The cutting edge

While watching the competition at the 1988 Olympics, senior Heather Lawless saw what she wanted to do with part of her future: ice skate. After seeing athletes like gold medal-winner Katerina Witt, Lawless convinced her parents to enroll her in skating lessons. Soon, the sport became a way of life.\n"I got up in the morning and went skating, went to school and then went skating," Lawless says. "It gives you so much freedom of expression. Flowing and gliding along the ice is like dancing, but you get to move so much faster."\nIce skating not only gives Lawless freedom of expression but a freedom to perform.\n"The jumps you can do are so incredible," she says. "I can't begin to do them if I'm on the ground. I really feel free."\nAs a Brown County resident, Lawless was familiar with Bloomington's only ice arena, the Frank Southern Center, when she came to the city as a freshman. Through the Individualized Major Program, Lawless became an ice skating major. She planned her classes in part by following a program offered through the University of Delaware. The major Lawless created combines a dance artistic component with more scientific elements, such as biomechanics and kinesiology. Although her ultimate goal was to become director of a skating program, she now has interest in putting together a competitive figure skating program or pursuing further education in sports management.\nAs director of the IU Learn to Skate classes (offered through the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation) and of the Learn to Skate program by Bloomington Parks and Recreation, Lawless teaches others about the sport she loves. Although she doesn't know if beginning skaters feel the way she does when on ice skates, Lawless does see her lessons make an impression.\n"What I do know is the greatest thing for me is when a student finally understands and finally does a skill," she says. "They're so overjoyed if they've managed to do a spiral, so excited because they learned a new skill. What's neat is the littlest things can make someone so excited."\nAlthough Lawless rarely goes to public skating sessions ("I'm coaching during the freestyle times."), she believes ice skating is an untapped source of entertainment for students and community members.\n"Definitely. Once you get over your initial fear, it's a lot of fun," Lawless says. "Especially if you go with friends. You may fall down, but at least you're trying something new." \nThe RINK\nBoth the IU-sponsored and community-sponsored classes are taught at the Frank Southern Center. Since the center opened in 1967, the rink has been through a few changes and several ups and downs in support.\nOriginally an outdoor covered rink, the Frank Southern Center was gradually enclosed, becoming completely indoors in 1988. About four years ago, the city of Bloomington began to notice the rink's equipment was near the end of its life span, says John Turnbull, division director of sports for Bloomington Parks and Recreation.\n"It's just like driving an old car," he says. "We'd run it just about as far as it could go."\nThe rink was also losing money, and the city was faced with a decision about closing it. To keep this from happening, a group of supporters formed the Ice Rink Task Force. Jillian Kinzie, treasurer of the Task Force and a graduate student, said the task force is made of representatives from user groups, such as hockey leagues, the IU hockey team, the Bloomington Figure Skating Club and other enthusiasts.\n"It's one place for kids and adults to exercise, and we decided we needed to figure out how to make it a viable business," Kinzie says. "Now the rink is actually making money. The task force rethought how decisions were being made, how the ice was used and served in an advisory capacity."\nThe task force, Parks and Recreation and other supporters developed three goals: build a new ice arena, increase participation and business at the current rink and raise enough money to help stretch the rink's life span.\nFinancially, the arena has broken even over the past few seasons. Turnbull says attracting a private developer to build a new arena is difficult, despite a 30 percent increase in revenue during the past three years.\n"In the private market, people want to make money," Turnbull says. "Making money is a risky proposition in the ice business. No private developer has seen the payoffs or rewards, and the biggest player in town, IU, does not have an interest in building an ice arena right now. By process of elimination, we have decided we're really going to renovate (Frank Southern)." \nTo fund the renovation, money has been secured in the form of $50,000 from the Lilly Foundation, $100,000 from a state-funded Build Indiana grant and $150,000 from the city of Bloomington.\n"We're hopeful a private donor will provide some other funds," Turnbull says. "(The amount of money raised) will determine how much work we could do."\nIn a best-case scenario, Turnbull says renovations would include replacing the closed-circuit cooler, upgrading the corroded and under-capacity electrical service, replacing lighting fixtures and applying reflective paint to "brighten the place up." Other desired improvements would be to dehumidify and ventilate the whole facility and add a birthday or party room to the lobby.\nThe People\nLate on a Sunday afternoon, Frank Southern is crowded with ice skaters. Groups of parents, children and teenagers sit on the benches in the lobby, tying on skates and buying food from the snack bar in the corner. It's a rainy day outside, which makes the lights in the rink and lobby seem dimmer. The pungent smell of sweat socks fills the air.\nSenior Marsha Puterbaugh and junior Mark Swanson sit side by side on a bench tying on skates. Although they have been skating before, Puterbaugh says this will be their first trip around Frank Southern's ice. Swanson says they decided to come skating today to try something new.\n"It's something different to do," Swanson says. "Other than sit home and watch TV."\nInside the rink, skaters glide across the ice, occasionally grabbing at the walls for support. Although the temperature isn't cold, the air has a bite to it -- it feels cold. Bloomington resident Karen Guildford looks out at the skaters going around the ice. Unlike Puterbaugh and Swanson, Guildford is a frequent flier on the arena's ice. She comes about two or three times a week.\n"The kids are the best part," Guildford says. "You watch the kids have a blast. You watch kids fall down. You watch everybody fall down."\nAll skaters are cleared off the ice, and the Zamboni machine starts making laps around the rink. Bloomington residents Becky Walls and Cindi Valentine watch as their collective group of four children inch up under the netting to look through the plastic divider at the Zamboni.\nBoth parents put their kids through skating lessons at Frank Southern. Walls says she tries to bring her kids about three times a month. \n"I think (the kids') favorite part is eating the pretzels after skating," Walls jokes of the treats she buys from the rink's snack bar.\nHer daughter, Kylie Walls, 6, disagrees. She likes to skate really fast, while her friend Morgan Valentine, 7, can't wait to slide on the newly slippery ice created by the Zamboni.\nWalls and Valentine both agree they are spoiled by having an indoor rink, particularly Walls who remembers skating on bumpy outdoor ice when she was growing up in Gary. As they converse, Zachary Walls, 5, takes one more look at the Zamboni.\n"I'm going to drive that when I grow up," he says.