Speed-skating league fundraiser in Painesville planned for Memorial Day weekend

One enthusiastic Lake County dad is promoting a spaghetti-dinner fundraiser to help support a trip to the 2018 American Roller Speed Skating Championship in Colorado Springs, Colo. this summer.

Grand River Village resident T.J. Edwards, whose 9-year-old Son, Jake, competes in the Tri-State Speed League, which trains at City Skate Center in Painesville, is spearheading a fundraising effort to help send his son and other youth to the event out West, which is being held June 14-18.

“Kids are attending this national meet in Colorado Springs to gain more experience and skating with (other) kids from across the nation,” Edwards typed in a recent Facebook Messenger exchange. “Along this journey they will gain new friends and meet other competitors at various levels of skating. The kids wanting to go have sacrificed many hours of practice and have competed in local tri-state and Midwest point series league meets to be able to attend the American Championship meet in Colorado.”

He said the fundraiser will help the team members be able to afford not only the meet’s entry fees and related costs, but also travel and other expenses.

“The event is costly to attend,” Edwards writes. “So we’re hoping to raise enough funds for travel, hotel expenses and food.”

Tickets to the May 26 spaghetti dinner fundraiser are $25 each and include admission to the event, which is being held at American Legion Post 336 60 Chester St. in Painesville, and dinner. There are also a reverse raffle and Chinese Auction for which tickets are still available, Edwards reports.

At a March 18 Tri-State Speed League scrimmage at City Skate Center, Edwards said he and his son got involved in the league when the elder Edwards was looking for a pastime to share with Jake, who lives in Perry Township, as opposed to a sport or other pastime that merely required him to drop his son off at some court or other venue for the duration of the diversion.

I’m a weekend-warrior parent and I was running out of things to do with my son on the weekends,” he said. “So we found this and, once he started skating, he just couldn’t’ stop. He’s phenomenal. He has a passion for it and he just really enjoys himself.”

Edwards said he likes seeing Jake participate, make friends and grow as an individual through speed skating.

“As a parent, I see him growing through it, making new friendships and just having a great time,” he said. “I mean, what’s not to love about it? And I really like the fact that it fosters a good interaction between parents and children, instead of just dropping them off and picking them up a couple hours later, you know?”

Jake, who’s been involved with speed skating about two years, seems to like it just as much as his dad, if not more.

“I like it a lot,” he said between events March 18. “I make a lot of friends and we get to travel a lot. I would tell anyone that it’s really fun and that they would like to do it.”

Doors for the fundraiser, which includes a 50/50 raffle and sideboards, open at 5 p.m. May 26.

For more information or to purchase tickets for the March 26 fundraiser, contact Edwards at 440-251-2996 or the City Skate Center at 440-352-2002.

Don’t miss