Heuvelton Central graduate receives 2017 Good Skate Award

November 3, 2017

Heuvelton Central School and Clarkson University graduate, Kurt Nichols is pictured with his wife Michele on The Bateau New York just prior to receiving the 2017 Good Skate Award.

HEUVELTON – Heuvelton Central School and Clarkson University graduate Kurt Nichols received the 2017 Good Skate Award earlier this year.

In 2005, Nichols took a coaching job at Sky Rink, Chelsea Piers, New York, working with both figure skaters and hockey players developing a curriculum that focuses on speed, transitions, edges, power and superior balance.

In 2016, he received the Coach of the Year Award and was selected as Sky Rink Chelsea Piers Employee of the Year.

Married for six years, Kurt credits his wife Michele Forchione Nichols, a former national level figure skater, with doing 99.9 percent of the work with their figure skating students.

Kurt, Michele, Kurt's brother Andrew and a team of coaches also conduct power skating clinics for teams and individuals in the metropolitan New York area.

The Sky Rink Scholarship is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation whose purpose is to provide financial support to children who wish to participate in Hockey and Figure Skating programs at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan, New York.

Established in 1991, the Sky Rink Scholarship Fund has given over 2,200 scholarships since 1994.

The 2017 Good Skate award states “Kurt's passion and perseverance transcends the ice rink and touches the lives of not only his students, but his family, friends and peers. Kurt's simple, yet brilliant approach does more than teach. It inspires.”

Nichols still has a strong interest in the North Country and returns as often as he can to help his brother with his tree cropping operation as well as occasionally working in Lake Placid.