THINGS PEOPLE DO : THE ICE HAS IT: These People Prefer to Let Things Slide
A novice skater’s first venture onto the ice is a bit like a house guest trying to grope his way through unfamiliar surroundings in the dead of night.
While his eyes slowly adjust, he maneuvers cautiously, unsure of what lies ahead.
At the Ice Capades Chalet in University Towne Centre, a woman and her small son step gingerly onto the ice. They gasp and giggle and simultaneously reach for the rug-covered railing as they pull themselves around the rink.
Nearby, taking tiny steps and skating slowly around the circumference of the rink, a young couple holds hands, for balance as much as an act of affection.
Some are here because they hate aerobics, they miss the chill of winter or they like feeling of the wind rushing past their faces as they speed about the oval-shaped ice.
Cassy Reidy, 17, is a senior at Poway High who misses the cold of her native Chicago. At the ice rink, she escapes the balmy San Diego sunshine in a 50-degree chill factor.
“They don’t have any winter here,” Reidy said. “I miss it. It’s cold here, and I like that.”
Joining Reidy is Steve Brunetto, also 17, a graduate of St. Augustine. This is Brunetto’s first time on the ice.
“I just hope I don’t fall down too much,” he said.
Ice Capades Chalet is one of two rinks in San Diego. It has been in operation for 10 years and offers private lessons, 14 public staking sessions and 42 co-ed classes weekly for ages 3 to 80. Classes range from dance to drill team.
But not everyone is rushing to the rink simply to beat the heat.
According to rink management, business begins to pick up in August, but summer is generally slow.
“We get tour groups in here from the East Coast and Canada,” said Kyle Jacobs, an assistant manager, “and we get a lot of kids groups in here, but sometimes on a weekday we may have just 10 people on the ice.”
Jacobs said the rink averages 100 skaters a night for public skating.
Skating School Director Cyndi Glatfelter said summer is a down season for lessons, too.
“If it’s nice outside,” she said, “people would rather be swimming and at the beach. When the weather’s yucky, that’s when we get a lot out here.”
November through March, attendance flourishes.
“Now, we have about 450 to 500 in classes,” Glatfelter said. “During the winter, we have close to 900 in the school.”
Both Jacobs and Glatfelter said prospective skaters swarm the rink in an Olympic year.
“It’s incredible how many you can get to come out,” Glatfelter said. “The Dorothy (Hamill) era really picked up for us.”
Said Jacobs: “We can get 350-400 a night during the Winter Olympics.”
Olympic champion Brian Boitano has had an influence on Chris Miller, who is the only male member of the San Diego Gems, one of the rink’s two drill teams.
“He’s my favorite skater,” said Miller, 13. “I hope to go to the Olympics someday.”
Miller said it doesn’t bother him that he is the only boy on the team.
“I don’t get teased,” he said. “It’s pretty fun (skating with the girls). I get to perform, and I like that. My friends come and watch me.”
While the numbers of males and females are about equal for public skating, the school is dominated by the girls and women.
“The boy/girl ratio is 15 to 85,” Glatfelter said. “We have a new class with four boys, and that’s amazing.”
Joe Bonin, 30, played hockey for eight years in Buffalo, N.Y., before he moved to San Diego and founded the San Diego Senior Hockey League. He periodically comes to the rink to eradicate daily stress.
“Skating is a blast,” Bonin said. “There’s nothing like the rush of the wind blowing past your face. Every time I put my skates on, I have a great time. Everything else disappears. For me, it’s a complete stress release. It’s good relaxation.”
Bonin finds he can express himself on the ice.
“It’s different from running for me,” he said. “It’s more creative. You’re not running around a track or swimming laps in a pool. You’ve got more range.”
Kari Coffer, 15, a student at Mission Bay High School, skates because of social benefits for her and peace of mind for her mother.
“I meet a lot of people here,” Coffer said. “I come here a lot. I like it because it’s different. It’s just a place to hang out. And my mom likes it because she knows I’m not at a party or anything. She knows I’m safe.”
Said Rosie Vera of Escondido: “This is just my second time. Last night was my first. It’s fun, something different to do. I’m definitely coming back.”
The price tag for all this fun can be somewhat high. While public skating sessions run as little as $7 for ice time and skate rental--Sunday’s and Thursday’s Cheapskate nights are $5--the higher the skater climbs the competitive ladder, the greater the cost.
Mike Witt, affectionately dubbed “Drill Team Dad,” by the youth drill team, supports two daughters’ skating habits. Krystyna, 15, and Kelly, 12, have been taking lessons for two years, and both skate with the Gems.
Witt sports a T-shirt of his own creating: “Figure Skating Parent-- One who supplies figures in the shape of dollar signs.”
“It’s expensive,” Witt said. “Krystyna’s skate’s were $400, and they weren’t custom-made.”
Why then does he spend five days a week transporting Krystyna and Kelly to and from private lessons at 6 a.m., group lessons in the evening and free skating in between?
“It’s a clean sport,” Witt said. “As far as I know, the kids here are drug-free. And the lessons teach them discipline, it’s a lot like having homework. The families are very involved so it’s a social thing, too.”
Still, the cost for a beginner, the bulk of the rink’s students, is minimal.
“It’s very reasonable,” Glatfelter said. “One lesson is $8 a week, and that includes a skate rental and one free practice. In 15 years since I took lessons, the prices haven’t changed much.”
What has changed for San Diego’s Honey Mark, 53, is her skating backdrop. She began skating 50 years ago on the frozen lakes of Colorado.
“I used to skate on double-runner blades,” she said. “Skating is one of my first loves. It’s healthy, exhilarating and the cool air is refreshing. It’s an art form.”
Mark, who performs as “Honey the Clown,” will do a routine to warm up the audience for Ice Capades summer show, “Summer on Ice,” Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
Also performing on Sunday will be a group of San Diego County Special Olympic athletes. Thanks to the efforts of Ice Capades and 30 volunteers, Special Olympic skaters have been taking lessons at the rink, free of charge, for three years.
“The rink has been giving us free admission and donating ice time for three years,” said Kathy Brint, a speech therapist and former skater who started the program because she felt there was an interest.
There are 30 athletes skating for Special Olympics, up from the 11 who started in 1987. This year, San Diego County Special Olympics qualified two athletes for the International Winter Special Olympic Games in Reno in April.
Marilyn Cooper is one of 10 teaching professionals at Ice Capades. She has worked at the La Jolla rink for six years and has been giving private lessons to Special Olympic children for five years.
“When they accomplish something, it means more,” Cooper said. “They show their emotions more, they want to improve more. And they want so much to please you. When they do something, they’re so elated.”
Elated is Brandy Hayden’s reaction to the progress her daughter, Briana, has made, both on the rink and off. In the three years she has been skating, she has won all the Special Olympics competitions she has entered and now skates with the Gems.
Briana, 14 on Friday, is severely dyslexic and has intermittent memory loss. She has been skating in Special Olympic competitions for three years and she won her last, the California State Special Olympics, in February. What made it so special was that she won it against men.
“There weren’t any women at her level, so she had to skate against the men,” said Brandy Hayden. “Her old coaches are just amazed at where she is now.”
According to Brandy Hayden, Briana’s teachers noticed a improvement within a week of her first skating lesson.
“Her teachers noticed an immediate difference,” said Brandy Hayden. “It increased her attention span and her ability to assimilate information. One week I grounded her, and the teachers wanted to know what as wrong. They asked me to let her skate.”
Brandy Hayden was so taken by Briana’s progress that she decided to get back on the ice herself. She has been taking lessons since April 1988 and is a member of the women’s drill team.
“I always had to physically help her with her moves anyway,” Brandy Hayden said, “so I told her when she tested, I’d test. Now, I skate for the exercise. I hate aerobics. You can go as far as you want with it. Me, I like the feeling I get when I reach a new goal.”