Jessica Li contributed to this article.
“It’s a great opportunity to learn a really fun hobby,” explained club officer and Editor-in-Chief of Web and Mobile of The Blue and Gold, Ryan Coggswell regarding the recent inception of the Ice Skating Club at Malden High.
But how did this club even begin? According to Coggswell, he noticed that the Adventure Club hosted frequent ice skating events around the winter season, attracting many students as it gave them something fun to do during the winter. “We saw that maybe there’s enough students that they’d want to do this on a more frequent basis, so we decided to create a skating club,” he explained.
Head of Sports of The Blue and Gold and fellow Ice Skating Club officer, Robert “Bo” Stead, added to this by explaining that he and Coggswell would ice skate alongside friends over the past winters and said, “We thought it’d be a really cool idea just to have a whole club dedicated to skating, and we knew a lot of people who liked skating.”
When asked about their hopes for the club, both officers agreed that they wanted to boost ice skating engagement and have more students attend the weekly events.
As for their goals for the club, they wanted to explore possible fundraising opportunities and keep growing their club members, starting with an impressive 40 members in the first week. While this club has been confirmed to be seasonal between late fall and the end of winter, it has still garnered a large amount of interest.
Last week, this interest emanated in their second event at Flynn Rink. With a larger group of people compared to its previous event. The club’s rapid growth has been regarded as a great success by Coggswell.
Regarding future changes, Coggswell stated that their list of locations, which currently includes Boston’s Steriti Memorial Rink and Medford’s Flynn Rink, could be expanded, based on turnout and members’ input.
In addition, “we might even do different types of skating,” he said. Though the club currently utilizes public and free skates, officers are considering fundraising to provide more options and rent out private time for skaters.
Moreover, the club looks to potentially host peer lessons, in which more experienced skaters teach basic skating skills and offer tips to new learners, in efforts to “create a more a club environment where everyone gets to know each other.”
Senior Chad Robertson, a former hockey player, joined the club as it presented an opportunity for him “to be able to go back on the ice and enjoy it.” Having attended both club events, Robertson believes “it’s been great” to be able to do his own thing and spend time with friends, remarking “this is a great way to do it.” He also praised the club’s flexibility, speaking highly of being able to “show up when you want and just do you.”JESSICA LI 
Senior Phillip Li on the rink. JESSICA LI
For people interested in joining the club, ice skating events are hosted every Friday unless otherwise noted on their Instagram account (@skatemalden). Why should you even join? “It’s entertaining and an opportunity to go hang out with your friends,” stated Coggswell, and “skating is awesome,” as said by Stead. Even if you aren’t familiar with skating on ice, many members of the club are more than willing to lend a helping hand and teach new members to skate.
For any questions/concerns, reach out to @skatemalden on Instagram or contact club officers rstead25@maldenps.org, rcoggswe24@maldenps.org, or club advisor John Frigo jfrigo@maldenps.org.
