Speedskating competition for kids here

Nick and Beth Gier and Johnny Frohlichstein are three kids entered in the Silver Skates regional speedskating meet here the first week in March. The local meet comes just a week after the three participated in speedskating nationals in Milwaukee.

Nick and Beth Gier

Thirteen-year-old Nick and 11-year-old Beth both participated in the speedskating nationals for the second time at the end of February. Nick competed two years ago while Beth was in the nationals last year.

Ten-year-old Johnny also competed in his second nationals this year.

This year's Silver Skates meet is sponsored by the Missouri Speedskating Assn.

Johnny Frohlichstein

Kids' ice hockey has a higher skating profile in St. Louis. But, speedskating has been around for a long time.

This year's Silver Skates meet marks the 79th year of competition. That meet dates back to when races were held outdoors on Grand Basin below Art Hill in Forest Park.

(For the Silver Skates meet schedule and details, visit www.gatewayspeedskating.org.)

Nick, Beth and Johnny got an early start on learning to speed skate. All said they were four when their parents first got them on skates.

All three of them are now regular competitors in short-track tournaments. That's the sport that got a lot of publicity in the past Winter Olympics because of the popularity of the champion American skater Apollo Ono.

The short track distance is 111 meters per lap. One of the reasons for short-track races is that long-distance speedskating require rinks that accommodate 400-meter laps.

The closest rink with those dimensions is in Milwaukee, where this year's speedskating nationals were held.

Beth did very well in last year's nationals, earning 2nd place in her Pony division.

She said that 2nd place finish was her best speedskating experience.

But, she also lists the 2004 nationals as her worst skating experience. "If I hadn't fallen just before the finish of the race, I would have tied for first," she said.

She started competing in speedskating when she was five. That was after a year of falling down and getting up a lot. She said, "In the beginning, I fell down more times than I could count."

Her first race at age 5 was a half-lap or 55-meter race. Most of her short-track races now are 11 laps. Each heat includes from four to six racers.

Her brother, Nick, competed in the nationals for the first time in 2003. He didn't finish in the top echelon of skaters. But, he said, "I did establish some personal bests."

Nick counts his worst skating experiences as times when "I fall down and hit the wall hard." However, he said he's never broken any bones or suffered any serious injuries.

Johnny Frohlichstein said his best skating experience was "when I won the state championship two years in a row." He was competing in the Pony division.

He lists two "worst" experiences:

One was "when I fell four times in one race," he said. But, he blames his mother for that. "She didn't 'de-burr' my skates," he said.

The other "worst" was being disqualified twice in one meet. Once was for "cross-tracking" and the other for "off-tracking," he said. Because of the crowded conditions in short-track, the skaters have to abide by rules to keep serious pileups to a minimum.

The Gier siblings and Johnny Frohlichstein all started skating at Kirkwood ice rink. They still practice there but the rink has undergone some big improvements.

When the kids started skating, the rink was covered only with a roof. There were no sidewalls so the weather played a big part in their skating.

When it was stormy, it got very cold. But, when the weather was warm, the ice didn't stay hard.

Now, the rink is enclosed and it can be kept at "just right" temperatures. Also, there's a Zamboni machine to dress ice to keep its quality high.

Nick and Beth live in Sunset Hills. He's a 7th grader at Saint Catherine Laboure School. Beth is a 5th grader there.

Johnny lives in Kirkwood and is a 5th grader at the Tillman Elementary School.

Nick and Beth's mom, Terry, is president of the Gateway Speedskating Assn. That group offers competition for skaters of all ages and skaters range in age from 4 to 56.

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