‘Total
Kids thriving in Great Neck Therapeutic Skating Program
by Keith Cartwright Like so many other ice rinks, the rink man-
aged by the Great Neck Parks District, which is located on Long Island in Great Neck, New York, is a spacious facility, and the kids there love hear- ing the sound of their own voices echo. Tey joyously holler and scream the mo- ment their skates touch the ice. As they skate throughout a two-hour session each month, laughter fills the facility. It’s a time that brings a smile to Cindy Zubli
each and every month when she hosts the Ter- apeutic Skating Program. In 2012, Zubli, a spe- cial needs educator in Great Neck, combined her professional interest as a teacher assistant with the school district — she helps to acclimate special needs students with life skills in the community — with her personal passion: figure skating.
“It’s like a total freedom with
them,” said Zubli, who is the presi- dent of the Great Neck Figure Skat- ing Club. “Tey’re like, ‘Look Mrs. Z. Look Mrs. Z. Look what I can do,’ and they’re off.” Zubli works at Great Neck North. It’s
the high school Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes graduated from prior to the 2002 Olym- pic Games. Hughes is a regular at the Terapeutic
Skating Program. She’s more than a high-profile advocate.
Hughes is wildly popular among all the kids who participate in the program. “She’s amazing out there with them,” Zubli said. “She has so much patience, and when they
Participants in the Great Neck Therapeutic Skating Program have a ball every time they take the ice.
hear Sarah is coming they get all excited.” Most of the children cannot skate without
assistance or the aid of an on-ice walker and, ac- cording to Zubli, they love watching Sarah skate in circles. Tey especially love when the 29-year- old hometown hero takes them by the hands and literally pulls them in circles around the center of the rink.
Te program has grown in each of the past three years.
FREEDOM’
34 MAY 2015
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