Thinking ‘Outside the Box’ by Tiesha DiMaggio I
have been in rink management for over 20 years, and the industry is changing. Te model that the figure skating world has followed for many years is not putting skaters on the ice
like it used to. As I look back, I realize that a lot of little things over time have contributed to this transition. An ice rink is not only competing with other rinks, but also with every other sport and form of entertainment within a 20-mile radius of the rink. Also, figure skating is no longer televised on every channel, and young skaters seem a lot less likely to stay in the sport over the long term. Tese changes are making it difficult to keep numbers up
in figure skating programs. It’s a vicious cycle. Less skaters progressing into advanced programming means that more coaches are finding other sources of income, resulting in fewer coaches teaching during daytime sessions. A reduction in daytime coaches equates to fewer skaters, and the cycle continues. When I started my job in 2014 at the RoseGarden Ice Arena in
Norwich, Conn., I was concerned how I was going to fill freestyle sessions when I had very few full-time coaches. Even if every coach taught two skaters in every session, I was still going to be scrambling to justify having any freestyle programs during prime-time hours. It was during the first few months that we
Grows Participation Future Stars Program at Norwich Ice Arena
were open that I realized that things were going to have to change, and I was going to have to “think outside the box” to increase participation. While many rinks share pro-
gramming with freestyle ice, with limited coaching, that was still going to be a problem if I didn’t have coaches to do both programming and private lessons. I looked at the dance and gymnastics model and thought to myself, why can’t we do the same thing — offer everything that is needed as a group package, both in pricing and as a coaching philosophy? We get all of these skaters through the doors for learn to skate and somewhere along the way we lose them. I thought, why not offer affordable high-level group instruction and package it with all the aspects of training? When a skater comes in on a budget, why can’t they have everything they need offered through the rink? Tis led me to create a solution: Te Future Stars program.
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ISI EDGE SPRING 2017
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