“Our goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”
― Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As a woman and a minority, I have learned how important it is for a person to feel a sense of inclusion and belonging – to be accepted, to feel safe and free to be oneself – in order to feel a part of something, whether it is school, work, a club, or any other community. I feel fortunate I have experienced that openness and acceptance at the Club, and hope to foster the same environment for others who walk through our doors. It is in sharing and embracing our differences, while finding commonality in our similarities, that we learn and grow together and provide opportunities to be our best selves in our wonderful skating community.

“If you don’t see yourself in the sport, how can you believe that you belong, how can you believe that you can be the best, how do you know that you can be creative or that you’ll be accepted for your uniqueness?”

- Vanessa James

I believe that anyone who comes to a rink and is curious about stepping on the ice should feel free and empowered to put on some skates and discover what they are capable of. Skating can enable people to express themselves and to grow stronger — physically and intellectually — in ways that are unique among sports. Regrettably, many people have encountered barriers in their ability to thrive in skating, often because of social or economic factors they couldn’t control. The figure skating community should continue to critically examine our sport in order to remove as many of those barriers as we can.