Educators find skating a nice complement BY LEXI ROHNER


DANILO DIEDRICHS, 40 CAROL STREAM, ILL. DUPAGE FSC


ADULT GOLD FREE SKATE The professional credentials of Danilo Die-


drichs speak to his willingness and ability to tackle the most difficult challenges. A pianist, private pilot and college mathematics teacher, Diedrichs approaches skating with the same focus and determination. “One of the greatest appeals of skating is


its intensity,” said Diedrichs, who appreciates that his skating is not connected to teaching. “It’s mentally demanding and commands my full concentration, helping me step away from job demands.” In 2007, while studying and working at the


University of Iowa, Diedrichs was befriended by two professors who are also skaters (Dr. Barbara Stay and Dr. Kate Gfeller). Stay taught him ice dances and for the next several years they all met weekly and traveled to ice dance social events. Skating three times weekly, Diedrichs


loves jumping but had to once explain how he incurred a black eye while skating. On the harness and heavier than his coach, Diedrichs fell, his coach went flying and the harness rope slapped his face. As an educator, Diedrichs realizes that


there are many things that cannot be learned through books or videos. “There is knowledge only effectively trans-


mitted from one person to another, within the context of a long-term coach-student relation- ship,” he said. “These relationships are extreme- ly rewarding and among my most treasured relationships.” Diedrichs was born and raised in Geneva,


Switzerland, where he learned how to skate as a child. His family moved to the United States in 1997, and at age 32, he began serious training.


PHYLLIS FRIELLO, 53 BALTIMORE


ADULT SILVER FREE SKATE, GOLD PAIRS BALTIMORE FSC Phyllis Friello is a physics and environmen-


tal science teacher at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where she’s able to blend her interest for the arts with her passion for science. Her lessons incorporate applications in


dance, music, theater and visual arts. “Dancers have demonstrated center of


mass and coefficients of friction with pointe shoes,” Friello said. “We also studied the phys- ics of Olympic sports in Sochi, following the events and innovations in equipment.” Friello’s love of skating started 24 years ago


as she was finishing research for her master’s degree.


“I started lessons and it went from there,”


said Friello, who is one of nine skaters who have competed in all 20 U.S. Adult Champion- ships. “Skating has been a constant in my life since then.” Her coach is Jeff Nolt, whose creativity and


love of the sport continue to inspire Friello. “I select music and watch Jeff create the


story on ice,” Friello said. “Watching him is mag- ical and I love seeing the program develop.” Friello has used her skating to benefit oth-


ers. A volunteer choreographer for I-Skate, an adaptive skating program for challenged skat- ers, she also created a skating benefit titled “Ice to Water,” with more than $3,000 going to victims of the Haiti and Japan earthquakes. She later recruited several young skaters to take on the show’s direction to benefit the Philippines. “I only hope I can inspire my students,” Fri-


ello said. 26 JUNE/JULY 2014


BARBARA STAY, OCTOGENARIAN SKATING CLUB OF BOSTON


BRONZE DANCE, SECOND FIGURE Skating offers longtime college professor


Barbara Stay a nice departure from her profes- sional career teaching biology and researching insect reproduction and development. “The model insect we work on is a vivipa-


rous cockroach from Hawaii,” Stay said. “That earned me the title of “Cockroach Queen” in the department.” Stay’s students, she said, chuckle when they see her outside of school. “They ask, ‘Was that really you that we saw


skating?’” she said. Stay started skating at age 8, using her


mother’s old skates with added ankle supports. She leaned on her sister during those early days.


“We skated in a skater’s hold in time to


organ music, marveling at older skaters who could cross their feet over at the corners,” Stay said. Inspired by seeing three-time Olympic


champion Sonja Henie skate two years later in Cleveland, Stay and her sister learned to do fig- ure eights, spins and jumps. They performed as a team, showing off at club shows in twin cos- tumes their mother made. Stay also learned to ice dance and passed


the bronze test when it was the American Waltz and the Fourteen Step. She has met many in- teresting people in the skating community and has passed some of her knowledge and wis- dom to younger skaters. Once a young skater reluctantly did a Wil-


low Waltz with me and asked, ‘Did we do the right steps? It was so easy!’ “I was thrilled to be able to contribute to


the pleasure of others as they learn to skate and enjoy ice dancing,” Stay said.


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