Supporting figure skaters without physical boundaries–that’s the mission behind the Washington Figure Skating Club (WFSC), the largest in the country. It’s through this commitment to hosting any promising skaters who can make the trip to one of their rinks that the WFSC has been able to produce national and international champions and medalists in dance and freestyle for over 80 years.
“Perhaps our most renowned Olympic competitor from Northern Virginia is Michael Weiss, who participated in the 1998 and 2002 Olympic Games—both times finishing seventh,” notes historian and treasurer for the WFSC, Konrad Huppi. “Michael reigned over US men’s figure skating for many years. He was a three-time men’s champion, three-time silver medalist, and a bronze medalist at Nationals from 1997 to 2003.” Weiss was coached by Audrey King Weisiger, who was also a renowned skater in her own right for the WFSC in the 1960s.
Founded in 1938 under the guidance of its first president, Dr. Christoph Meyer, the WFSC came to fruition at the Riverside Stadium—or what is now known as the Kennedy Center. At the time, the Riverside Stadium had taken advantage of a unique opportunity to create an indoor ice rink for DMV residents.
“There were refrigeration units located at the Christian Heurich Brewery across the street—now the location of the arena stage—and they were able to utilize those units to create a full-time ice surface,” Huppi explains.
The club became one of the early members of the United States Figure Skating Club. Today, however, the WFSC is no longer tied to just one rink: It supports more than ten rinks, including ones in Mt. Vernon, Reston SkateQuest, Ashburn, Kettler Medstar, and Prince William.
“Given the regionality of the DMV-area, it is difficult to categorize skaters as being solely from Virginia, Maryland, or DC,” Huppi says. “A good example is the WFSC synchronized skating teams, DC Edge and Team Ashburn, both of whom have WFSC skaters that reside or practice on both sides of the Potomac River.”
As a result of this flexibility, the WFSC harbors a rich history of skaters in its hall of fame dating from the early years of the 1940s and 1950s.
The Adult and Masters teams of DC Edge have particularly distinguished themselves as four-time National champions (2012, 2014, 2016, 2017) and two-time National Champions (2016, 2017), respectively, he adds.
Recently, WFSC has also boasted U.S. Figure Skating National Men’s championship silver medalist, Ilia Malinin, and dance championship pewter medalists, Michael Parsons and Caroline Green. These three skaters were named as alternates to the 2022 Olympic team this year in Beijing.
Watching the skaters grow up and move on to new ventures through the years has been a delight for long-time members.
“One of our WFSC hall of fame skaters from the 1940 and ’50s, Don Laws, grew up to become the long-time coach of Scott Hamilton, and even briefly coached Michael Weiss,” Huppi says.
Another WFSC skater, Phyllis Farrington Howard of Arlington, went on to become president of U.S. Figure Skating.
“And at the last U.S. Figure Skating National Championships, as we watched our WFSC competitors vie for Olympic berths, we were also able to catch a glimpse of Derrick Delmore coaching at Nationals,” Huppi shares.
Megan Herr is an editor and writer residing in the Shenandoah Valley. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Penn State University.
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