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Sidney Arnold came from a skating family in Fargo, North Dakota, and received her training under many famous coaches there and at summer training schools in St. Paul, MN, Sault Ste Marie, MI, Schumacher, Ontario, and Denver, CO. While attending Radcliff College in Cambridge, MA, she worked on her Gold Test with Professional Bud Wilson. At the Skating Club of Boston, she met Franklin Nelson of Tulsa, OK (a fellow Harvard student) and partnered with him to become a Gold Medalist in Dance. Competitively, they won several local and regional Silver Dance competitions and U.S. Nationals in 1954. In 1956, they were named to the U.S. World Team with the competition being held in Garmsich-Partenkirchen, Germany. They placed 7th in a field of 21 couples from throughout the world.
Sidney began teaching skating in 1971 with the opening of the Hobomock Arena in Pembroke, when she organized and ran the Learn to Skate Program. In 1972, she partnered with Margot Marino to teach the Marion Proctor Metro Skating School on Mondays at the Armstrong Rink in Plymouth. The school is now owned and operated by Sidney and Margot. They both started similar group lessons on Thursdays with two other partners.
Margot Marino, originally from Marblehead, MA, was affiliated with the North Shore Skating Club and the Skating Club of Boston. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Cardinal Cushing College, and became a U.S. Gold Medalist, Canadian Gold Medalist, and International Gold Medalist while attending school. In her earlier years, she competed and earned Bronze medals at the National level, and at Eastern Sectionals. She was also the 1962 New England Junior Ladies Champion. Margot began her teaching career with Marion Proctor’s programs at the Saugus, Milton, and Weymouth M.D.C. rinks. She also taught privately at the Hayden Recreation Center in Lexington, MA, the Bay Path Skating Club in Framingham, the Cohasset Rink, and the Commonwealth Figure Skating Club in Weymouth.
In 1972, Margot and Sidney founded the Pilgrim Skating Club at the Pembroke Rink and made ice time available at the Armstrong Arena in Plymouth. Introduction of this ice time helped both the Pilgrim Skating Club and the new Armstrong Arena grow in popularity and made local communities aware of skating as a sport and for recreation. Margot and Sidney also founded the “Mom and Tot” classes at the Armstrong Arena. This grew in popularity and later developed into the popular four day a week Tot program that has been serving the communities of Plymouth, Kingston, and Duxbury for the last thirty years. In addition to the popular Tot program, other programs directed by Margot and Sidney are the 5 to 1 lessons featuring five students to one professional. Programs follow the USFSA Basic Skills program of eight levels of fundamental skills leading to a proficiency in skating. This will enable a child to enter hockey, figure skating or speed skating with the skills needed to excel in their chosen sport.
In the 1990’s, Margot introduced Synchronized skating to the Pilgrim Skating Club, and has had many successful teams over recent years, earning medals at the Eastern Championships.
Sidney and Margot are members of the Professional Skaters Association .
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