tulsa, Okla.

The Tulsa FSC built on the success it had last year, and this year the club doubled attendance at its National Skating Week clinic.

“It's Great to Skate” Director Ellen Jackson tells Tulsa's story.

“It was phenomenal!” Those are the words I use to describe the 2004 clinic that was held at the Tulsa Ice Arena on Jan. 12.

In 2003, more than 100 skaters came for the clinic, but this year there were 222 participants who came to celebrate National Skating Week.

On-ice skating director for the event, Boyko Alexiev, credited the increase in participation to the stellar performances by the competitors at the State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Atlanta, Ga., in January.

“I feel certain that the competition at the U.S. Championships in Atlanta inspired many to try skating,” Alexiev said. “U.S. Figure Skating provided an awareness to the sport, and the community responded.”

Following the same format as previous years made the task of accommodating the incredible number of skaters easier. Tulsa FSC volunteers worked the registration tables, gave out skates from the skate rental desk, helped tie skates, worked with the coaches in group lessons, then skated with the participants during the open skating time.

“I was pleased and proud of the way the Tulsa FSC skaters helped tonight,” said Sheila LaPlante, Tulsa FSC education and training chairperson. “They took this on as a community service project and made it a complete success.”

Tulsa FSC was fortunate to have television news coverage of the event this year. The day before the clinic a local morning show did a live remote broadcast from the rink and provided information about the clinic on subsequent news telecasts. This helped increase public awareness of the clinic.

The Tulsa Ice Arena again donated the skate rental, and coaches donated their time to make this event free to the public.

Thank you for all you do to support the Tulsa FSC. This is a marvelous program.

Get ready for next year

While we would love to feature articles from all of the clubs that provided us with feedback on the 2004 National Skating Week experience, we don't have room to include all of the success stories. But thank you to everyone for making this year fun and exciting.

And now it's time to mark your calendars for next year. National Skating Week 2005 will be Jan. 15–23. Please watch our web site www.usfigureskating.org/ clubs.asp?id=234 for any new information about National Skating Week 2005.