JCube closure in 2023 left figure skaters on thin ice: 'How far am I willing to go?'
JCube shopping mall closed down in August 2023 - along with Singapore's only Olympic-sized ice rink.
Now, about two years after The Rink's closure, figure skaters struggle to balance a competitive sporting career with external commitments.
A second home
For many athletes like Ilika Motani, who has been skating competitively since 2016, The Rink was like a second home.
She told Stomp: "I spent a lot of time there - more than I realised. After school and on weekends, I'd borrow a table from the coaches' locker room to do my homework."
The only remaining ice rink is Kallang Ice World at Leisure Park Kallang. However, it's not only smaller, but also prohibits spinning, jumping, footwork, backward skating and excessive speed.
Redefining sacrifice for competitive athletes
When news first broke of JCube's closure, national figure skater Vianna Shen-Rou Linke found herself reflecting deeply on her career.
"It challenged how much I truly wanted to continue skating and representing my country," the 16-year-old shared with Stomp.
"Sacrifice used to mean early mornings and missed weekends, but now it's about living overseas alone or crossing borders every week to train."
She began to question herself: "How far am I willing to go? What about my family, finances or studies?"
Vianna continues to train overseas and competes in about four competitions per year.
On the flip side, former national team figure skater Pagiel Sng has chosen to put his competitive career "on hold."
Following The Rink's closure, Sng initially pressed on, participating in three competitions between Oct 26 and Nov 11, 2023.
However, he admitted that his preparation was "possibly one of the worst ways to train".
Speaking to Stomp, Sng said: "I trained on and off, and flew to Switzerland to train for about two weeks before competing in three events in a row.
"I competed in the Swiss Ice Skating Open in Lausanne, then flew over to Latvia and did the Volvo Open Cup in Riga.
"I flew back to Singapore, and then, less than a day later, I flew to the Philippines to compete in their National Figure Skating Championships."
'It feels like us figure skaters are not welcome'
Competitive figure skaters weren't the only ones who were impacted by The Rink's closure: recreational skaters were too.
Recreational skater Benedict Chong, who used to work as a rink marshall at The Rink, posts videos of himself skating on TikTok.
"I started posting just to see my progression at first, but I didn't know the videos would start going viral," he said.
After The Rink's closure, Benedict's updates became less frequent.
"I used to post three times a week but now it's like three times a month because I feel like I'm not improving as much since the rink's public sessions don't allow us to jump, spin or do footwork.
"In a sense, it feels like us recreational figure skaters are not welcome on the rink, so it's hard."
A Singapore Ice Skating Association (Sisa) spokeswoman told Stomp that national-level skaters continue to train and compete overseas.
"Off-ice training programmes are conducted for figure skaters, inline skating sessions for short track speed skaters, as well as a strength and conditioning programme," she added.
"We launched the 25th Anniversary Fund to provide financial support and motivation for our athletes, coaches and officials to press on with their sporting goals.
"We are heartened to share that, with contributions from the local ice skating community and beyond, the fun continues to run today.
"Separately, and with the assistance of Sport Singapore (SportSG), we also managed to book dedicated ice time from Kallang Ice World for the training needs of our national figure skaters."
Hopes for a new rink
Stomp understands there was an idea proposed to build a skating rink in the Singapore EXPO halls, but in response to Stomp's queries, an EXPO spokesperson confirmed that there are no such plans exist.
The Straits Times reported on February 1 that a new Olympic-size ice rink may be built in Pandan Gardens, on the site of the former Pandan Gardens Swimming Complex.
Records of the Singapore Ice Hockey Association (Siha) annual general meeting held on August 31, 2024, state that the rink has been "confirmed with a 10+10 years lease," and that renovations would start in March 2025.
In response to a Stomp query, a SportSG spokesperson said: "SportSG has been working with the National Sports Associations (NSAs) for ice sports and the relevant agencies to identify and secure a suitable site for the development of a new ice rink.
"We will continue to partner with our ice sports NSAs to support our athletes' short and long-term training needs. This includes supporting our carded athletes in ice sports via our spex framework, which also offers access to our sport science and sport medicine services."
Stomp has contacted Siha for more information.
