I looked at the calendar the other day, and I realized that I have now been participating in ice sports for over 20 years – as a hockey player, as a hockey parent, and as the co-founder of Berlin-Ice. As the product of several generations of teachers, whenever I hit a milestone like this, I always like to look back to examine any lessons that I learned along the way, and to see what can be applied to current and future endeavors. After condensing an almost endless list of overlapping observations, I came up with five key lessons I learned about getting involved in ice sports.
Lesson 1: You’re never too old to learn to skate, and you’re never too old to keep skating.
My ice hockey career took a while to bloom. When I was 7 years old, I moved to a new school where many of my classmates played ice hockey. I thought they were the coolest kids in the class, and I wanted to play, too. But I knew that they had already been playing for a couple of years, and I assumed that it was probably too late for me to join and catch up. When I was 21, a few of my university friends started a leisure ice hockey team and invited me to join. Even though they said they would teach me to skate, I assumed that I would embarrass them and myself by being the only guy who couldn’t play, so I politely but firmly declined.
Five years later, at the ripe old age of 26, I saw an advertisement in the Sports section of the newspaper promoting an adult beginner ice hockey school. In big bold letters at the bottom, it said that players could join even if they couldn’t ice skate (which I confirmed again when I called to apply later that day). Who else came to that beginner team? 25-year-old twins, a 28-year-old Canadian, a 28-year-old Russian, a 43-year-old accountant, a 60-year-old police officer and a 35-year-old colleague of mine whom I dragged along for moral support. All of these people were adults, and none of them could ice skate when they started. It made me realize that there is no maximum age at which people start ice skating, and as I see at the rink every day, there is no age at which people stop either.
Why it matters: From a customer perspective, ice sports are a fun way to build strength and endurance, regardless of age. From a business perspective, adults spend substantially more on entertainment and sports than children. And yet, in Berlin, adult beginners and amateur ice sports enthusiasts are almost completely un-served. Adults who have either never participated in ice sports, or those who did as children but gave it up, represent enormous un-tapped revenue potential.
Lesson 2: I can’t skate in rental skates – nobody can.
We have all been there. We go to an ice rink for some fun on a winter day, or to attend a party, and because we do not skate regularly enough to warrant owning our own skates, we rent a pair. We strap these ragged, rusty and cracked skates onto our feet, and then promptly fall down as soon as we get on the ice. How does a typical person react? Most will say, “Oh well, I can’t ice skate,” and after an hour of pain, struggle and frequent embarrassment, they never come back – or at least not until they are dragged back by unsympathetic friends or family members who own their own skates.
My epiphany came when I attended my first adult beginner ice hockey lesson, when our instructor strongly encouraged us to buy our own ice skates. Why? Because, unlike most rental ice skates, your own skates will actually fit, they will actually be sharp and they will actually have proper ankle support. Without all three of these things, competent ice skating is almost impossible. Buying my own skates didn’t automatically make me a good ice skater. But at least with a pair of skates that fit, were sharp and that had adequate ankle support, I was able to stand on the ice and could – more or less – propel myself forward. That is the barest minimum threshold for enjoying ice skating.
Why it matters: Learning to ice skate is hard enough. Why make it even harder with terrible equipment? While not every new ice skater will buy their own skates, rental skates should at the very least be comfortable, be well-maintained, provide adequate ankle support, and be sharpened at regular intervals. Yes, maintaining rental skates can get expensive. But a skater who has a great experience will return more frequently. A skater who leaves frustrated and in pain will not come back.
Lesson 3: There are two things that get people on the ice (and keep them there): 1) Have a friend or family member who skates, and/or 2) Take lessons.
I knew from my own experience that not having a family member who played ice sports meant that I didn’t realize that playing them was actually a possibility until I was too old (so I thought at the time) to start. As an adult, I only started because there were classes available to suit my particular situation. But I was curious. Was my experience representative of others?
In early 2017, Berlin-Ice conducted a survey of the directors and trainers at all of Berlin’s registered ice sports clubs. Among many other questions about usage patterns, facility requirements and player demographics, we asked specifically about why their members start participating in ice sports. According to these clubs, over 25% of their members join because they have a family member who participates or participated in that sport. Almost 30% joined because they took “learn to skate” lessons at their local rink and wanted to get more involved. A trainer at my daughter’s ice hockey club used to hold weekly beginner hockey clinics for parents of players who wanted to have as much fun as their children (he expected fewer than 10 parents to show up, but usually more than 30 did), and now many of those parents play for adult leisure teams. My daughter started playing ice hockey because she was taking skating lessons and when we asked what she wanted to do with her new skill, she said she wanted to play the same sport as her daddy.
Why it matters: Every business must do more than serve existing customers. A successful business is always striving to attract – and retain – a constant stream of new customers. That is why an ice sports facility without year-round “learn to skate” and beginner ice hockey programs is never going to live up to its full potential. People who have family and friends who ice skate typically want to learn for themselves. People who learn how to ice skate typically want to continue ice skating. This effect compounds itself over time, which grows a facility’s customer base, which in turn attracts even more customers.
Lesson 4: Role models are essential, but they must be accessible and relatable.
In the same survey mentioned above, we discovered that watching professional or elite ice sports has a relatively low influence on whether people participate in ice sports themselves (9% join because of the Olympics or other international tournaments, 17% because they see local professional competitions). This makes a certain amount of logical sense. When you watch a superstar play in a game or skate in a competition, you don’t see them as human beings like you who have put thousands of grueling hours into perfecting their skills. You only see the superstar on television or in an arena performing in front of thousands of screaming fans. Most of us will look at that and simply say, “Wow, I could never do that.”
But what about a trainer who patiently teaches skaters the fundamental skills that make those amazing performances possible? What about older hockey players or figure skaters who train on the same ice as younger players and skaters who are just starting out? What about those superstars who take the time to visit ice rinks to show some of their tricks, and to talk about what it took to get them to where they are now? A role model can be anybody who helps you to reach for a higher level. True role models help beginners think to themselves, “If I work hard enough, I can do that, too!”
Why it matters: When my daughter was 5 years old and was just starting out in ice hockey, her role models were the 10-year-old girls she would see at the rink going to hockey practice. She never knew their names, but in them, she could see herself in another 5 years. Today, at almost 12-years-old, my daughter wants to be seen as a role model to other girls who want to play ice hockey – not because she thinks she’s great, but because she can show that it’s possible. An ice sports facility can make this role model creation possible, by scheduling ice sports training either concurrent with or consecutive to public skating and beginner lessons, and by creating opportunities for skaters to interact with higher-level ice sports athletes on a human level. Having accessible role models not only gets people on the ice, role models inspire people to stay on the ice longer.
Lesson 5: Ice sports aren’t “niche” sports, they are a subculture.
As somebody who used to dance along the edge of punk and its various musical and stylistic sub-genres, I have always been fascinated by the concept of “subculture.” But what is a subculture? Academics have settled on a variety of defining characteristics, including having interests at variance with the dominant culture, negative or ambivalent attitude toward social class, strong identification with groups or clubs outside of family or traditional structures, and movement to adopt values, behaviors and modes of dress characteristic of the group.
I have always heard ice sports referred to as “niche” sports (both in the USA where American football is dominant, and in Europe where soccer/football is dominant). But ice sports are actually closer to a subculture. The rejection by ice sports participants of the dominant sports culture is self-evident. But it goes deeper than this. While athletic talent can be a great racial and socio-economic equalizer, sports clubs are often organized within neighborhoods, which means that a club’s diversity will mirror that neighborhood’s diversity (or lack of it). Because ice rinks are regional amenities and not local ones, ice sports clubs tend to attract participants from a wider range of economic, national and racial backgrounds. With such diversity, the unifying characteristic is a common love of ice sports. Characteristic of other subcultures, ice sports participants have their own language and behavior patterns that are universal – whether they are from Europe, the Americas or anywhere else. To me, that makes ice sports something unique that I want to be a part of for at least 20 more years.
Why it matters: The difference between a niche and a subculture is subtle, but in the context of an ice sports facility it is essential. This key difference is expressed not when people are participating in the sport itself, but particularly when people are not participating in the sport. Being a part of a subculture affects every aspect of a member’s life – from what they wear, to how they speak, to what they do with their free time, even to how they decorate their homes. If this subculture can be supported and catered to by a facility – especially by its activities and retail offerings – the subculture grows, and the facility becomes a focal point for that subculture.
When you join a new sport – or a new subculture – as you grow older, you are forced to learn new lessons you had never even considered before. When you are planning a new facility for these sports and subcultures, you see how these lessons have practical applications.