Ice show Dec. 17

Three young St. Louis-area girls are taking different approaches to improving as ice skaters. They have different levels of skill and different goals for the future.

But, on Sunday, Dec. 17, all will be performing in the Winter Classic Ice Show at the North County Recreational Complex. The Mississippi Valley Figure Skating Club is sponsoring the show which features both solos as well as precision team skating.

The North County event will start at 7 p.m. Audience admission is free. 

Twelve-year-old Becky Cacioppo of Glen Carbon, Ill.,  wants to compete in ice skating at a future Olympics Games. She practices six days a week. Her coach is former Russian pairs skater Igor Lisovsky. 

During the school year, her practices are about one to 1 1/2 hours. But, in the summer, she’ll skate as much as five hours a day. 

Eight-year-old Mallory Simmons of South Roxanna, Ill., practices two to three times a week during the school year. She would like to be a part of a Disney on Ice show. 

Nine-year-old Heather Cook is a fourth grader at Twillman Accelerated Elementary School in Spanish Lake. She skates three times a week but is more interested in running track. She also plays soccer and softball. 

Mallory and Heather both take skating lessons from Becky Kern-Ryan. But, their coach admits she keeps her lessons “light-hearted.” She said, “I want the skaters to have lots of fun. I’m sort of gentle when it comes to coaching.” 

Regardless of their goals or their training methods, all three have found a home in U.S. Figure Skating Assn. (USFSA) clubs in the St. Louis area. Several of them skate at more than one of the indoor skating rinks in the area. 

Leta Redd is president of the Mississippi Valley Figure Skating Club. Her club buys ice time every week at the St. Louis County Parks’ North County Recreational Complex. However, if the girls want extra coaching, they have to bring their own. 

There are many opportunities to learn ice skating in the St. Louis area. And, the kids can start in programs as young as three or four years of age. 

For instance, Heather started skating at age four. She was part of the Tiny Tots program at the North County Complex. Mallory started at six and Becky Cacioppo was eight when she took up the sport. 

In the Dec. 17 show, Heather will join with five other girls to skate a team routine set to the music, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” 

Ms. Redd said most of the team and solo skating will be set to holiday music, in keeping with the season. However, she said, “Some of the girls who will be skating in future competitions oftentimes use that music.” 

Becky Cacioppo is a little more advanced than some of the other girls. She will be skating a three-minute solo routine set to the music, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Part of her routine is likely to feature double-jumps, Redd said. 

Coach Becky Kern-Ryan is 24. She started skating at age 12 in a group program at the North County Complex. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Missouri-St. Louis. 

She is the assistant skating director at the U.S. Ice rink in Fairview Heights. She also teaches group classes at North County. She has a dozen private students, ranging in age from six to 50. 

She also teaches precision teams of from nine to 12 skaters. 

For St. Louis area youngsters who want to learn more about figure skating opportunities, they can go to the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. website (www.usfsa.org). There, you can call up the names of local USFSA club officials in both Missouri and Illinois.

Also, you could contact the St. Louis County Parks Department or call directly to the various ice skating rinks in the metro area. 

In addition to figure skating, youngsters also have the opportunity to take part in a variety of hockey activities. Those activities also start early, oftentimes as early as three or four years of age.