Our Story

Hi, my name is Sam Tomczik. I founded Skate Forward in 2023 and currently serve as its Managing Director.

Skate Forward was founded to fulfill my goal: spread the joy of skating to children across the Twin Cities Metro area. While I’m now a competitive figure skater who has spent countless hours at the rink, I can confidently state that some of my most joyful moments on the ice were my first. Even when I could barely skate, the feeling of being on the ice was incredibly freeing and is a sensation that I’m yet to find outside of the rink. Within my first month of skating, the sport taught me invaluable lessons in failure and perseverance and gave me a community that I’ll forever value.

While numerous programs exist to promote and fund high-level figure skating, I know first-hand that there’s still so much happiness and so many life-lessons to gain from introductory lessons. Skate Forward programing facilitates introducing skating to interested youth who would otherwise be unable to enroll in skating lessons.