Finding her ice legs: Local children skate for the 1st time

She reached for the wall, but it was too late. Her left knee turned in, her right foot slid out in front of her, her brown, puffy winter coat hit the ice.

Olivia McRoberts took her first ice skating fall.

Her mom reached for her hand and pulled her back up on her feet.

Olivia had watched Disney’s “Ice Princess” just before her parents, Bloomington residents Alyssa and Daniel McRoberts, brought her and her sister to Frank Southern Ice Arena.  

“Ice skating is one of those childhood things you just have to do,” Alyssa said, looking toward Olivia. “But it takes practice.”

Olivia took her mother’s hand in her own and held onto the wall with her other. Inches at a time, she hesitantly guided her ice skates forward.

Adjacent to Bloomington High School South, Frank Southern Ice Arena has been serving Bloomington residents such as the McRoberts family since 1967. It is open to the public for a few hours every day of the week.

“We try and provide a quality recreational experience for the community,” said Dee Tuttle, the arena’s general manager. “We want people to come back again and again.”

The arena is an anomaly in the area: It is one of only four ice arenas in the state south of Indianapolis.

Originally an outdoor rink, it had a ceiling, lobby and locker rooms constructed around the ice in 1988. Being indoors allows the arena to play host to scheduled activities, including skating lessons, hockey matches and figure skating tournaments, regardless of the weather.

Tuttle said she enjoys seeing community members of all ages and skill levels come for public skating.

“We have people who have never skated before skating right next to people who have skated their whole lives,” Tuttle said.

By the end of her hour at the arena, Olivia was on her way to being one of the expert skaters — or, at least, an ice princess.

“She did so much better than we expected,” Daniel McRoberts said. “I thought all of us would spend our whole day on our butts.”
Instead, Olivia was skating without holding anyone’s hand on her way off the ice. She had a smile on her face as she walked off the rink and into the lobby. She sat on a bench while her mom unlaced her rented ice skates.
“Do you think you want to come back sometime, Olivia?” Alyssa asked.
“Oh yes,” she replied, picking a fleck of ice out of her hair. “Absolutely.”