Black athletes thrive at D.C.’s first U.S. Figure Skating club

By Daniella Ignacio, Afro

In her first ice skating class, Sheldonna Harris’s 6-year-old daughter mastered every skill. But there was one thing she refused to do, and that was fall. 

Harris laughed as she reminisced about her now 18-year-old’s beginnings at Fort Dupont Ice Arena: “She just wouldn’t get it, that you have to fall down, it’s one of the skills you have to demonstrate,” Harris said. “She’s like: ‘I don’t fall.’”

Harris knew nothing about ice skating when she enrolled Jaiden in classes, but Harris was soon spending hours at the rink. On weekends, she volunteered at the sign-in table, where she connected with fellow skating mom, Tomeka Gueory. Ice skating was a way to expand her daughter’s horizons, says Gueory, right in their own neighborhood.

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Little did the two know they’d soon start D.C.’s first-ever U.S. Figure Skating club, which today has alumni in Disney on Ice and at Howard’s skating club, the first at a historically Black university. Most importantly to Harris and Gueory, its existence means that local Black skaters, along with anyone interested in joining, can advance their skills in an inclusive, affordable, and Black-led environment.

Learn more about DC’s first US figure skating club.

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