The ice is melting for the skating kids of D.C.
The Fort Dupont Ice Arena was melting. The compressors were powering down and the ice was becoming as weepy as Melani, the 17-year-old whose life was enriched — maybe even saved — in one of the most run-down rinks in the nation.“I grew up across the street. This is the place we all went to get out,” she said, wiping her tears with her shirt sleeve.
The club teams, elite prep schools and adult pickup leagues will find ice. It will be tough to drive across the city and into the suburbs during rush hour, especially for high school kids racing to get to practice , but they will manage for two years, or however long it takes.It will be the kids like Melani, who is called Coach Melani by the Kids on Ice skaters who get free or subsidized lessons and who look up to her and listen and learn from her, who will be bereft.
It was not until 2019 — after hockey mania swept the region when the Washington Capitals captured the Stanley Cup — that city leaders began to acknowledge the need for new ice, for more ice. There was a proposal, complete with gorgeous architectural renderings, for a grand rink with two sheets of ice. It drew on the stunning view that visiting teams always gasp at: a sweeping vista of the capital.
Four of their executives sat down to tell me what they have done: They send celebrity players to rink every so often. In 2018, they bussed more than 1,000 D.C. schoolkids to the rink and opened it up, offering lessons in ice and street hockey They donate equipment and instruction of schools on the rules of street and ice hockey.
Four years later, the money is still locked in the GoFundMe. The folks from Monumental Sports who wanted to talk to me about all the things the team has done for the rink said they will get the money to the rink once it reopens. In two years. They can’t promise to open any of their ice time to the teams displaced during the renovation.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Fort Worth police make 4th arrest in Jin Shin’s shooting deathA fourth man was arrested Tuesday in the slaying of 43-year-old Chin “Jin” Shin — a pillar of Dallas’ Asian community — following a fender-bender in Fort...
Leer más »
Perspective | Does John Fetterman’s openness signal new acceptance of mental illness?Perspective: Some see the reaction to Sen. Fetterman’s announcement as a sign of progress, but that’s less true than you might think
Leer más »
Schwazze to Buy Dispensaries in Fort Collins and Garden CityBoth stores will become Star Buds dispensaries.
Leer más »
Perspective | Why it’s important to teach Black kids Black history and cultureA cultural arts program in D.C. teaches Black children how to tell their story, know their history and save their souls
Leer más »
Perspective | Jimmy Carter’s grace and vulnerabilityPerspective: Carter’s life post-presidency leaves an indelible memory of modesty and fallibility — even as he continued to achieve great things. He has grasped a whisper of control over his own death by ceding control to God, fate, and the inevitable.
Leer más »