World Ice Skating Day 2024
During my internship at the Flemish Skating Union I was able to organise the celebration of the ISU's World Ice Skating Day 2024 in Flanders, Belgium.
To Celebrate World Ice Skating Day 2024 the VLSU organised a charity gala exhibition. We celebrated Flanders' best and upcoming talents and brought inclusion to the rink by collaborating with a school for special education.
The highlight of the event was a show of around 45minutes giving the chance to figure skaters and short track skaters to show their skills to a mix audience. Our show included big names like Loena Hendrickx and Nina Pinzarrone, as well as upcoming names like Denis Krouglov, and a mini team. For many skaters it was the first time skating outside of competition or the yearly club show, to top of their experience they performed infront of politicians and the president of the BIOC. After inspiring people with our talented skaters we gave them the chance to take a step on the ice themselves during a disco skating session.
For VLSU it was very important to do more than just creating entertainment. Because of this we collaborated with a school for special education. The students made candy bags and pancakes to be sold at the event, this provided this added educational value to the collaboration since this fits into their curriculum.
Some students and their families were selected to attend the event for free and take a step on the ice. Because of their disabilities and poverty this as an activity they normally wouldn't be able to attend. All profit was donated to the school in order to help them with paying for sport activities and material.