Buffalo Speedskating
âYes, thereâs a speedskating club in the city. We donât have a stationary location yet. We reserve ice time at a couple different rinks, and since speedskating and other forms of skating donât mix we do have set times. We skate Wednesdays at Riverside and Sundays at the Cazenovia Park rink. Every club has exactly fifty minutes of ice time, then the zamboni comes out before the next group gets out there. This skate club has been getting together for at least 20 years. We have a good mix of kids and adults⌠and we even have some younger skaters who are doing competitive skating and travel to meets. We see skaters from ages 10 to 70⌠Iâve been skating for a year now.â
The more I learned about this skating club the more I itched to find out how Dianne got involved just a year ago. âI did a search online and found the website. The group was extremely open for anyone who wants to try it. They bring extra skates and gear for people so they can see if they like it. Once they do put the skates on people get hooked. I only know of one person that dropped off. When I went out there I hadnât been on skates for twenty years. Itâs nice because some of the people who have been in the group for a while enjoy mentoring the newcomers. This coming season weâre dividing up the group even more, and we have a part time coach from Canada helping. Itâs growing rapidly in the area, and we want to make the sport more accessible for people. We would like to eventually host a meet⌠but weâre not at that point yet. There are dues that cover the ice time and members are required to join United States Speedskating for insurance coverage. Buffalo State has a slot open on Fridays for people who want to speedskate in the morning. Thatâs a light workout since there are no pads⌠their ice is really nice though. Weâre going to have a four-week âLearn To Skateâ program coming up. Itâs three sessions for anyone who wants to learn the basics for speedskating. People can contact me for the dates. This is a very fun sport and people are always amazed that this type of club exists in Buffalo.â
If you would like to learn more about speedskating in Buffalo, feel free to contact Dianne, or visit the clubâs website.
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queenseyes
Dianne just sent me an update. After I spoke with her she called a long time Buffalo speed skater by the name of Jerry. Her message follows:
He said when he joined in the 50's (that's right, the 50's!) there were approximately 250 members (!) in the Niagara Frontier Speedskating Club (I think we're still registered with US Speedskating under that name, or we were until very recently). Back then, he said, there were 5 rinks in Buffalo, and a lot of people would be there with speedskates on on any given day. Hockey wasn't the "in" thing yet, and Buffalo didn't have its professional team (Sabres). He said the rinks would offer the club ice time for free, and besides figure skating, speed skating was one of the most popular sports on ice. Eventually hockey became popular, a lot of the kids grew up and stopped competing, their parents stopped going, rinks closed, and the number of members dwindled. Now it seems (and this is my opinion) that maybe we're at a point where interest is picking up again, at least locally.
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