LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
U.S. FIGURE SKATING Sponsors
THE SC OF BOSTON CELEBRATING PAST, LOOKING TO FUTURE
For The Skating Club of Boston President Joe Blount, some
of his best memories were watching his two daughters, Linda and Jennifer, compete and enjoy their time as young athletes at the historic rink. Like most parents, the Blounts were heavily involved in the club and did what they could do to help out. It’s been 16 years since Joe’s younger daughter last com- peted, but his desire to give other young skaters and their fami- lies the same wonderful opportunities and memories that his family cherishes today is alive and well with the club’s recent announcement to build a new multi-rink facility. The announcement coincides with The Skating Club of Bos-
ton’s 100th anniversary, which it celebrated with a Skaters’ Ball ball and the club’s rich history start on page 22. Taking a page from the club’s founding organizers, who in 1938 built the rink located at 1240 Soldiers Field Road, Blount and the leadership at The Skating Club of Boston have spent the better part of the last two decades looking at ways to expand and improve the club’s be- loved original home in order to accommodate a growing membership, as well as added disci- plines such as Theatre on Ice and synchronized skating. For Blount and club board members, it’s all about stepping up to the plate much like the
founding fathers did, and giving back to a sport that has given them so much. “I just feel it gave so much to my two kids,” said Blount, a retired architect who has served
many life lessons of how to succeed, how to fail, how to pick yourself off the mat and go back at it again — all those things you face in daily life, and it makes them grow.” Both of Blount’s daughters have gone on to coach at The Skating Club of Boston; Jennifer is
also a cardiovascular technician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Blount recalls that when his girls attended high school at the local Mount St. Charles Acad-
emy, they were part of a small group that would be at the school’s rink at 6 a.m., before classes started, practicing their craft. The school’s counselor at the time always marveled on how well this group managed their time, academics and social lives, Blount said. “Every one of those kids is so disciplined,” the counselor told Blount. “‘Their work is always
done; they are always volunteering to do something. They are the best kids we have in the school.’” “When you hear a guidance counselor tell you that,” Blount said, “that’s pretty impres-
sive to me. All of the kids we are supporting today with ice and other services are the same way.”
One of the unique things about the leadership at The Skating Club of Boston, Blount said, is
that many of the board members don’t have children currently involved in skating programs, and yet they are helping lead this charge for the future. “They have stayed with the club and have fostered moving the club forward, keeping it
active and moving it into the position it is in today,” he said. The expansion of programs offered by The Skating Club of Boston, Blount said, has en- abled the club to become a destination for all levels of skaters, and not just a training mecca for elite athletes, as it was for many decades. “When you look at the statistics, you see kids 13 or 14 years of age dropping out of what-
ever sport they are in because they are getting into high school and their friends are doing other things and they decide to do other things,” Blount said. “So what we are trying is to provide them with something that gives them an opportunity to stay in the sport and enjoy it.” And for Blount and The Skating Club of Boston board members, that’s the legacy they
hope to leave. Happy 100th anniversary!
.
U.S. FIGURE SKATING Licensees
U.S. FIGURE SKATING Suppliers
4 APRIL 2012
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