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KC skate instructors hope Olympics help break stereotypes in youth figure skating

Posted at 7:40 AM, Feb 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-23 09:14:44-05

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — As the Winter Olympics come to an end, ice skating coaches across Kansas City hope the games made an impression on boys, specifically. They said fewer males choose figure skating than girls, overall.

Gabriella Horn, a skating instructor, said with fewer boys lacing up figure skates, there are fewer men in the higher levels of competition. That has a ripple effect on the women’s side of the sport. 

“It does get very critical because a lot of the female skaters don’t get to do pair skating or ice dancing because they can't find a male partner,” said Horn. 

She teaches a “Learn to Skate” program at the Centerpoint Medical Center Community Ice Rink in Independence. One of her skaters is 15-year-old Michael Poland. He's one of the few teenage male competitive figure skaters in the metro. 

Poland said watching American Evan Lysacek win gold in the 2010 Olympics inspired him to try the sport despite pressures to follow the stereotype that boys might play hockey while girls figure skate. 

“I say just come give it a try,” Poland explained. “If you don’t like it, that's fine, but you may end up enjoying it.”

Horn echoes that thought with her motto: “Don’t knock it, until you try it.”

She said figure skating takes a lot of athleticism and is much more physically demanding than the stereotypes lead young boys to believe. 

“With skating, it's not just arm movement and being artistic, it's the jumps, the spinning, carrying someone up in the air. Having the strength for that takes a lot of macho,” Horn said. 

She said, recently, male figure skaters have been breaking the boundaries of what’s possible in competitions, continually upping the ante on the number of spins and twists a skater can do. She hopes that comes across to boys watching the Winter Olympics. 

For more information on the "Learn to Skate" programs at Centerpoint Medical Center Community Ice Rink, click here.

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