Spring Break
Ice rink to open at Wolf Pen Creek
By: Aerin Toussaint
Issue date: 2/12/04 Section: News
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Karina Handoyo said she drives to Houston Aerodrome once a month to practice figure skating.
As a member of the Aggie Figure Skating Club, Handoyo, a sophomore biomedical sciences major, said she loves the ice.
"Honestly, I almost transferred to somewhere else just because (Bryan-College Station) didn't have ice," Handoyo said. "I think I am a different person when I'm on the ice."
Handoyo and other College Station residents can soon take out their skates as the College Station City Council finalized plans Thursday for a 40,000 square foot ice rink to be built at Wolf Pen Creek.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the $3.1 million recreation center are slated to be held on Feb.19.
The developer of the ice rink, Fidelis Ventures, hopes to complete construction by September of this year, said Kim Foutz, College Station's economic development director.
The facility will have a gallery that seats 500 people, as well as rooms available for parties and meetings, Foutz said.
Foutz said the city hopes that Texas A&M and Blinn College will utilize the facility for kinesiology classes such as ice hockey or skating.
"Perhaps, in the future the facility can host intramural or little league ice hockey teams," Foutz said.
John Crompton, a distinguished professor from A&M's Recreation Park and Tourism Sciences department, said that although ice hockey and skating are not as popular in the South as in the North, that ice rinks allow for new recreational opportunities.
Crompton said the demographics of the Bryan-College Station area are dominated by the presence of those under the age of 25, and that age group coincides with an interest in recreational ice sports.
"There are so few recreational opportunities for young people here that this seems natural to me," Crompton said.
Crompton said he was instrumental in helping bring the ice rink to the Brazos Valley. After the county decided not to put an ice rink in the soon-to-be-built Brazos County Exposition Center, interested citizens and ice
enthusiasts pursued developers who would be willing to build a rink in the
Bryan-College Station area.
Brian Weylie and his ice hockey teammates take five hours out of their busy schedules to drive to Houston every Tuesday to practice hockey for one hour at the Willowbrook Aerodrome.
Weylie, a senior biomedical sciences major, is captain of Texas A&M's ice hockey team.
Weylie and Handoyo said they are looking forward to the new facility and not having to drive to another city just to practice.
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