Nervously taking the ice, David Dang looks to the audience where his team members cheer him on from the stands; a feeling of happiness washes over him. Willing himself to not think too hard about his performance, autopilot kicks in as his first competition routine commences.

Part of the newly reformed 32° Figure Skating Club, Dang, architecture sophomore and club president, now possesses an outlet and support system for his love of figure skating. Originally founded in 2019, the onset of the pandemic led to eventual inactivity. Despite the club’s disbanding, the GroupMe continued to gain new members brought by the link on the old HornsLink page. The group chat grew enough to kindle new beginnings as informal invites to the local rink became a first meeting in January 2023 which have now turned into a thriving club.

“There’s a lot of support for other people (on the team),” Dang said. “It’s just a really fun time. I really appreciate the community, especially even outside of the skating competition.”

The five founding members, including Dang, faced many challenges in the beginning, including the logistics of being reinstated as a UT club, outlining the goals of the club and gaining visibility among UT students. Dang said he wanted to get the club up and running to make new friends with the same interests. 

“I was like ‘It’d be so funny if I started a (skating) club,’ but it quickly became more than that,” Dang said. “We’re all encouraging each other and pushing each other, and it was comforting and inspiring for me and the other officers to keep trying to build this club into something bigger.”

Open to all levels, the club even welcomes beginners. They hold both off-ice practices that target balance, flexibility and strength building and on-ice sessions to learn and improve skating skills. Skaters can also get private lessons through the local rink, Chaparral Ice, where one of the original 2019 founders, Alice Gee, coaches. Amani Turner, sophomore linguistics major and club treasurer, said Gee supports the club.

“She’s been a real friend of the club, helping us do things, giving us referrals for which coaches are good,” Turner said. 

Now with a strong foundation, the club’s focus will shift to creating opportunities for members to compete. Two members competed in the Austin Autumn Classic on Sept. 24 with Dang placing first in high beginner adult men’s division and Grace Meng placing fourth in high beginner adult women. Already registered with U.S. Figure Skating, the national figure skating agency, a formal competition team is in the works. 

With competition as the next step, Turner said building a community around the love for skating stands as a priority. Razan Al-Omari, medical laboratory science sophomore, said it proved easy to make friends as everyone acts very social on the ice.

“The people, and definitely the officers, try to make the vibe of the club to be very friendly and open and accepting,” Al-Omari said. “(It’s) comfortable, the home feeling you get whenever you’re with close friends.”