All over the city lots of families are celebrating winter by hitting the ice and getting their glide on. Skating is a cool bonding activity, a great form of exercise, and a fun way to get rid of those winter blues. And it really doesn’t matter much whether you and the kids are agile skaters or kind of uncoordinated (in a cute way). Skating is an exciting and “forgiving” sport that’s open to everyone, at any level. So go ahead, put on those heavy sweaters, dust off and lace up those skates, and get to the nearest rink. And when you’re done, relax and take a hot cocoa break.
There are several great rinks in the city, from the iconic Rockefeller Center and the Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers, to Queens’ World Ice Arena and City Ice Pavilion, as well as Brooklyn’s popular McCarren Park Rink, just to name a few.
If your family adventure takes you to the Sky Rink, you may catch a glimpse of a fabulous skating team, Reach for the Sky Rink All Stars, rehearsing for its next show on Feb. 14.
Under the direction of the team’s beloved coach Marni Halasa, this all-girl group of awesome figure skaters has been Sky Rink’s longest-running ensemble team for the past seven years, and has performed various routines at Rockefeller Center. Check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=atUvMRQrBKw for a look at the team’s in action.
The girls range in age from 12 to 18 years, and the close-knit, 15-member team has been together for six to seven years. When you watch them skate, you can tell they’re having fun — and it’s no wonder, because they all love the artistic creativity that goes into creating unique choreography. And they know the importance of being an inclusive community, while enhancing the very precious relationships they have with each other.
The talented skaters come from private and public schools in the city, and dedicate at least three to six days a week at Sky Rink. Their strong team spirit, collective drive, and passion for skating, combined with their amazing “perform on a dime” skills, will definitely help them succeed in their future careers, and in everyday life. Skating has taught them valuable lessons.
“I’m really proud of these girls, even though they have rigorous school schedules, battle injuries, lack of sleep … they are all really committed and keep the team going,” said Halasa. “We performed five shows in December and even with different casts, and not much rehearsal time, the girls made it work ‘on the fly.’ ”
Watch this video featuring the girls performing as Santas at the 2014 Holiday on the Hudson Skating Show at Chelsea Piers’ Sky Rink, where they wowed the audience with their humorous routine to the holiday hit (from the movie “Elf”), “Nobody Cares About Santa Claus” this past Dec. 19: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-xaxcOs7WA.
The team members, who were the 2014 and 2013 Showcase National medalists, won first place at the Great Neck (Long Island) ISI Competition on Dec. 7.
“The competition was fierce and judging is always subjective, but the girls managed to pull ahead in spectacular fashion,” said Halasa. “I try to teach them that it’s not always about skating perfectly; it’s about the chemistry they have with each other, emotionally connecting with an audience, becoming a character and taking risks during performance to up the ante — intangibles that can catapult a performance to an entirely new level.”
About the All Stars
The Reach for the Sky Rink All Stars is made up of senior and junior teams, and the great thing about being on a showcase team like theirs is that it accommodates all levels of skating. This means that your teen daughter doesn’t have to be an aspiring Olympic athlete to get in.
Team Captain Catherine Mayer, 15, lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and skates on the senior team.
“It’s hard work, but it really pays off. Being on the team gives me a chance to practice many different skills that I’m sure I will use later in life,” she said. “What’s great is that I get to be a leader, as well as a friend to my teammates. But what I really notice is our overall progress — with every experience, we are all becoming more confident in our own skins.
“Seeing the audience’s reactions is an incredible feeling. We throw in a lot of comedy and I love hearing the audience laugh throughout our performances.”
Emma Wender, 16, who lives in Midtown West with her family, enjoys embodying a whole host of characters in her routines.
“I’m normally pretty shy, but when I perform with my friends, I come out of my shell. I’ve been a quirky circus character, a Santa Claus that doesn’t get any respect, and Velma’s annoying husband from Chicago’s ‘Cell Block Tango,’ ” she recalled. “Playing all these different characters is not only fun, but helps me feel more comfortable with my solo skating and other athletic activities.”
Chelsea resident Jean-Li Spencer, 15, also feels incredibly accepted by her teammates.
“When I skate with my friends I feel really free, which is a feeling that is really hard to achieve skating solo. Skating together with my friends is a place where we can all be ourselves and do what we love together.”
Mona Johnson, 16, who calls Chinatown home, feels that during the past seven years the team has become a second family, “and we know we’re there for each other.” Although she says she’s not at every practice, she has realized that the team really provides “a safe environment, where we can brainstorm and experiment with ideas. We push each other to achieve the best of our abilities, but also don’t judge each other.”
Halasa says that this kind of artistic team skating “is significant for the universe of figure skating” because membership had been dropping from the US Figure Skating, the national governing body of the sport.
“No longer do parents strive for the unrealistic goal of going to the Olympics as an individual, but support their child’s participation as a member on a national synchro or production team,” she added.
Now that more children are involved in figure skating, membership for the US Figure Skating and Skating Club of New York has increased, she said, and the new trend allows New York families to embrace more realistic expectations for their children, because “showcase teams don’t have such rigorous participation rules; anyone of any level can join, and be part of the team — which fits in well with the rigorous schooling of city schools.”
The All Stars also have an outreach mission, in which they’ve taught kids in Brooklyn to skate at the Abe Stark Arena, helped children hard-hit by Hurricane Sandy, and donated their time to Ice Theatre of New York for community service.
Teens and parents can now see, first-hand, how skating can be a wonderfully fulfilling activity.
“Participants learn skating skills, social skills, responsibility, time-management, dedication, and how to generate good ideas,” Halasa said. “We have a U.S. Nationals pair competitor, a Showcase National individual bronze medalist, as well as Ice Skating Institute competitors all skating together to create an amazing production number. You don’t really get that chance in other sports, to compete on a national level, and the kids really benefit from that experience.”
For more on the team, check out its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/skyrinkallstars?ref=br_t
All Stars at the Skating Club of New York’s Showcase Competition at the Sky Rink [61 Chelsea Piers 23rd St. at the Hudson River in Chelsea, (212) 336–6100, www.chelseapiers.com] Feb. 14.
