‘GREAT TO SKATE’

Girls of various ages spin and glide across the ice.

One works with her individual coach while another practices a jump with the aid of a harness.

The girls were taking part in a recent practice of the Ozark Figure Skating Club, a nonprofi t organization created at the Jones Center in 1997, said Robin Aprea, coach Kalyan and vice president of the club. The sole purpose is to promote ice skating for all ages and all levels in Northwest Arkansas, she said.

The club has 60 members ages 4 to 71, from beginner to advanced.

The majority of members are female since figure skating tends to draw in more girls, but there are a couple of boys between the ages of 8 and 13 who are members and participate in competitions, Aprea said.

January is National Skate Month, and to promote the sport, the club is planning an event to bring people from all over Arkansas in to show them figure skating, she said. The free Feb. 2 showcase at the Jones Center will feature a hockey exhibition, a figure skating exhibition by members of the club, a learn-to-skate class and games on the ice. Aprea wants more people to get involved in skating and also to let them know that the club is available and offers something for everyone.

The Ozark Figure Skating Cluboffers ice time four days a week, has five professionals available for private instruction and hosts competitions and test sessions, which skaters have to pass to move up in levels, Aprea said. All of the members are also eligible to be in the shows hosted by the club, such as an annual Christmas skating show. There are also free seminars available for skaters, ranging from basic skills to techniques for the more advanced skaters. The members have fun off the ice as well, participating in quarterly meetings and potluck dinners, she said.

For people who have never ice skated before, Aprea recommended that they try out the skating school at the rink, which is offered through the Arkansas Figure Skating Association, before joining the club. She said there is a class once a week for six weeks, available to both children and adults.

The skating school also offers classes for all levels of skating. If people want to get more into figure skating, she suggested that they then join the club because they will get more private ice time and other benefi ts.

All of the members have different goals. Aprea said people who skate for recreational purposes and exercise may only come to the rink one or two days a week. Skaters who are more competitive will use all the ice time and do off -ice workouts as well.

The club has members in a variety of U.S. Figure Skating levels: basic skills, pre-preliminary, preliminary, pre-juvenile, juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior and senior, Aprea said. Kids participate in test sessions to move up in levels, and the next one is coming up in March. U.S. Figure Skating judges will be brought in to test the athletes on moves-in-the-field and freestyle and determine if they pass their specific tests, she said. Moves-in-the-field include a lot of edgework and turns, and freestyle includes jumps and spins, Aprea said. Skaters have to pass the moves-in-the-field test before they can take the freestyle test for that level, she added.

Katie Sabo, president of the club, said there are different levels for adult skaters, though. She said she has reached her adult gold level in moves-in-the-field, and she is working on testing her adult gold free skate - skating a program to music with all the required elements - in March.

Amanda Thomsen, 10, has been skating for about five and a half years and is in the preliminary level, trying to move up to the pre-juvenile. She likes being part of the club because she is close friends with all of the members and “not very many people here in Northwest Arkansas skate.” Her favorite part of skating is doing spins and jumps on the ice, she said, noting it is “just kind of fun to show off .”

Emma McLellan, 13, said she wanted to join the Ozark Figure Skating Club because she saw good skaters doingspins and jumps, and she was “inspired by them.” Emma started skating when she was 3 years old and joined the club at age 4 or 5. Her favorite part of skating is performing and doing spins, and she has participated in a lot of competitions locally and outside of Northwest Arkansas. She likes the atmosphere of the club and hanging out with all of the skaters, she said, noting that she has grown as a skater because of the club and working with a coach one-on-one.

“It’s helped me improve as a skater as well as a performer,” she said.

Rose Gustafson, a 13-yearold, has been skating for six years, and she said she likes the community of the club since ice skating isn’t a team sport. She practices ice skating a few times a week and has participated in competitions. On the ice, her favorite moves are spins.

“I love the feeling of spinning. It’s exhilarating,” she said.

Although the nonprofit doesn’t have a skater at senior level, one of the club’s members is competing at the U.S. Figure Skating National Competition in Omaha, Neb., on Saturday. Pooja Kalyan, 10, is the first member of the Ozark Figure Skating Club to make it further than regionals, Aprea said. She is at the juvenile level and is working on moving up to intermediate. The coach said skaters have to place in the top three to be eligible to move on to the next competition. Pooja came in first in her level at regionals and second in sectionals, so she was invited to nationals, she added.

“Nationals is the top 12 athletes in that level from across the country,” Aprea said.

She noted that Pooja definitely has goals of competing at the international level and wants to go to the Olympics.

“I think she could definitely do it,” she said.

Sabo, the club’s president, said it has been exciting for everyone at the rink to see Pooja reach that level, and she has “loved watching her grow as a skater.” Sabo added that many of their skaters have just as much potential.

She noted the club also makes skating available to anyone who wants to do it.

“I think we have such a great, tight-knit community here,” Sabo said. “We’re very supportive of each other, and that’s something that I really love about the sport and about our group in general.”