Staff Writer
Published: 10/29/2021 5:14:54 PM
The New England West Skating Club (NEWSC) is returning to its “home” ice at Deerfield Academy’s Class of 1993 rink after taking a year away due to the school’s COVID-19 precautions.
The club, which was formed in 2018, had spent its early years hosting programs at Deerfield Academy, but soon found itself having to buy ice time at Collins/Moylan Arena in Greenfield when the pandemic surged through the country. Now, though, the club will be returning to Deerfield Nov. 7 as it continues its fall sessions.
NEWSC Learn to Skate program director Suzanne McCaughtry said the club is happy to be back in a state-of-the-art building with all their resources available.
“All of our supplies are there. It’s a beautiful piece of ice and a beautiful facility,” McCaughtry said in a phone interview. “The facility itself is so welcoming.”
McCaughtry said Deerfield Academy allows the club to use rooms around the ice rink so they can have “off-ice practice” sessions.
“The rink offers so much to us because of the outlying rooms … we’re allowed to use some of their rooms with prior permission,” McCaughtry said.
The rink’s location in Deerfield also helps the club bring in more prospective skaters.
“It leaves us a chance to pull from a greater area,” McCaughtry said. “We pull from down into Northampton.”
Beyond the facility’s physical advantages, McCaughtry said the NEWSC will be able to host all of its programs again, including Learn to Skate. She added the organization was unable to host some of its main programs due to COVID-19 protocols and they are excited to bring them back.
“We couldn’t go back in the 2021 season so we were welcomed back to Collins/Moylan,” McCaughtry said. “It hurt us last year not running that at Collins/Moylan because it was unsafe … that’s what keeps these not-for-profit skating programs going.”
NEWSC’s Learn to Skate program begins Nov. 14 and runs each Sunday until Dec. 19 from 4 to 4:45 p.m. The program costs $120 for the season and covers a five minute warm up, 30 minutes of group instruction and 10 minutes of practice time. The program’s admission is rolling and forms can be found on the club’s website here: https://bit.ly/3Blef8c.
McCaughtry said the program is a great chance for beginners to learn how to skate and it’s open to anyone 6 years old and older.
“If you want to put blade on a boot,” McCaughtry said, “just come.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.
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