Fire & Ice show concludes Waddington skating season

TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

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LOUISVILLE — Members of the Waddington Figure Skating Club strapped on their skates and took to the ice for their season finale Sunday at the Fire & Ice show in the Louisville Arena.

The club’s yearly pageant is an annual tradition that goes back longer than its members can remember. Children dressed up to perform the routines they have spent months practicing.

“I just want to have fun and have a good time. I don’t want to be too nervous,” said 14-year-old Marlaina J. Bush of Canton.

Ms. Bush was one of 32 skaters Sunday, ranging in age from 3 to 15.

In keeping with the theme, all of the songs related to ice or fire, from Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Great Balls of Fire” to “Ice Ice, Baby” by Vanilla Ice.

The show is not as big as it used to be. The club has lost members over the last few years.

“When I first started here, there was 50 skaters,” said Treasurer Tara L. Putney, who has worked with the club for 10 years.

MaKayla M. Blair started skating with the club when she was 3. She is 18 now and coaches the club’s younger skaters.

She said she has seen the decline in membership since she started and thinks it is because many skaters choose to focus on the more competitive clubs in the area.

“Our club is more of a fun club,” she said. “We still enjoy it, but it’s not what it used to be.”

Sunday marked her last show after 14 years with the club.

She will be off to SUNY Oswego in September but will never give up her love of skating.

“There’s so much you can do on two blades,” she said.

The show marks the end of the club’s season, a final chance for skaters to show off their skills.

Keli A. Kingston, 10, Madrid, has been skating for two years.

“It’s fun to do,” she said. “It’s kind of cold, but it’s still fun.”