By Bryan Simo, Staff Writer
With the weather getting colder, winter activities are coming back into season, and what better time to go ice skating. Ice skating is the perfect activity for some guaranteed fun with friends and a great opportunity to try something new.
Experienced ice hockey player, senior Shreyas Bhargava says, “I’ve spent most of my life playing hockey, so it’s nice to be able to just ice skate with friends sometimes.” One of those friends is senior Rahul Manchanda-Izquierdo, who Sheryas has been teaching how to ice skate. “It’s really fun,” Rahul says, adding that, “I still fall a lot, but I’m definitely getting better.” Rahul wants to learn how to ice skate because “it’s a useful skill to have. Imagine you go ice skating on a date and the girl you’re with gets the ‘ick’ because you’re struggling to stay up–I can’t let that happen,” he explains, giving all the more reason to give ice skating a try.
Besides just being a fun activity, ice skating also has many disciplines, like freestyle, synchronized, ice dance, pairs, and even theater on ice. River Hill is honored to have its very own figure skater, senior Anna Sretenski. Anna describes how she’s “been ice skating since [she] was three years old and… got into it because of [her] parents,” who are both former figure skaters. Anna specializes in freestyle skating and theater on ice, practicing for sixteen hours a week to perfect her craft. However, despite how stressful her schedule may be, she claims, “I still enjoy it.” This year Anna will even be playing Clara in her figure skating club’s performance of the Nutcracker on Ice. “My club has an amazing show crew and our performances are always top tier,” she says, so make sure to check her out in the Columbia Figure Skating Club’s Nutcracker on Ice on Sunday, December 10th at 6:15 PM.
Whether you want to impress a potential date, get involved in a sport, or just want to try something new, check out the many ice skating options in the area. The Columbia Ice Rink offers public sessions on the weekends along with Teen Night on Friday’s from 9 – 11 PM and themed nights on Saturday’s from 9:30 – 11 PM. The Color Burst Ice Rink in Merriweather also offers public skating sessions throughout the week with School Night on Wednesday’s where Howard County students skate for $10.