Girls with special needs discover fun, friendship, new skills on the ice
Like a scene from "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," the four girls laughed and giggled as they joined hands together and began to skate across the ice.
The members of the Elite Stars practiced their routines at Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills in preparation for the upcoming Ice Breaker Classic at Oakton Ice Arena.
Stephanie Dreksler of Schaumburg, Erin Diamond of Buffalo Grove, Carly Zieszmer of Kildeer and Stephanie Brandwein of Long Grove are girls with special needs, most with Down syndrome, but have found a new love in figure skating and competing with Elite Stars.
"I have a lot of good friends here," said Zieszmer as she prepared to go on the ice. "They are very nice and they like to help me. During competitions, we like to cheer, scream loud and have fun."
Stephanie Brandwein's mom, Marlene, watched the practice and said that the kids love each other and that the skating program is their social life.
For the past six months, they have been taking skating lessons from veteran ice instructor Karen Kay Lavris with the Glacier Skating Academy and her 14-year-old peer assistant Olivia Gualano of Hoffman Estates.
The girls skate as part of a team with several other members in the Ice Skating Institute competitions, which are more recreational than Special Olympics.
"Karen is wonderful. She loves these kids," said Brandwein. "She says she wants them to be like everyone else and she lets them be like everyone else."
Several of the girls have been skating for three years or more and are skilled enough to master many technical skating moves including waltz jumps, spirals and two-footed spins.
During the recent Sweetheart Open in Niles in December, all of the members of the team won first place in Solo and Compulsory.
"These girls are amazing," smiled Lavris. "They listen to me, they trust me and we have fun. Tuesdays and Sundays are my favorite days and I love it. These girls really are stars."
The girls have two more competitions before heading to Boston for the 30th Annual Ice Skating Institute World Team Championships in July.
As practice came to a close, Dreksler and Zieszmer hugged each other after completing spirals together and the two friends exited the rink hand in hand.