Skates have cut into the ice at Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink in Sydney's inner west for more than half a century.
But despite being visited more than 120,000 times each year, the future of Australia's longest-running rink is in peril.
Rebecca Thornton's four children have been skating there for most of their young lives. Max, the eldest at 13, started learning at the age of five.
When Ms Thornton's "marriage fell apart" four years ago, she said it was the routine of ice-skating lessons that provided her family with a sense of stability.
"It takes a village to raise a child and these are the last remaining places where families can feel like they're part of a community," she said.
"The lessons that my kids learn when they're in skating are pretty awesome, like it really hurts when you fall down, so you've got to be really strong and have perseverance and keep trying."
The ice rink has proven to be a breeding ground for national talent, helping produce 25 athletes who represented Australia at the Olympics.
But its future depends on a grant amounting to nearly $18 million.
'A big bang'
On August 31, the rink's roof let out a loud noise, prompting management to clear the building.
"I believe it sounded just like a big bang," said Danielle O'Brien, director of the Ice Skating Club of NSW Cooperative, a non-profit that manages the rink.
"We don't know if any of the beams have split, or if there was a break in any of the metal.
"The concern is at any point, if the beams [in the ceiling at the back] were to collapse, it would be a domino effect and it wouldn't be pretty."
Structural engineers have told the cooperative the roof has reached the end of its life and will need to be replaced.
And the rink has stayed closed, prompting thousands of weekly skaters, hockey players, ice dancers and more to travel to Macquarie Ice Rink in North Sydney — the only remaining Olympic-sized rink in Greater Sydney.
Ms O'Brien, who competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics as an ice dancer, said the cooperative is hoping to secure $17.7 million from the NSW government's WestInvest grant program.
She said the money would help replace the roof, upgrade the ice surface, add more solar panels, and build new change and conference rooms.
But a decision on the rink's application won't be made until the end of the year.
"All 684 applications ... are progressing through a comprehensive assessment process," a NSW government spokesman said.
"It is anticipated that successful projects will be announced from December 2022."
In the interim, a campaign to save the ice rink is gaining momentum, increasing pressure on the NSW government.
Last week, hundreds of people attended a rally advocating for the rink's funding.
Online, videos are being published of athletes and sporting leaders saying they want the rink saved.
"Please get behind Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink in Sydney," Nathan Walker said, the first Australian to play in the National Hockey League.
"Please get on your local member and sign our petition to keep my old rink going."
The petition has been signed by 8,500 people to date.
Politicians from both major parties are taking attention.
Labor's member for Canterbury Sophie Cotsis has been an ardent supporter, while Liberal Shayne Mallard visited the facility last week.
The community's original passion for the sport led to the founding of Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink more than fifty years ago.
After the closure of the Burwood Glaciarium in 1970, three ice-skating enthusiasts — John Coulthard, Marcel Doolan and John Brown — hatched a long-shot plan to raise money and acquire an abandoned ice rink scheduled for destruction in Canterbury.
Electricians, architects, engineers, painters, lawyers and more donated their time and expertise to help rebuild a defunct rink on a budget of $60,000.
It opened on March 5, 1971, to a queue of people stretching from the rink's entrance to the street.
"So many people came and joined us with a passion to see this rink reopen," said 98-year-old John Brown, the first chairman of the Ice Skating Club of NSW Cooperative.
"You'd have 50-odd people feeling that they were part of something that was worthwhile."
The prospect of the rink ceasing to operate would be a loss to both the community and the sport, he said.
"What Sydney will lose is an ice rink that's virtually a public institution.
"It exists for the public use, but the serious side of the sport very much depends on Canterbury."
