Kids learn to skate, fall, get up again through figure skating | The Homepage

Local club helps kids learn to skate without stress — and gain resilience — at Schenley Ice Rink

By Anne Stetler

It’s a typical cold, blustery winter weekend morning, and yet 30-some volunteers from the Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club descend onto Schenley ice rink to connect with city kids who are signed up to learn to skate. They are not decked out in glitter and glamour, just warm gear and ice skates.

The first week is always chaos, with 100 youth trying to get skates on and tied tight enough. Then they teeter out with varying levels of comfort maneuvering on thin metal blades on ice. Whoever first thought of ice skating could not have done it out of instinct, but here we are. Coaches, kids and parents freezing but completely focused on the task at hand: Accepting that it is not “if” you fall, but rather “when” you fall, then focusing not on the fall but on how to get up. It’s the first lesson taught at Schenley — everyone gets down onto the ice and practices how to get up. And everyone does get up!

The Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club hosts the learn-to-skate classes at Schenley as the major fundraising event for the nonprofit’s support of figure skating in the region. Year-round indoor rinks are located in the suburbs, making it logistically hard for city kids to try out skating. The club’s program at Schenley has addressed this issue. The recent addition of the rink at the Armory adds to the access, giving kids a chance to give skating a try in a low-pressure way without the long drive to suburban rinks.

The impact on city kids is immeasurable, reaching thousands of them over the years. Many of these learn-to-skaters end up progressing into skaters themselves, with some going on to play hockey and others competing as singles, pairs or ice dance, performing theater on ice, synchronized skating or in holiday shows as Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club members. Many then come back to coach at the very place where they started. This is the case for Greenfielders Hanan Hassan,16, and Delaney Pegher, 14, who both share their skills as coaches to kids much like themselves.

“My daughter absolutely loves the program,” said Natalie Greene, a Hazelwood resident whose daughter has participated in the program at Schenley every winter for the past few years. “I especially think it’s wonderful that experienced teenagers are teaching the next generation of skaters and make it lots of fun for all the kids!”

Left: Greenfielder Hanan Hassan, 16, competes at the 2025 Chesapeake Open Figure Skating Competition in June in Laurel, Maryland. Photo by Melanie Heaney. Center: Greenfielder Delaney Pegher competes in a March 2025 Skate Pittsburgh U.S. Figure Skating event at Robert Morris University.

Right: Ms. Pegher, 14, has fun on the ice as a mentor to younger ice skaters at Schenley Ice Rink through the Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club, where she learned to skate.

Full-circle coaching is a unique format to help kids skate. Club members create a slightly older peer-based learning format that breaks down the intimidation of a formalized setting. The kids aren’t really graded and are allowed fluidity in helping them learn skills and move between levels to keep them engaged and learning. Many families have said this is one of the greatest things about the program, that students don’t feel pressured, and that the environment is fun.

The club members come back year after year because they feel valued by the community and love to share their skills.

Ms. Hassan is one of the head coaches of the program.

“I started coming back to Schenley a few years ago to coach, and it makes me smile to see myself in the kids beginning to skate,” she said. “I can still remember some of my first times on that ice. It was so fun and freeing, and if I’m having a rough practice even now, I can think of those Schenley classes, and it will bring me right back to that joy. Coaching at Schenley always reminds me how it started, and I love bringing that to others.”

This year, Ms. Hassan made it to United States Figure Skating’s Eastern Sectionals at the novice level, a postseason competition reserved for the 24 highest-ranked skaters per level on the Eastern seaboard. No other kid from Greenfield or Hazelwood — or the entire city of Pittsburgh — has accomplished this in recent memory.

What kids learn in the classes are basic skating skills that form the fundamentals for any kind of skating. The kids may use these skills to go on to figure skating or hockey, or just not clinging to the wall during a school skate night. Or maybe they move on to something else knowing they can try hard things and get up after they fall.

The Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club has loved contributing to skating in the Pittsburgh region and is happy to open the door to more Greenfield and Hazelwood families.

Email PFSCLearnToSkate@gmail.com or visit pittsburghfsc.com for more information about classes starting in January.

Anne Stetler is a Pitt faculty member who volunteers as the director of Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club’s learn-to-skate sessions and lives in Greenfield.