Prospect Park

Prospect Park’s 2014 ice skating season kicks off Oct. 25

Classes for kids and adults in skating, hockey and curling at LeFrak Center

October 17, 2014 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
LeFrak Center at Lakeside
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Prospect Park’s amazing skating pavilion, the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, is kicking off its second ice skating season on Saturday, Oct. 25 (weather permitting).

The center – with two rinks for skating, and indoor and outdoor dining at Bluestone Café — opened last December after a $10 million gift from the LeFrak family.

Besides regular skating hours, the LeFrak Center offers weekday evening and weekend youth and adult ice skating, hockey and curling lessons (more about this below) for beginners to advanced skaters and hockey enthusiasts.

For kids, Lakeside Skate School offers U.S. Figure Skating Association-approved programs designed to nurture and develop kids’ skills on ice.

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For grownups, Lakeside offers something unusual: adult-only classes (18 and up). This U.S. Figure Skating Association-approved program, taught by certified skating instructors, helps adults learn introductory skills and become proficient in next level skating techniques such as marching, gliding, crossovers and basic backwards skating.

Lakeside offers both youth and adult U.S.A. Hockey-approved programs as well. Taught by certified instructors, the classes teach students how to move on the ice, hockey fundamentals such as skating, stick handling, passing and shooting, as well as the rules of the game.

Curling — “chess on ice” — was invented in medieval Scotland in the early 1500s, and now it is an official Olympic sport. Lakeside says it’s about time Brooklyn becomes a major hub for curlers and Bonspiels (curling tournaments). Starting November, Lakeside will be offering curling lessons in Brooklyn, for those looking to prepare for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

LeFrak Center replaced the old Wollman Skating Rink. Because it was built on the site of the old rink’s parking lot, the project adds five acres to the lake as well as three acres of existing parkland. The project also included the reconstruction of the lake’s original “Music Island,” which was destroyed when Robert Moses built the Wollman Rink in 1960.

Skating rink admission is $6 weekdays; $8 weekends and holidays, with skate rentals: $5 per person.  Every Monday (excluding holidays), children 12 and under can enter the rink for free between 3 and 6 p.m. for unlimited skating accompanied by an adult.

Rentals and concessions are open on Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Visit lakesidebrooklyn.com for more information.


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