When we skate, we’ll skate for them

On a normal Monday afternoon at the Centennial Sportsplex ice rink in Nashville, Tenn., you’ll hear the sounds of blades carving across the ice. The swish of spins and the crisp sounds of jumping and landing. But on Monday, Feb. 3, during what would have usually been a busy afternoon session of practice for the Nashville Skating Academy, there was only the mechanical whir of the building system that keeps the ice frozen. Everything else was silent.

Gathered under dimmed lights at center ice from 2:35 to 2:40 p.m., the skaters, coaches and families of the rink paid tribute to the 28 members of the figure skating community lost in the tragic mid-air collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a helicopter on Wednesday, Jan. 29. On the ice, a cluster of battery-operated candles illuminated hand-drawn signs and poster boards with messages of love and support:

“We honor the skaters and families of Flight 5342.”

“Think about them when you skate.”

Coaches stood behind their students, hands on their shoulders or arms wrapped around them. There were competitive skaters who had been at the National Development Camp in Wichita, the one the skaters lost on the flight also attended. There were young hockey skaters, adult skaters who took time off from work to be at the memorial and members of the rink’s adaptive skating program for people with disabilities — all skaters, in whatever capacity they participate on the ice.

It was a scene repeated at rinks around the country at the exact same moment: a nationwide memorial vigil organized to show support in a time of tragedy. The simultaneous tributes were all broadcast on LiveBarn, a website that provides live stream video in ice rinks, so members of the skating community could watch or participate. Hurting, in sadness, all these skaters were drawn to the ice, to their rinks. In Boston, home to six of the victims of the crash, many gathered at the Skating Club of Boston’s Norwood rink facility the day after the news broke, and then again in the days since and for their own tributes.

For skaters, the rink is where we find community. It’s where we never feel alone.

I’ve been skating since I was 6 years old, 30 years of my life, and the ice has always been a home for me—wherever I am. I’ve moved a number of times over the years, from Massachusetts, to Indiana, then Chicago and Oregon, and finally to Nashville. In each location, I was always able to connect with people at the rink, to find friends and like-minded folks.

There is an understanding and a sameness, even if you’ve never done a triple jump like Spencer Lane or Jinna Han. We are all skaters who have that same love and passion for being on the ice, each in our own way. We all know the smell of a rink when you walk in the doors, the crisp air. The quiet and stillness of the rest of the world when we’re en route to a 6 a.m. practice session. The steadfast dedication of the parents in the bleachers who brought their children there for that early practice. The pain when you hit the ice after a fall, the determination to get back up and try again. The patience and persistence it takes to perfect any skill executed on a quarter-inch blade on a slippery surface.

That commonality breeds a closeness that is particularly apparent in challenging times. When the father of one of my college skating teammates died, we wore black scrunchies in his memory all season. When a young skater was battling cancer, my Chicago-area rink organized a fundraiser show. Without question, the skating community shows up for each other.

The same is true in the aftermath of this tragic crash over the Potomac. Countless tributes to the people on the flight have been shared, from Olympians and well-known figures in the sport to friends and neighbors of the deceased.

This community has been particularly strong in times of tragedy before. In 1961, in an eerily similar event, the entire World Championships team died in a plane crash on the way to the competition. Any U.S. Figure Skating member or skater is immediately familiar with the final photo of the team boarding the fateful flight, because it is used to promote the memorial fund established in their memory. For decades, this memorial fund has supported high-level skaters in their training expenses, in memory of those that were lost.

In October 2001, a tribute ice show for the 40th anniversary of that plane crash was scheduled at Madison Square Garden. Just three weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the organizers pivoted the show to also honor the victims of that tragedy, including a performance by then-junior skater Joanna Glick, who performed in memory of her brother, who died on United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.

As a skater growing up in the ’90s and 2000s, the 1961 team and the memorial fund loomed large over my experience. How will the skaters of this generation remember this second plane crash tragedy? U.S. Figure Skating has already created a family support fund to help the family members of those on the flight.

The skaters, coaches and family members lost on that flight were not the ones headed to the Olympics next year, but they were on that trajectory. It would be like losing all the top high school football recruits before they even had an opportunity to play in college or declare for the NFL draft. It’s a tragic loss of life, and on top of that, a loss of talent and potential. Of coaches who were nurturing that potential and helping raise the next generation of skaters, and the devoted parents who supported them.

When something as senseless and horrifying as this plane crash occurs in the midst of a news cycle that seems to bring fresh outrage at every turn, you worry that people will move on too fast, and the memories of those lost will fade. But if history is any indication, the skating community will not let that happen. If there is healing to be done, it will happen on the ice.

A benefit show, “Legacy on Ice,” has already been announced for March 2 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., featuring U.S. Figure Skating’s current top skaters, legends in the sport and members of the D.C. area professional sports teams. It will include members of the Skating Club of Boston and the D.C. and Virginia-area rinks who lost members. When the 2025 World Championships take place in Boston in March, there will surely be tributes to those that were lost.

And it won’t stop there. We, the figure skating community, will ensure that their memories and impact live on for future generations.

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