Local ice rink serves amateurs and pros

Lori Crum glides across the ice rink, gracefully completing spins and jumps, her ivory skates slicing across the slick, smooth ice. There are usually 10 skaters whizzing around the rink during this time. But this Monday, she is the only one.\nCrum, a child therapist in Bloomington and a member of the Frank Southern Ice Arena's figure skating club, said she uses her lunch hour to skate during the rink's noon to 1:30 p.m. weekday sessions. \n"Skating is a huge stress relief," she said after finishing. "Other worries and things on my mind just go away. It's a nice mental break."\nThe arena, 1965 S. Henderson Street, located behind Bloomington High School South, is the city's sole ice rink, making it a beloved spot where Crum and fellow skating and hockey enthusiasts can perfect their skills. For many, it's a solace where cares slip away with completed laps and worries are lost in the music that streams from the rink's speakers. \nPublic skating at the rink costs $5.50, a price that includes skate rental. The rink offers a 10-session, $35 public pass and a $45 freestyle skating pass, which allows figure skaters to sharpen their skills during set-aside times. \nThe rink is a constant buzz of activity, offering more than just ice skating. \nSeven days a week, morning through evening, the rink holds skating and hockey lessons. Frank Southern is home to both the Bloomington Blades, an area hockey team for high school students, and the IU Hockey Team. A figure skating club meets twice a week to practice at the 36-year old rink, as do a myriad of youth hockey leagues.\nPublic skating sessions run Monday through Friday from noon to 1:30 p.m., September through the first week of March, the rink's operating months. The rink holds public skating Friday and Saturday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. when the IU Hockey Team isn't competing on the ice. There are also 10 p.m. to midnight sessions after games when the team isn't playing a double-header, Mark Sterner, the rink's manager, said.\nChildren hoping to hone their hockey skills can meet with instructors, many of which are IU Hockey Team members. \nThe rink boasts a plethora of ice skating lessons for all ages and abilities -- from Snowplow Sam 1, in which 3 to 6-year-olds learn how to stand and fall correctly on the ice, to Basic 8, where advanced skaters perfect jumps, spins and combination steps. The rink also offers beginning adult classes for anyone age 14 and up.\n"It's never too late to learn to skate," said Chris Truelock, the rink's program director. "We've got senior citizens out here learning."\nThe rink's upcoming winter session for skating lessons runs from Jan. 15 to Feb. 22. Lessons cost $40 for Bloomington residents. The classes can contain between five to 20 learners depending on the ability level. The concept, Truelock said, is that newer skaters need more attention. \n"The more beginning of a student you are, the more individual instruction you're going to get," he said.\nPeople who want to learn to skate but don't wish to wobble and wipe out in front of others can opt for private lessons. Lessons range from $10 to $60 per half hour depending on the learner's instruction level.\nGroups can rent the rink when public skating sessions, lessons and hockey games aren't taking place. The rink costs $120 an hour to rent mornings or late nights. The cost shoots up to $225 from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights, the rink's prime hours. \nBroomball is an enjoyable activity for groups to play when renting the rink, which provides the sport's special equipment for no additional charge. Broomball is similar to ice hockey, except it is played in broomball shoes -- a type of soft, tennis shoe, and with rubber paddles instead of conventional hockey sticks. \n"It's a lot easier than hockey and skating," Truelock said. "It's a good introductory sport to bring you into ice sports."\nSterner said that although broomball is a popular sport at Miami University (Ohio), it has generated little interest among IU students. He said the rink hasn't mustered enough enthusiasm to create a league for it. He said the rink's past managers failed to exhaust IU as a resource, and he and Truelock, both new managers, have been handed the results. \n"They basically left alone an untapped market" Sterner said. "It's definitely an area we're looking to have more interest in. I'm always amazed at how many IU students don't know we have a rink here in town."\nThey plan to hold promotional events between periods at IU hockey games to generate an interest in ice sports among IU students, he said. Truelock said the rink's 10 p.m. to midnight skating sessions after IU Hockey games were implemented to attract IU students.\nHe said he hopes that as the number of students coming to the rink boosts, word of mouth about it will spread, also. But Truelock said his ultimate goal is to have a busing system to and from Frank Southern.\n"What I would like to see in the future is a bus that would go to the dorms and drop kids off here and then back off at the dorms," he said. \nSterner and Truelock said they would like to operate year-round, but the rink's business must increase to cover operational costs before this goal can be realized.\n"We're having to compete with southern Indiana basketball during our youth hockey season and that's a big challenge," Sterner said.\nCrum said she would like the arena to stay open year round as well. She and other figure skating club members must trek to Columbus, Ind., or Indianapolis to practice during the summer.\n"It makes it harder for figure skating to take off here," she said. "It sets you back if you can't skate during the summer." \nStarting this September, the rink will hold lunar ice skating, an activity in which patrons skate in the dark to laser lighting, a disco ball and a DJ's energy-infused beats. Truelock said he thinks the activity will appeal to both Bloomington residents and IU students for one reason. \n"It's just what you'd see at a dance club, but out on a rink," he said. \nFor updated public skating times call the Frank Southern's Skating Hotline at 349-3741.