Palos Verdes ice skating teens bring joy to kids
Tara Innab and Cheryl Douglass. Photo Courtesy of Cheryl Couglass
Cheryl Douglass and Tara Innab have been friends since they were toddlers.
Growing up in Palos Verdes, the sixteen-year-olds met through ice-skating and both have been competing in the sport since they were 9. Next year, the two will travel to Spain to compete for an international title on behalf of the Los Angeles Ice Theater team, a group of 24 skaters.
Last summer, the two high school students (Cheryl goes to Palos Verdes High and Tara goes to Peninsula High) decided to complete a community service project together. They’d noticed peers doing projects and wanted to do something unique. After brainstorming for an entire summer, the friends decided they’d relate their project to something they loved – ice-skating.
“We wanted to be different and showcase our passion for skating,” Douglass said.
Perhaps, Douglass said, a little girl would fall in love with skating as she had when she was young. “Within three months, I couldn’t find myself wanting to go a single day without skating,” Douglass said, of when she started skating.
Now, Douglass has competed in 30 states nationwide. “Her dad has pretty much every single ice skating rink in the area plugged into his car,” her mom Julie Douglass said, with a laugh.
After doing some research, Douglass and Innab realized their community service idea came with a price. It would cost $500 to rent an ice-skating rink for a day, and another $500 to provide dinner. They also wanted to give the children a gift. At first, they’d imagined making goodie bags filled with candy, but later decided they wanted a more substantive gift.
“It would be great to give them backpacks and school supplies to use during school year,” Douglass thought at the time. Backpacks, paper, pens and pencils would cost another $2,000.
When an anonymous donor provided a trip for two to Hawaii so the girls could raise money, Douglass and Innab were thrilled.
Competitive ice-skaters Tara Innab and Cheryl Douglass planned a community service project to teach young girls from the Boys and Girls Club how to ice-skate. Photo Courtesy of Cherly Douglass.
For months, the two visited the Sunday farmers market and canvassed neighborhoods door-to-door selling $10 raffle tickets and collecting donations for their project. “Every person I saw, I said, ‘Would you like to buy a raffle ticket?’” Douglass said.
Already juggling a crazy schedule, the friends made time to fundraise. Douglass spends her mornings, starting at 7 a.m., at school. Even this summer, she has a full class schedule of honors and Advanced Placement classes. In the afternoon, she heads to the skating rink to train, goes to the gym to do cardio, cycling and weight lifting exercises, or takes a ballet class. When she gets home around 8 p.m., Douglass does homework and studies.
By enrolling in summer school, Douglass knocks out class requirements so she can have afternoons off during the school year to train. Saturday nights are her only free-time – her mom calls it the “golden hour” – when she makes time to hang out with friends.
Photo by Cheryl Douglass
After heavy fundraising, Douglass and Innab finished planning the event which took place on June 30.
Twenty-five girls between 6 and 9 years old from the San Pedro Boys and Girls Club joined Douglass and Innab at the rink for a day on the ice.
“In addition to skating with the kids, we talked with them briefly about what it takes to be a skater at the national level and what it means to be a hard worker,” Innab said in an email, adding that she and Douglass performed a piece at the end of the day, which the young girls enjoyed.
“We performed some jumps and spins. All the kids were amazed, they were like, ‘Can we learn that today?’” Douglass said.
The project revealed to Douglass and Innab how much a difference community service could make in a child’s life. “As dinner came to an end and they were getting ready to go on the ice, a little girl came up to me and said, ‘Are those backpacks for us?’” Innab said.
She told the girl, yes, they were and that she and Douglass would pass the backpacks out later.
“She replied, ‘Thank you so much, I don’t have one but have always wanted a backpack.’ That’s when it really hit me. I realized how much we were influencing their lives in such a positive way,” Innab continued.
“They were so grateful,” Douglass said.
Tara Innab
Plus, the experience was fun. When the young girls first hit the ice, they clenched to the outer walls, terrified. Some were even crying because they didn’t want to fall and get hurt, Douglass said.
“I said, ‘We’ve probably fallen over 1,000 times,’” Douglass recalled, with a giggle.
In fact, Douglass has a small battle scar on her lip from when she fell on her face while practicing a trick on the ice.
But despite the injuries, the feeling of gliding on the ice is thrilling. “I can’t even describe it,” Douglass said. “You forget about being nervous about the next element. Whether there are 800 people in the audience or no people in audience, it doesn’t matter.”
With Douglass and Innab’s encouragement, the young girls let go of the walls. “By the middle, they were skating alone, having so much fun,” Douglass said.
In addition to funding the event, Douglass and Innab raised an extra $4,500 to benefit the Boys and Girls Club and the US Athletic Foundation, which supports underprivileged athletes in achieving their dreams. “We are really excited to see what will come out of this effort,” Innab said. PEN