The Colorado Springs Invitational: Figure Skating at Its Finest

Recently there has been a lot of attention given to The Broadmoor Skating club and their very promising members. Yes, The Broadmoor does have a nice skating club that practices at The World Arena in Colorado Springs, but there are at least 2 other skating clubs in Colorado Springs, CO alone. At The Colorado College's Honnen ice arena is the The Colorado College Collegiate Club. In April each year this club hosts the Colorado College Open Figure Skating Competition as well as offering lessons for figure and hockey skating. At Mark "PA" Sertich Ice Arena in Memorial Park is Centennial Skating Club which hosts the Colorado Springs Invitational (CSI) every September.

The Colorado Springs Invitational (CSI) is the last non-qualifying competition nationally and many national and Olympic level skaters will attend in order to "try out" their new routines with the new scoring system before going on to qualifying (for national and Olympic competition) competitions. The past few years Centennial Skating Club has even hosted skaters from international arenas including Canada and England. Nearly 500 competitors are expected each year and it just keeps growing.

One reason this competition is often missed is because it comes 3 months after the Broadmoor open. Everyone has had time to settle down from skating and get all hyped up for hockey (which starts almost as soon as CSI is over) or football season. Also because this is an invitational many people feel it is exclusive - but that is a misnomer, anyone who is a member of the USFSA is "invited" to attend this competition, a membership which is included if you take classes at any rink in Colorado Springs, CO.

In order to help promote CSI we will be discussing the competition and skating in general with several of the members of Centennial Skating Club and the coaching staff of Sertich Ice Center. Many of these folks are skaters, but most are also coaches that are more than happy to teach new skaters.

As an adult skater (I started about 5 years ago) I know how hard it is to find a coach at the Broadmoor that will teach adult skaters just looking to have fun. The plus is that most of the time you can find classes for you AND your kids at the same time - so while you practice your kids are as well! So, the next opportunity you have please check out Centennial Skating Club and Sertich Ice Center and get yourself started in this fun, exciting, and very athletic (great workout!) sport. Classes run from $40-$80 per 10-week session, additional private lessons vary depending on the teacher. A junior level teacher is generally $20/hour to senior teachers at $60/hour. In addition to getting National and Olympic level skaters and coaches there are many perks to taking classes at Sertich Ice Center including free public skate sessions, free skate rental, students only skating sessions before and after classes, and skate swaps (trade up or buy gently used skates for less).