Figure Skating as EC/Sport

<p>I searched for this topic and nothing came up regarding boarding schools, but I thought I'd ask: How might boarding schools view figure skating (especially competitive/team/league) in the admissions process? Are there any schools out there with figure skating clubs or that offer it as a sport? You'd think it would be a bigger deal in the northeast, but I haven't read much about it. Not asking for myself personally; just curious. Thanks.</p>

<p>These are some boarding schools that offer figure skating as a sport:</p>

<p>[Figure</a> Skating Boarding Schools | BoardingSchoolReview.com](<a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/boarding_schools_sports/sport/49]Figure”>Best Figure Skating Boarding Schools (2023))</p>

<p>There are also boarding schools that are completely dedicated to figure skating / hockey such as the Shattuck-St. Mary’s School:</p>

<p>[Shattuck-St</a>. Mary’s Figure Skating](<a href=“http://ssmfigureskating.org/]Shattuck-St”>http://ssmfigureskating.org/)
[Shattuck-St</a>. Mary’s | Flickr - Photo Sharing!](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/jpellgen/3714281890/]Shattuck-St”>Shattuck-St. Mary's | The most well-known part of the Shattu… | Flickr)</p>

<p>Oh! I feel silly now for not having checked that site. I guess I didn’t even think it would be listed. Awesome! Thanks so much.</p>

<p>@coconut</p>

<p>Figure skating is not a team sport at almost any boarding school, which means that you will have to arrange time away and transportation yourself to get to any competitions. There will be little free time, so in truth it is very unlikely you will be able to maintain competitive skating (both my Ds had to drop it).</p>

<p>That said, you can certainly maintain recreational skating. Most schools have one or two slabs, and both my Ds ended up TEACHING skating on Saturday mornings as a community service activity, which they enjoyed a great deal.</p>

<p>The same problem applies to other “niche” or “small” sports like fencing. It is not realistically possible to put in the time and energy to be nationally competitive while at BS. If excelling in sports is a goal, you have to pick a sport that is offered interscholastically at BS. One of the down sides.</p>

<p>Yeah, that makes sense (and is also what I was afraid of). It’s really a dilemma with ECs; on one hand, applicants want their ECs to set them apart from the pack, but on the other, if an EC is <em>too</em> unique, they put all that work into it and then end up having to drop it once they get to school. I suppose maybe one way a skater could continue would be to channel figure skating into ice hockey, but it’s definitely not the same.</p>