Our mission is to help those in need
The idea for therapeutic skating began when Jim O’Neill founded STARSkaters in 2008 with the purpose of providing an on-ice experience for individuals with disabilities. In 2009, he and other hockey players would give skating lessons to disabled youth on Saturday mornings at Sugar Land Ice Center (SLICE). On May 15th of 2010, he organized an event with ARC of Ft. Bend County, which is where he first met B.L. Wylie who ran the Learn To Skate Classes at SLICE and had long had an interest in developing a program to teach disabled youth to skate. Not long after, Anthony Lo also had an interest in starting a class for his high school graduation project to teach student who couldn’t participate in the rinks current Learn To Skate program.
With the expertise of B.L. Wylie’s volunteer instructors and modeling the program after US Figure Skating’s 14 level badge program, the Therapeutic Skating program began to take off. It was at a lunch on October 26, 2011 with B.L. Wylie that the name SkateTherapy was born. SkateTherapy.org was officially organized as another program to be offered, along with Sled
Hockey, under the STARSkaters 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The first meeting of SkateTherapy.org included 5 students and 7 coaches, with keen interest among all involved. The ensuing years have seen great growth, in all aspects, including enough coaches for each student to have a one to one relationship with a coach. The unsung heroes in this program are the preteen and teenage – college level Instruction staff!
“CONSTANT CARE FOR ALL, BY ALL’’ weighed on our minds along with our slogan, “NEVER SAY NEVER” We know our jobs as hosts to a very special group of children and young adults! Each class session is very special to us, and we know our jobs take effort and energy! We look forward to meeting all interested parties for whom this program would be beneficial! We do let everyone who hears about us know we care about their interest, and we will help you take each step along the way to success! It starts with a visit to watch the program in progress, followed by a personal interview! WE WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY AS YOU LEARN TO ICE SKATE!
WE LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING YOU!
B.L. WYLIE, SkateTherapy.org,