What Will You do if your Home Rink Closes?

[AgnesNitt]

We read about it every few days: A rink already on the brink of failure, then two months into closure, and it announces it's closing.
I'm always astonished that this happens--hockey alone should be able to keep a rink open, one in my town built a new rink when the old one closed (just not here). Maybe there's plans underway and the old rink wasn't worth saving: too much historic maintenance issues, maybe the plan is to close it and sell the facility, then build a new one in a cheaper area.

But that's not the point of this post. The post is 'what will you do?'. Maybe you live in someplace like Chicago, Las Vegas, or Minneapolis and you'll just shift to another rink. Or maybe, you're skating at the only rink and if it goes? What then?

Me: I've got two rinks within the absolute range of my driving to skate. I skate at both. There are rinks just beyond that range--but I have drawn a line. I'm at the edge. If both my rinks close, I'm done. The extra 30 minutes, that it would take to get to the rink beyond my range is too far- it would add an extra hour to every trip. I would give my skates away and I'd be done.

'N' you?

[Bill_S]

If my local university-owned rink closes, the nearest rink is in Columbus about 1-1/2 hours by car each way.  It would certainly reduce my 5 days/week local skating down to a self-imposed maximum of 1 day/week.

I doubt that I could just walk away from skating cold-turkey. I'd make the effort to skate until my interest fades from the additional effort to travel that far.

[FigureSpins]

I really think it's because of hockey "keeping the lights on."  It's very easy to rent ice to a hockey program and let them run the show.  There's strength in numbers, so they can have many skaters on the ice during practices and games.  The rink only has to have stick & puck, a snack bar (optional here and there) and a feeder program like LTS.

Freestyle sessions are hit-or-miss because you never know how many skaters will show up to pay/punch.

[FigureSpins]

Right now, there are 7 sheets of ice within a one-hour drive of my house.  I only coach at one of them regularly, but I really do need to branch out in case my day job goes south.  A new two-sheet rink is going to open sometime this summer/fall and one of the existing rinks will shut down, so we gain one sheet of ice in the area. 

My plans are to coach at my current rink and the new rink just to have options.  (They're the closest ones and about the same distance away from my house.)  The rinks are each associated with a different club, which might be a problem.  I'll have to look at schedules and requirements to see if it's feasible to work out of two rinks.  As it is, I'm tight on lesson times.

[lutefisk]

I'd probably just move.  Might do that even if the rink survives.  Some rinks our way are picking up the slack as temporary morgues.  Don't knock it.  It pays the electric.

[RinkGuard]

The thread was getting a bit overtaken by discussions about rinks as morgues. I've moved those to another thread.
Please continue to discuss your options for what your plans are for if your rink closes.

I'm taking up roller figures.

[Loops]

Fair enough, we don't need anymore of that.  I'll repost the relevant portion of my contribution here. 

We have a professional hockey team, and feeder club at our rink, plus city hall pays the electricity bills, so there is no danger for me. But, if it were to happen,  it'd be the end.  The next closest rink is around 2 hours away in light traffic.  Not happening. TBH the end of my skating has already been on my mind, due to the disaster our club has become for the non-elite skaters. It's a constant source of angst, even with the early end to the season. I've made a mental limit of 2 more seasons to see if there's a change-evoking crisis (what it'll take, unfortunately). I'll use my pic skates more, and could conceivably try out quads (they do figures at least!), but the roller club, even at 45 minutes is conceptually too far for me.   It's on the mental table though.

[Query]

There are many rinks in my area. Some are run by governments, and some of those will probably re-open.

BUT: it has previously been true that there were some very uncrowded mid-day public sessions. If some of the rinks close, that may become less true.

In addition, less competition, and a period of closure, may mean that skate session prices will go up.

I wasn't taking lessons when the rinks closed, but was considering doing so again a little in the future. But I assume that most facilities will, as before, only certify a limited number of coaches to teach. That means that many coaches, possibly including some I have liked best, will find themselves out of a job long term. Others may have to move to continue to coach, or find another sport to teach. I don't know how this will affect the cost of taking lessons.

I am also concerned that there will be a long term adverse economic impact on the remaining rinks, in that rinks may no longer be running to run crowded sessions, and hockey may be impractical or at least less popular, if no long term reliable immunization is possible, or if it isn't available for a long time to come. I may have to drop ice skating if this happens.

I and others may also have to drop other activities in crowded facilities. In the past I enjoyed going to a local gym to exercise, swim, and soak in the hot tub. I often did that before or after skating, because a skating facility and the gym in question were next to each other. Likewise, I often skated at a skating facility that was on my way to and back from popular kayak put-ins and take-outs. It is generally uncrowded at sea (though I used to accompany large groups of paddlers), but the put-ins and take-outs have often been crowded, and many of the best whitewater kayak places have been crowded. Again, I have sometimes enjoyed folk and social dancing at various somewhat crowded venues, one of which is also incidentally quite near a skating facility. I have also skied, hiked and backpacked with various groups.

The more I think of it, the more Covid19 could impact most of the activities I have enjoyed the most. I have also chosen to live in places that were close to these things. Those places to live have lost much of their appeal.

On the plus side, I have been doing a lot more jogging than I did in the past. I plan to buy another set of roller or inline skates, since mine are out of town. But we stay out of each others' way. Not very social activities, though I have met and talked to some people at a distance.

Perhaps we will all eventually decide to risk exposure to the disease, because it is too hard to live like this in the long run. But in the mean time, many ice rinks, gyms, boating access points, social dance places, etc., will close long-term.

I pray to Lidwina, patron saint of ice skating, for a return to the way things were!

[tstop4me]

My home rink has been on shaky financial grounds for the past several years.  It's a private rink; not sure whether it will survive.  Close-by; ~20 min away.  It's been great for me since they have public sessions all seven days on a regular schedule.  Except when schools are closed, weekday morning publics are really light, typically no more than 6 of us.  I'm there right at the beginning of the session.  Often I have the ice all to myself for the first half hour.  I'm a regular for sure (M - F during the school year).  Buds with most of the staff.  Great coach; been with her for 5 yrs.

There is another private rink close-by.  But public sessions only on three weekday mornings.  And one of the sessions is overrun by an adult coffee klatsch, so that effectively leaves only two sessions a week.  I could continue with my current coach there, since that rink is actually closer to her house than my home rink.

If that goes under, there's a county rink ~35 min away from my house, in the opposite direction from the other two rinks.  Extremely well run and maintained; one of the higher-income counties in my state, so that rink will probably stay afloat.  Also buds with most of the staff (my regular home rink shutdown a couple of years ago for a major do-over; so this county rink became my regular rink for ~8 months); I usually skate there when my home rink cancels public session for maintenance or a special event.  Main problem with the county rink is the weekday morning public sessions are more crowded. ~1/4 of the ice is coned off for group lessons; and there are typically ~12 or so regular skaters (and one morning a week there's a group of ~8 additional home-school kids for PE); and they all show up at the start of the session.  It's too far for my coach (we've discussed this option when there were rumblings that my home rink might fold).  Not sure I'd want to start up with another one.  On the other hand, there's one lady there who constantly tries to recruit me for an ice dance partner; so maybe change would do me good (not sure what my wife would think, though).

If I expand my drive time to ~60 min, there's about 4 other rinks.  Each with peculiar problems though.  One has an erratic schedule for publics; e.g., 9 am on Mon, 2:30 pm on Tues, 10 am on Weds .... I much prefer a steady routine.  Another divides the ice in two: half for public, half for open stick-and-puck practice (I've never gone to that one, because other skaters have warned me to stay clear.  The ice is divided only by low foam strip barriers; and pucks will bounce over to the public zone.)