Members concerned about the future of Figure Skating at Wissahickon Skating Club
- by: Club Member of Wissahickon Skating Club
- recipient: All Figure Skaters, Skating Coaches and Synchronized Skaters
Another serious implication of this new reduction in ice time is the drastic cut to the number of students our valued coaches will be able to teach during the 1 hour only session afforded on only 3 afternoons. Whereas coaches used to be able to see anywhere from 3 to 4 skaters an afternoon for lessons on at least 4 days a week, they will now only be able to take 2 students per day on 3 days a week. They will now have to tell skaters they were already instructing at Wissahickon to go to other rinks for their lessons because there isn't enough time at Wissahickon to fit in all their students. Wednesdays were the busiest days for instruction at Wissahickon, and that is the one day that the Club decided to cut out. Now the instructors will need to go elsewhere to seek their revenues and the students (i.e. our club member figure skaters) will need to follow their coaches to other rinks offering longer blocks of time for their instruction. Again, this cut does not benefit coaches, skaters or anyone at the Club other than the Rink itself.
We the undersigned have given much consideration and time in trying to prevent the Club from making decisions that will seriously impact our skaters' ability to have the practice time they need to pass through their testing levels and achieve the skills they need to be competitive on their Synchronized Skating teams while also negatively impacting our valued coaches livlihoods in instructing skaters. We have recently been asked to pay more in membership dues, but if you review the schedules recently sent, you will notice that Freestyle times have been seriously reduced in the afternoons to effectively omit Wednesdays and Thursdays entirely from November through March. Whether the skater is on a Synchronized Skating team or skates individually to pass tests or hone skills, this reduction in freestyle times means that for the 3 remaining hours a week, the ice will be flooded and too crowded for skaters to practice Moves, Jumps, Spins, Ice Dance, etc., and it also means that skaters will not have enough time to practice and perfect their skills to pass tests or compete on teams. In addition, our coaches livlihoods are being severely compromised by this reduction causing them to need to find other rinks to give lessons where they can have 3 to 6 back to back lessons as opposed to the 2 lessons afforded by this new 1-hour per day only ice schedule.
Please join us by showing your support of both your skater's and coaches needs for their original freestyle practice times by signing this petition.
Thank you very much for taking the time to review the details and joining our efforts.
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