Gabrielle Valiquette
2020 Fritz Dietl Award Winner:
Stamford Twin Rinks By Kent McDill
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tamford Twin Rinks in Connecticut has two NHL-sized ice sheets for the use of their figure skaters, hockey players, ice dancers, and synchronized skaters. It now has two Fritz Dietl Awards, one for each rink. Stamford Twin Rinks is the 2020 winner of the Fritz Dietl Award for Ice Arena Excellence, just as it was back in 2006. The Fritz Dietl Award for Ice Arena Excellence honors the lifetime dedication of Fritz Dietl to the ice skating industry and his determination to encourage innovation and excellence in facility management operations and programming. To be eligible for the award, the arena must be recognized as an Excellence On Ice (EOI) facility. Situated halfway between New York City and New Haven, Conn., Stamford Twin Rinks is the most well-equipped rink with the most diversified programming in the area. In the tightly populated New England region of the United States, the Stamford rink attracts many of the best figure skaters, synchronized skaters, ice dancers, and hockey players in the area, as well as many of the beginning skaters from Fairfield County and surrounding areas. The Twin Rinks Skating School boasts a membership of in excess of 500 skaters during the 2019-2020 season. As a result, the skating school was ranked one of the top 10 skating
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schools in Connecticut and top 25 skating schools on the east coast by U.S. Figure Skating. In 2012, skating coach Gabrielle Valiquette brought her 3-year-old daughter to Twin Rinks to give her daughter a chance to use her brandnew ice skates. Another daughter tagged along until it was her time to take her first steps on the ice. The Valiquettes were quite familiar with the rink, its advantages, and its shortcomings. So, when the opportunity presented itself in August of 2019, Valiquette accepted the position of Stamford Twin Rinks Skating Director, and began her work to improve the facility. The Fritz Dietl Award is an indication that her work was well-received. “It’s pretty spectacular for this to occur in my first year in the position,” Valiquette said. “My daughters are now both competitive figure skaters and I thought it would be a lot of fun for the three of us to work together in my position as Skating Director to modify the things that we thought were opportunities for improvement back when we were customers. The girls have been instrumental in sharing the kids’ perspective on how Learn to Skate can be more fun and inspiring, as well as which activities to incorporate into our summer and holiday break camps. The girls have a different perspective. It’s a unique
focus group that I tap into on a regular basis to continue to raise the bar and improve the customer experience.” Valiquette focused on three areas for improvement in her first year. First, she wanted to improve the atmosphere of the rink to make it more customer-friendly. She wanted to really get to know the customer base and to make herself accessible to customers, both old and new. She regularly spoke with customers to get to know what they liked about their experiences and what could be done to meet or exceed their expectations. Her second goal was to streamline the information available to skaters and their parents about the opportunities that arise from skating success. She wanted to provide road maps for skaters at all levels to help them to better understand and navigate what is involved at each level of the individual journeys that the skater will follow. With each level of skating proficiency achieved, Stamford Twin Rinks offers a wealth of information about what the next step might be if the skater wants to advance in figure skating, hockey, ice dance, and/or synchronized skating. Also, a few years ago Valiquette had left Twin Rinks because she needed additional developmental coaching for her daughters. Since the Valiquette family frequently travelled out-of-state to work with various specialists and to attend clinics and competitions, she knew that Twin Rinks was limited in the coaching opportunities it presented to its skaters. Upon returning to Twin Rinks in her current role, she realized that many skaters had moved on to other rinks. She was determined to bring them back to the rink where many had taken their first steps on ice. Valiquette reached out to several coaches in the area and welcomed them to coach at Twin Rinks. This opened up new coaching opportunities for a larger list of available
