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Community Corner

Skating School at Iceland Still Sharp as a Blade

For 22 years, Peter Burrows' school has taught skaters of all levels how to compete and to have fun.

Not everyone who puts on a pair of skates and heads out on the ice will become a figure skating champion.  If you do so at , however, your odds may increase just a bit.

Iceland is one of the oldest rinks on Long Island and for the last 22 years has housed the Peter Burrows Skating Center. Burrows has been working with skaters for over 50 years and is himself a former British champion. Burrows has worked with a lot of talented skaters, but he's quick to say it takes more than talent to compete at a championship level.

"They all compete, but there are very few competitors," Burrows says.

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A Star at Iceland

It's safe to say Samantha Cesario fits the bill.  The Oceanside teen is one of the Island's brightest skating stars, winning the North Atlantic Regional tournament (having bested, among others, Olympian and fellow Long Islander Emily Hughes), as well as the gold in the Junior Ladies competition at the 2010 Gardena Spring Trophy in Italy.

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Cesario was set to compete in the U.S. Nationals in North Carolina this month.  Unfortunately, she had to withdraw with fractures in her back and will be out at least six weeks. 

Cesario has trained with Burrows for eight years and has spent a lot of time on the rink at Iceland. Mary Lynn Gelderman is another one of Cesario's coaches; she worked with Burrows for over 30 years.  They have a  school upstate in Monsey where many of his top skating prospects train, but they have to come from somewhere, and often, that somewhere is Iceland.

"New Hyde Park is very unique in the fact that you can take your very first lesson on this ice...you can continue and still end up working with a coach of Olympic acclaim [here]," Gelderman says.

The 'It' Factor

It starts with the Learn to Skate program.  It's open to all ages, but prospective competitors start as early as age three.  Those that show promise may receive private lessons in more advanced moves like spins and jumps.

"You usually find they want to jump," Burrows says of children who have an interest in competing.  "Those are the ones you want."

So what separates a future Olympian from the many children who learn how to ice skate?

"They have to show they can compete, show they have a work ethic, and that 'it' factor begins to take over," Gelderman says.

Popular on Long Island

For some reason, that 'it' factor is readily found on Long Island.  Gelderman says a combination of talent, desire and parental support has made our area a fertile ground for figure skaters.

"There is something in the water on Long Island that people here are very family-oriented, child-oriented, and I have never had parents back down here," she says.  "Whether it be hockey, figure skating...the towns do very well with the programs they have for children."

As we've seen once again this year, .  Until those temperatures rise and grounds thaw, something has to fill the sport and entertainment void often found this time of year.  Skating is affordable (Burrows says business is holding its own) and certainly a lot more accessible than skiing, making it the premier winter sport, Gelderman believes.

"It's fun, it's healthy...most children think of ice skating as a fun thing to do," she says.

And from beginners to Olympic hopefuls, they do it at Iceland.

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