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Lipinski named spokesperson for youth clubs
NEW YORK (AP) -- She walked into the building surrounded by dozens of inner city kids. They chanted her name and scurried over to shake her hand or take a picture.Tara Lipinski wasn't just another 15-year-old visiting a boys and girls club. She was a heroine, an Olympic gold medalist, an inspiration.
Lipinski was presented Monday as national spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. She will visit clubs throughout the United States, speaking to children, providing tickets to her skating performances and conducting clinics, where possible. She joins Denzel Washington, Gen. Colin Powell and Ken Griffey Jr. as a spokesperson for the clubs.
"My skating club provided a real support system for me, and I'm not sure I could have pulled it off in Nagano without them," Lipinski said to about 300 members of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club in the Bronx. "You have that kind of support in your club here. Everybody here is lucky to have the Boys & Girls Clubs."
Lipinski was shown the basketball court and swimming pool, the teen center, the Education Department and the playroom. While surrounded by children wearing T-shirts with the slogan "The Positive Place for Kids," she took part in a short game of Foosball -- she has one at home, at which "she beats me all the time," said Mike Burg, her agent.
She also ventured into the dance room, where a group of girls posed with her after exhibiting one of their dances. Then, as Lipinski walked into the auditorium, the kids chanted "Tara, Tara, Tara," and she sat near a hand-drawn poster saying "Welcome Tara Lipinski to Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. Thanks for the USA Olympic Win."
After watching a video of her free skate at Nagano, the youngsters asked her several questions. Lipinski was presented with a membership card and key, and both she and her mother, Pat, were given a bouquet. She also received an official Boys & Girls Club jacket.
"Tara is an example of exactly what the Boys & Girls Club is telling you," said Kurt Aschermann, senior vice president of marketing and communication for the clubs. "If you have a dream and you can adhere to it -- you've got to work at it and go after it -- but you can achieve it. She is what the clubs are all about."
It seemed a strange place for a figure skater. The nearest skating rink was miles away and perhaps 1 percent of the nearly 6,000 members of the Kips Bay Club have ice skated.
Yet, Lipinski seemed as much at home among the largely Hispanic and African-American membership as she is doing triple loops on the ice. Her smile never faded and she encouraged the most shy youngsters to come over to chat.
"This feels great," she said. "I hope when they look at whatever they want to do in life, they get inspired by what I've done and my being here and that they set big and great goals and achieve them."