Jenna Bisignano Member of the White Plains Figure Skating Club On the Edge! she took it from one edge(above) to the other (below) in her sophisticated solo, including an axel, Saturday
This year many of the senior skaters were skating in their last Ebersole Holiday show and having see them all grow up through Tots, Gamma, Delta and then the ultimate, getting what used to be considered the ultimate: the black “Ebersole Advanced Figure Skating Club” jacket when you graduated to that coveted White Plains Figure Skating Club icetime on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, it was a poignant and proud occasion.
Emily Boschi Skated her First Solo Ever Saturday afternoon and nailed it. You never forget your first solo.
Ebersole Ice Rink is a White Plains tradition, it’s old, it’s homey, it’s musty, it’s outdoors, it’s got great burgers cooked in really good grease the way they should be! It gives you the feel of what skating used to be and still is (since ponds in Westchester County never freeze for skating any more). Skating at your hometown rink is a way for young boys and girls to acquire a skill that is aerobic, requires courage, skill, thought, training. You learn that practice counts. You learn to keep emotions under control (perhaps the Knicks should try figure skating) You acquire a circle of friends older and younger, creating unique bonds across class ages, that last through the years.
The Gammas, Deltas Serve up “HOT CHOCOLATE”
The instructors have been there a long time and every year the younger parents bring their youngsters into the program while the senior hockey players and figure skaters skate their last games and last ice shows at good Ol Ebersole. You know the staff and they know you from Rose, and Mr. Peck, to Matt and it’s the safest place you can be in White Plains on a Friday night.
Laura Hollahan Executes the only Shoot-the-Duck of the Show in her elegant skate.
Laura in a spin.
Saturday afternoon we saw the skating of another Kristen Fuerst (Director of the Ebersole Figure Skating School) Ebersole Holiday Show…from Tots to Teens, from Kristi/Michele/Tara/Sarah/Sasha-to-be’s to Teenage Princesses All Grown-up. Like running and cross country, figure skating is a sport that makes you better as you get better at it, from mastering that first nifty shoot-the-duck, to the layback spin, to that first axel, Wally and Flip, well calc, and physics just don’t seem that hard anymore — and you have something that you can do that many others cannot.
Bethany Herrmann skating first of the afternoon with speed precision and energy and executed terrific. (It’s very hard being the first soloist of the show and kudos to the kid for delivering a great keynote skate!)
I’ll never forget during a public session when my daughter was like around 6 or 7 years old and when one of her boy classmates challenged her to a race around the rink, the lad barely beat her. Then he skated up and stopped short showering her with ice chips. He asked her if she could do that. She cocked her head, skated backwards and eased into a waltz jump in the air, and asked him if he could do that. He slowly skated away. Skating better and better builds confidence in yourself.
Sheree Geller’s Spiral.
When I arrived Saturday afternoon the traditional Saturday morning skating lessons
were ending up, prior to the show. In past years, I used to know most of the parents, but now the parents of the younger skaters I do not know and they were there picking up their young skaters from the Ebersole Figure Skating School lessons that are taught Saturday morning. Slowly the parents I do know came on in as it was time to start the show. These were the older parents whose daughters and young boys learned to skate at Ebersole, took skating classes with my daughter, and skated with her in the Advanced Figure Skating Club.
The Skating Smaydas: Kate and Kristen delivered their last skating pairs program!
Like Mousketeers on Ice – the young soloists showed off their skills skating to music of the season. I was very impressed with the determination and poise and professionalism of the younger skaters – this was their moment – for some their first big solo on ice. Few sports other than gymnastics and boxing have the situation where you alone determine the outcome of your performance. Figure Skating solo is just that. It is all yours, baby.
Katie Irmler
The younger skaters I saw Saturday afternoon at Ebersole all demonstrated ice-feel where the ice accepts them and pushes them up and they move with the confidence that here on the ice is where I belong. There were only a couple of falls and that is remarkable. All skaters were so prepared for their skate, which is a tribute to the Ebersole Figure Skating School of instructors from the way their charges skated Saturday afternoon. The instructors prepare them mentally for those “life solos” as well.
Nadia Abdulwahab going into a jump
Lisa Tompkins’ spiral
Those who did fall, do not be discouraged, figure skating is where you pick yourself up off the ice and keep on skating. Many in life do not have the courage to risk a fall.
As skater after skater showed their stuff the legacy of the Ebersole Rink Tradition demonstrated itself for all parents, and relatives, boyfriends and older brothers and sisters back from college alike.
There’s no place like your hometown rink to grow up.
Ally Fuerst Skates to The Nutcracker demonstrating “A Bielman”
Santa Bursts Through the Gauntlet of his “Reindeer” performed by the Delta Class.
Santa draws a crowd with Frosty the Snowman at the traditional skatearound after the show.
See you next year!
Mentoring, Community Service Makes Ebersole Special.
The friendships, mutual respect, and tradition of growing up skating at Ebersole Ice Rink is unlike any other rink in Westchester County. Both the boys who learn to skate and play hockey with the White Plains Plainsmen, and the little girls who learn to skate at ages 4 and 5, and go up through the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and finally earn their Ebersole Black “Advanced Figure Skating Jacket” look fondly back on their growing up at Ebersole.
Past Mentors and Graduates of the Ebersole Rink Figure Skating School, March 2002. The young ladies in the second row graduated in 2004, during their last two years many taught lessons under the tutelege of the Skating School Instructors, setting examples for the younger students of the school. Kristin Fierst, the director of the Figure Skating School is at the fart left in the yellow slicker. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.
Part of that is the staff does not change, and they are taught by teen idols just a few years older whom they want to be like. For the 13 years my daughter has been skating at Ebersole, she has made fast friends with older girls, simply because the mentoring program is there, and the community service program is there.
The little girls see the big girls doing axels, and loops and walleys, and they want to be like them. They look up to them. That’s what the tradition of inviting the older girls down to help out, volunteer in community service time with the younger skating classes fosters. The older girls learn how to be mentors and role models. The little girls see what it takes to be great skaters.
So when you see an Ebersole Rink Show, it’s not just another show — it’s the future being created.
