I'm melting...

I had a great life...3 jobs that I loved, a nice house in a great community, 3 kids, a wife that tolerates me and my Harley...Not the bike but my wife's idea of humor... A Tibetan spaniel. Sounds good until I tell you that hitting the 40 hour mark on Wednesday evening wasn't all that its cracked up to be. Take away the punishing hours, I really loved what I did. I managed an ice rink, swimming pools, driving range, batting cages, members only dog park, all for a suburban Chicago community. I coached competitive figure skaters, short track speed skaters, Hockey/Power skating and in my spare time worked for the Chicago Wolves in the American Hockey League as their mascot "Skates". Each and every job was rewarding but as a whole it just beat me up. I had enough as the cost of living in Chicago just squeezed my bank account dry.

Recently I walked away from it all and I in my would like subsequent blogs to share my experiences to shed some light on numerous ice related topicsas well as the craziness surronding the recreation field. Some will be funny, some will be edgy, all will have good spelling and proper sentance structure.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Forgotten Art of Skating Etiquette

Image
PS Magazine, OCT/NOV 2010 This past September, I was in San Francisco for both the PSA Nationwide and ISI seminars. I was excited to be there as I was unveiling a new presentation/soapbox, "The Forgotten Art of Skating Etiquette." But before I was scheduled to deliver my new PowerPoint, I had an on-ice presentation to do. Standing in the middle of the rink finishing up my session, you can imagine my surprise as I was interrupted by this gentle voice from behind. "Excuse me Mr. Santee, I am sorry to interrupt…I’m warming up for my test and I need to use the middle of the ice…Is that OK?" I turned and just stared at him in stunned silence…Did he just call me Mr. Santee? Is he asking my permission to use ice he already had a right too? WOW was all I could think, and "Sure" was all I managed to say. Turning toward the coaches standing there, I said, "I’ll even get out of his way." I was so impressed with his demeanor that I thought to myself that if ...
Read more

Under Siege – Our Youth

It’s not figure skating. It’s not hockey. It’s not gymnastics or swimming, nor football or basketball…it is our children who are under siege. In 2010, a jury awarded a former scout $18.5 million dollars after the Boy Scouts of America was accused of covering up decades of child abuse. The Catholic Church has had to defend accusations from Canada, Ireland, United States, Britain, Mexico, Belgium, France, and Germany. Every year there is a plethora of accusations against school teachers….as recently as yesterday, a university professor was accused of watching child pornography on an airplane! As a father I used to worry about the influence of drinking and drugs to my children…as a culture, we turn to the church, the scouts, school activities, or sports to help keep our children off the streets and away from harm. But that seems not to be the case… and quite honestly, it is very difficult if not impossible to protect our children from the “landmines” that surround them. It’s not these act...
Read more

Girls - Hockey vs. Figure Skating

Jan/Feb 2013 PS Magazine In the November issue of USA Hockey magazine it was reported that in the past 10 years, participation in girl’s hockey has increased close to 40%; for the 2011-2012 season, 67,000 girls and women were playing hockey. If USA Hockey can maintain that pace, the number of girls playing hockey could exceed those who are figure skating within another 20 years. While rink owners and operators would love that, it should concern those who earn their livelihood in the figure skating market. In Rochester , Minnesota , home of the PSA, it has already happened. There are currently 145 members of the Rochester Figure Skating Club which includes both boys and girls. The Rochester Youth Hockey Association has 226 registered girls on 14 teams; a difference of 36% in comparison to the RFSC. In the State of Hockey (MN), there are 126 high schools with at least one girl’s team. Massachusetts has 82 high school girls teams, Wisconsin 33, Michigan 30, and Illino...
Read more