For the past couple of months skaters, coaches, and parents of the Black River Falls Figure Skating Club have been looking ahead at their plans for the 2022 ice show from March 18-20. After the past two years, they hope to return to what they would consider a “normal” ice show once again. 

Matt Jorgensen is the President of BRFFSC board of directors and has a daughter who skates with the club. He has attended many meetings to discuss the hopeful plans of the regular ice show to come.

“The last two years we’ve had to make some pretty massive accommodations for COVID restrictions so that our skaters could skate. We’re really looking forward to what we would consider to be a normal ice show this year,” Jorgensen said.

Two years ago BRFFSC did a one-day mini show to exhibit small groups, for a fourth of the size of crowd that would normally be in attendance. Last year they split the show into the more experienced skaters and then the younger skaters, so they could have some parts of the usual show, with a limited capacity. This year the hope is to have all skaters skating at all shows of the weekend, which requires bringing back some old ideas. 

“It’s always something that’s a little bit hectic as we get started with the planning. We all have to spend a little bit more time remembering what we did and how we did it. But I tell you, we have great parents and great volunteers that really step up and help us exhibit and showcase our skaters to the community,” Jorgensen said. 

Even though BRFFSC plans on having a back-to-normal ice show, there are still many factors that they need to consider, including the day-to-day and week-to-week changes of COVID restrictions. They plan to keep in touch with local health authorities and the arena committee so that they can ensure that both skater participants and visitors are safe. 

“It is a US Figure Skating sanctioned event. So, we do need to ask all visitors to wear a mask when they do come to a show as of now. Our skaters on the ice don’t need to wear masks,” Jorgensen said. 

Ever since the news came out that BRFFSC was planning on going back to their typical show, skaters and coaches have been busy preparing for the big weekend. This will be a big adjustment back to how things used to be run. 

“The groups will be different from last year because last year we didn’t have a normal show. This year we are going to go back to our normal numbers. We plan to have our big opening numbers, not just solos and duets,” coach Kayla Tennant said. 

Skaters, parents, coaches and community members have mixed emotions about planning a “normal” show again. Many hope to and are excited to be able to have things back to normal but also have their fears due to COVID. 

“I guess my biggest fear is just having the show get canceled last minute or having everything changed. We’ve been working towards it for so long. So far, the entire skating season has been normal this year, so I think that it would be such a letdown if last-minute things changed,” senior Mackenzie Dougherty said. 

Being able to have more spectators at the ice show this year brings many emotions to the skaters at BRFFSC. They have been working hard all season in preparation for the ice show at the end of the year. They hope to make it special since they haven’t had their usual show in years. 

“I think it’ll make the environment a lot more upbeat and everything. It’s nice to perform for a crowd, for me it’s easier to perform with the stands full. I think it also brings a lot of attention to the club, and it gets more involvement with skaters and gets more skaters to join the next year, because the kids watch us and want to start skating,” Dougherty said.