The FAU Figure Skating Club welcomes all students to learn how to skate on the recreational team or enhance their talents and participate on the competitive team.

In Spring 2022, Katie Love, FAU Figure Skating’s president, began the FAU figuring skating program. Love has been figure skating for a long time before coming to FAU and worried she would have to give up her hobby. Then, she discovered intercollegiate skating. 

“I found out that if I put in the work, I could start my own skating club here, and possibly meet other figure skaters at FAU,” Love said.

FAU Figure Skating has created a community for ice skating to grow. Autumn Frances, a social work major, joined the club in Fall 2022. When she first came to FAU she wanted to join clubs and meet people.

 “I reached out to the ice skating club, the figure skaters they emailed me back immediately said ‘okay, join the WhatsApp group’ and that was it,” Frances explained. 

Before joining the club, she occasionally skated with friends but was never part of an actual team. Frances finds the team and community aspect inspiring.

“I guess one of my favorite parts would be watching the other girls do it because when you see them skate they’re so you know they do it so effortlessly,” said Frances.

Due to Frances’ schedule and living a long distance from Panthers Ice Den, she has a unique experience with the team. 

“I haven’t had the chance to meet up with the girls because I live in West Palm and the rink is like an hour from my house,” Frances said. “However, just being a part of the team has gotten me out ice skating more. I got my own skates.”

Despite not being able to meet the other members regularly, she still enjoys the club and feels welcomed by all the girls.

Victoria Castello, an exercise science and health promotion major and the competitive team captain, helps  Love and the team’s personal coach, Kaylee Weaver, to train the other girls.

“My favorite part about being in the club is just getting these newer girls or girls who are a lower level and just helping them develop and watching them develop and get better,” Castello explains

Castello and Love both have a personal goal to grow the club. 

“A lot of other sports clubs may require a certain skill level, but because we have the recreational and the competition team, we give you the opportunity to start out to ask us questions to get involved, and then once you want to join the competition team, and you build up the skills, you definitely can join. And we just encourage everyone to join, it’s just a lot of fun,” Castello says.

In the pursuit of finding new members, Love faces roadblocks in making the club more convenient for students. 

“It’s really hard for us alone to be able to get practices together. It’s really expensive. And something I want to do [is] be able to provide a more accessible way for people to skate,” Love said.

Unfortunately, most of their budget goes towards paying for their coaching. Love disclosed that they don’t even have the funds to pay for the time the athletes spend on the ice.

The club is yet to be acknowledged as an official sports team by FAU, which is key to get proper funding and treatment.

“So this semester, so you know, we’re just kind of focusing on having an established team and getting ourselves recognized as a sports club by FAU,” Frances said.

According to Castello, figure skating is often perceived as a feminine sport due to women primarily participating in it. Therefore, men are often intimidated by the thought of participating in figure skating.

“If there are boys that skate or want to start skating, it’s not really a girly sport. It’s very hard. It’s very athletic. You know, you sweat a lot. You put a lot of effort into it,” Castello explains.

Castello believes men have the ability to be less impacted by the fear factor in figure skating for the jumps and turns, and as a result, will have fewer mental blocks. 

“A lot of guys succeed really quickly. So I encourage guys to just join and they might find it fun and easy,” Castello said

“So we do allow anyone to join the club, whether you’ve just started skating or you’ve been skating since you could walk, this is a place for you,” Love explained. 

Interested students can email [email protected] or reach out to the club officers through Instagram, @faufigureskating.

Kayla Die is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this article or others, contact her at [email protected].