Is Growing In Popularity, Even Here In Florida Story by Deborah Welky • Photos by Abner Pedraza
Steve Lomax, together with his children (10-year-old Sofia and 8-year-old Austin), have come up with a family-friendly way to beat the summer heat. They leave their home in Wellington and head to the nearest ice skating rink. “I started coming here when my other daughter, Natalie, was taking ice skating lessons,” he recalled. “She was four at the time. Soon, I was taking them, too. Now, it’s our family’s second home.” Eventually, Natalie channeled her talents into soccer, but Steve, Sofia and Austin are now practicing every week for a big Theatre on Ice competition coming up on Aug. 17 in Virginia. As part of the Palm Beach Skate Zone synchronized ice skating team, they will present the production number “Arabian Nights,” a nod to Disney’s Aladdin. “Because the production needs per28
august 2019 | wellington the magazine
formers of all ages, it’s a chance for me to compete alongside my children,” Steve explained. “It’s a good chance for us to be together. We wear costumes, we have a script, there’s music, and we skate to it. I get to play Jafar. My son is Abu, the little monkey, and my daughter is one of the gypsies.” Although this is the family’s first trip to the bi-annual competition, Steve has been featured in local Skate Zone shows, appearing as Dark Vader, a Nutcracker and the Grinch. As the popularity of synchronized ice skating soars coast to coast, Palm Beach
Skate Zone keeps pace with the trend by hosting teams for ages 5 to 7, 7 to 11, 12 and up, and the Theatre on Ice group for ages 6 through adult. The program is coached by Debra Fertig. “Synchronized skating has been around since late 1950s,” Fertig said. “The first team was formed in Ann Arbor, Mich., although, back then, it was known as precision skating. There are 8 to 20 skaters on a team, with 90 percent of them female.” Ann Arbor’s “Hockettes” team — similar to Radio City Music Hall’s “Rockettes” — was formed to entertain spectators during intermissions of the University of Michigan Wolverines hockey team. Because the emphasis was on precision and timing, it resembled a drill team routine in its early days.