The Inspiration Behind Rutgers' Figure Skating Club
Former competitive skater Jasmine Lin is confident the club she started as a freshman will succeed once she graduates
'Starting the club was so rewarding because I realized there really is a skating community here. I only knew one of the board members when we began searching for interested students; then four others came out of nowhere wanting desperately to make this happen.'– Jasmine Lin
Jasmine Lin laced up her first pair of ice skates at age 6. By the time she was 16, Lin’s life centered around the rink.
The competitive figure and synchronized skater from Warren trained 15 hours a week, waking at 4:30 a.m. to bookend her school days with intense practices. She missed nearly 30 days of her senior year at Watchung Hills Regional High School to compete in the U.S. Synchronized Skating Team’s junior division.
When she entered Rutgers in 2012, Lin was ready to hang up her skates as a competitor. But she wasn’t ready to lose the camaraderie that came from training and traveling with teammates.
“Meeting girls across the country and internationally, that’s what I loved,” she said. “I loved the community and how everyone was so supportive of each other.”
To fill that void, Lin founded Rutgers University Figure Skating Club in April 2013 with 20 signatures and a board of five “retired” skaters excited to connect with others from the sport.
“Starting the club was so rewarding because I realized there really is a skating community here,” said Lin, 21. “I only knew one of the board members when we began searching for interested students; then four others came out of nowhere wanting desperately to make this happen.”
As interim director of recreational sports for the university, it’s Stephan Pappas’s job help students like Lin launch their clubs. No slap-dash process, it requires the creation of a constitution, bylaws and a budget proposal, all of which have to be approved by the executive board.
“There are some 30,000 undergraduates at Rutgers, and we only have 57 clubs, so there aren’t too many students who step up and start a club,” Pappas said. “Jasmine did that. She knew what she wanted, built up the club and did a very good job.”
Initially Pappas was concerned the rink rental would make the club cost prohibitive to members. But Lin proved herself to be a savvy negotiator.
“Our hockey clubs pays $325 an hour. She negotiated a $5 to $10 practice spot for each skater,” he said. “I was pretty impressed with that because it kept the rental fee down.”
The nearly three-year-old figure skating club attracts 15 to 20 members each semester and hosts three practice sessions a week at Protec Ponds Ice Skating Center in Somerset. Skaters, who range in ability from beginner to two-time Taiwanese national champion and Rutgers student Stephen Kuo, can attend as many or as few sessions and club competitions as they like.
“Competing isn’t something we require,” said Lin, a senior who majors in cell biology and neuroscience in the School of Arts and Sciences honors program. “We have so many options, and that’s what makes it so special.”
The Rutgers club entered one skater in its first appearance at an intercollegiate team figure skating competition in 2014 at Cornell University. Lin was one of 10 members the club sent to the University of Delaware in 2014 for its first official competition as a group.
“We got to see other college students skating for fun, competing for fun,” Lin said. “It was exciting to put the Rutgers name on the intercollegiate skating field.”
Through the club, members have participated in events large – including New Jersey Figure Skating Foundation’s 2013 Skatetacular charity, which raised funds for New Jersey skaters and Hurricane Sandy Relief – and small – an impromptu cookie bake night attended by several members on campus.
Last year, the club started a new tradition that members hope to see grow: public skate sessions. Protec Ponds hosts the fundraising event, but members run the show, providing instruction and discounts to Rutgers students.
Teaching beginners how to skate is nothing new for Lin, who as been coaching budding figure skaters ages 2 to 12 at Protec Ponds since 2012.
“Skating has been such a big part of my life. I don’t think I could ever move on from it that’s why I coach now,” said Lin. “It brings me just as much joy to coach my students as it did to train – except I don’t sweat.”
Though she is uncertain about her post-graduation plans, there are two things Lin is sure of come May: she will continue coaching and Rutgers University Figure Skating Club will live on.
To ensure the latter, Lin stepped down as president this fall so that junior Emily Goldberg could step into the role.
“I’m so happy because it means it’s actually going to stay at Rutgers,” she said. “It’s nice to see something you created taken over by someone else and see that legacy continue.”