LEARNING TO SLIDE
Burrillville Figure Skating Association has been training local skaters for 46 years
BURRILLVILLE – It’s a transformation Janice Kaplan, past director of the Burrillville Figure Skating Association, has witnessed every year for the past 34 years.
Young children who have never skated before take those tentative first steps out onto the ice, trembling as they hang on to their skating instructors for dear life. They’re cold; they’re frustrated; and they fall – a lot. But they always get back up, determined to stand on their skates.
After only a few weeks, they’ve mastered shifting their weight from one foot to the other, and they start to move slowly across the ice. After 26 weeks, they’ve mastered the two-foot glide and are confidently zooming around on the ice with speed and precision.
When it comes to providing a fun and positive experience that instills a lifelong love of skating, no one does it better than the venerable Burrillville Figure Skating Association, a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that has been teaching kids – and adults – how to ice skate at the indoor June Rockwell Levy Rink since 1972.
One of those kids was Kaplan’s daughter, 36-year-old Angela, who first learned to skate in the program when she was 2 ½ years old. Her sister, Rebecca, joined a few years later.
“Both of my daughters were involved in the program and I eventually found myself getting more involved with other parents and then ended up being the director,” says Kaplan, a longtime Pascoag resident.
Kaplan, 60, is stepping down as director after 34 years, and passing the director’s baton over to Angela, who along with several other young parents, will be overseeing the Burrillville Figure Skating Association as its begins its 46th year.
Angela’s 5-year-old son, Julian, is enrolled in the program and so like her mother, she’s decided to take on a leadership role.
“Over the years, BFSA has had great volunteers, which kept our association going,” Janice says. “But it has always been a struggle to keep a full board, which is the backbone of our program. As Angela matured, she too felt the same strong commitment.”
“I am now proud to say that I can finally step back and stay on as adviser because this is the first time in 10 years that we have a full administrative board,” she said. “I feel it is now time to pass the gavel to the next generation as I received it some 30 years ago.”
“It’s amazing to have this opportunity to lead the association and to have a full board of directors,” says Angela. “My goal is to grow the program and get more people involved so that the program can continue on for years to come.”
The new SFSA administrative board are all Kaplan’s friends, most of them young parents with kids in the pro- gram. They include Corinne Lacey, president; Anthony Hardy, vice president; April Lagace, secretary; Ryan Legace, treasurer; and Melissa Barrrow, chairwoman.
Angela Kaplan says the board’s mission is to continue the association’s core mission and objective, which is to teach the fundamentals of ice skating while building confidence and skills through each lesson; provide a progressive curriculum that ensures success from the first steps on the ice to the mastery of advanced skills; promoting the health and fitness benefits of ice skating; and equipping each participant with the foundation necessary to reach their goal be it recreational or competitive in nature.
“I started skating when I was 2 ½ years old and it was something I loved all of my life,” she says. “My hope is that every child who comes into the program learns to love skating as much as I did.”
The BFSA’s skating program runs 26 weeks and for $370 want-to-be-skaters young and old learn the fundamentals, which provide the foundation for figure skating, hockey and speed skating. The program is sanctioned by Learn to Skate USA and all of the coaching staff – including Melissa Barrow and Priscilla Viera – are certified. BFSA helpers include Olyvia Bendza, Allie Lewis and Aliza Richard.
Over the past 46 years, approximately 3,400 children and adults have learned to skate through the program, which is sanctioned by the U.S. Figure Skating Associ- ation.
The 26-week program opens in August and closes in May. This year, the BFSA is offering a 10-week spring/ summer session for the first time. The Levy rink doesn’t offer spring and summer ice, so Mount Saint Charles in Woonsocket has agreed to house the BFSA for the summer at Adelard Arena.
The spring/summer session will be held Thursdays from 6 to 6:50 p.m. April 25-June 27. Registration is required by sending an email to bfsa.board@gmail.com or by texting Angela at (401) 369-2975.
A hallmark of the BFSA is its annual ice skating show, a lavish nearly two-hour extravaganza with volunteer-made costumes, props and music held at the Levy Rink. This year’s show will be held tomorrow at noon at the rink, 425 East Avenue. Tickets sold at the door are $8 for adults; $5 for children ages 6-12; and free for children 5 and under.
Special guests this year include the Ocean State Ice Theater Open Team and the Synchronized Skating Team Excel Junior and Mount Saint Charles Sur la Glace.
This year’s show features a circus-theme – “Under the Big Top” – with three groups of young skaters dressed as clowns and circus animals.
“The show typically brings out 300 to 400 people, but in our heyday we’d fill the rink,” says Janice.
The BFSA has hit some bumps in recent years. The town used to provide funds to partially subsidize the program, but those funds were cut about 15 years ago, leav- ing the association to pay all of its expenses.
“We’ve been struggling the last couple of years,” says Kaplan, adding that ice time at the rink can cost more $7,000 for the length of the program.
Kaplan says the association has been able to survive thanks to parents and volunteers who donate their time, energy and skills.
“I want to personally thank each and ever parent who dedicated their time this year and in years past,” she said. “As an association we are only as strong as the people within it and I feel certain that this program can survive another 46 years. I will always have a place in my heart for this wonderful program and can sign off knowing it can weather any storm.”