Figure Skating’s Boy Crew!
My husband and I grew up on the east side of Madison, we met at East High School and started dating while we were students at the University. Both my husband and I learned to skate at Tenney Park Pond (unfortunately, as we learned last year, outdoor rinks are becoming an unreliable option for ice skating!). When my husband was in high school, he decided to try out for the East High Hockey Team– not having ever played organized hockey as a child. Making that team and subsequently playing for East High is one of his most cherished high school memories. When we had two sons, my husband thought that maybe they would like to play hockey like he did . . . but that was not to be. During the 2022 Winter Olympics, my son, Soren, who was 6 at the time, watched Nathan Chen win gold in the Men’s figure skating competition and told me “THAT is what I want to do!” We had a lot of other activities going on, so I put it off, but he kept asking. After looking into it and seeing that he could learn to skate at Hartmeyer (only 5 minutes from our house) through the learn-to-skate program, I signed him up. He took his first lessons on hockey skates, but soon switched to figure skates. Within just a couple of months, he had joined the accelerated learn to skate program and was zooming around the ice. He had truly found his place. Now, almost 3 years later, he has graduated from learn-to-skate and skates 5-6 days a week with his wonderful coach, Emily. For Soren, Hartmeyer and Madison Ice are his happy places. He has always struggled with friends in school and never quite settled in there, but at the ice rinks he has a group of friends who see him truly as he is and accept him fully. Being a boy in figure skating isnt always easy. There are times when he is the only boy in a competition of 100 girls, but that has never been a problem for Soren at the Madison Ice rinks. He and his friends (they call themselves the ‘boy crew’) feel fully accepted. This year, on Soren’s urging, my older son, Bode and I signed up for Adult Learn to Skate at Hartmeyer. It is more fun than I ever expected and a wonderful thing to do as a family.
We are so excited about the opportunity that East Madison Ice Collective will bring to Hartmeyer and the Northside. The current facilities are inadequate and can sometimes even be dangerous. When the weather is humid, the roof drips leaving lumps on the ice. The members of the board of East Madison Ice collective are experienced, connected and care deeply about the community. We are confident that they can breathe new life into a rink that has meant so much to our family and neighborhood.
-Leah Sugar