Rookie Laps For All

Robert Trowbridge knew he’d made the right call as he watched his son, Oscar, 6, skating around happily with Kraken mascot Buoy and a bunch of other first-grade classmates.

Trowbridge, two months back, volunteered as an on-ice parent chaperone for students from Olympic View Elementary as they embarked on an eight-week Learn To Skate program courtesy of the One Roof Foundation (ORF). The 50 participating students, ranging from first to fifth grades, were transported once a week for eight weeks to the Kraken Community Iceplex for on-ice instruction from team employees and additional free time to hone their new skating abilities.

“He’s got a lot of trepidation about going out on the ice by himself,” Trowbridge said. “So, I figured this would be a good opportunity for him.”

Trowbridge said he’s seen significant improvement in his son’s ability and confidence – starting with holding on to cones for balance and concluding with skating on his own -- after the eight weeks of sessions, which wrapped up Wednesday with Buoy taking the ice to lead the excited students through their routines.

“I’ve kind of been sticking to the younger group, trying to corral them and help and encourage them to put the cones up or to work together if they’re playing a game. Or, in the case with some of the kids, it’s like, ‘Hey, let’s do a group skate and see whether we can find our balance.’ ”

The initiative arose out of prior discussions between ORF and the parents’ association at Olympic View, a Title 1 school in northeast Seattle with students from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. ORF is the philanthropic arm of the Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena and one of its core mandates is improving access to hockey and skating for members of the community.

Trowbridge said quite a few of the students had skated at least once prior, but not many of them “will get the opportunity” to regularly practice at it because of a lack of available ice or the ability of parents to bring them to lessons.

Out on the ice, Sundari Tsenguun, 8, a third grader, was skating around without the help of a cone.

“I was falling a lot more at the beginning,” she said. “Now, I can stay up.”

Kraken Skating Academy director Chad Goodwin, out on the ice with the students, said even a handful of sessions can quickly improve a child’s ability.

“Some of them have skated before but we had at least 20 kids that had never skated,” Goodwin said. “So, it took a little time, and we took it slow. But eight classes later they’re skating around with a hockey stick, shooting pucks, chasing Buoy around.

“And if they’re not playing hockey, they’re doing things down at the other end of the ice and just having fun.”

Goodwin said he didn’t think any of the students had played organized ice hockey before, though some had tried floor hockey in school. His hope is that the skating lessons spur more youngsters into signing up for Learn to Skate classes run by the Kraken ahead of moving on to more advanced Learn to Play sessions.

“Some of them are pretty good and they’re already stickhandling and actually moving and gliding and skating with the puck,” Goodwin said. “We haven’t spent too much time with them on how to do it. But we’ve actually played a couple of our own mini-games and done line changes with them and all that.

“They actually really enjoy it,” he added. “When we end 45 minutes of skating and they don’t want to get off the ice, then that’s when I feel like we’ve done a good job.”

And for all the students reluctant to leave the ice, even more, are apparently clamoring just to get on it. Olympic View parent Trowbridge said demand for the free eight-week sessions exceeded all expectations.

“There were so many people wanting to take part that they actually needed to do a lottery,” he said. “So, they did that for this first round, then they’ve already done one for another round and so all the kids that didn’t get in the first time will have a chance.”

That second round of sessions is to begin April 23.

“Almost all of the kids were super excited to skate,” Trowbridge said. “I’ve seen a lot of kids transition from using a cone to standing without one. They’ve got some good instructors here and a lot of fun games. The support system can be really good for the kids.”