I just want to start out by saying THANK-YOU to our School Board, City Council and Township Boards that have been involved in this movement to help youth hockey build an ice arena for the community. The Becker-Big Lake Ice Association members have spent countless hours of their time fighting for this arena and it is appreciated!!
I would like to respond to Ms. Skold's recent letter to the editor regarding building a facility to be used year-round. The ice arena that is being proposed is like other arenas in the state, they are multi-purpose facilities and can host a number of events during the off-season - craft fairs, car shows, indoor training facilities for other sports - just to name a few. Currently, the parents of our hockey program drive the players to other facilities that have available ice time to rent out - Sauk Rapids is our "home" ice, but we drive to Blaine, Sartell, St. Cloud, and Princeton (just to name a few) 3-5 times a week for practices and games.
We don't have the "option" of turning around and "spoiling our day" because the roads have not been plowed or it is 20 below out - we as players and families have made a commitment to a team and we cannot just bail out of a game or practice because the roads are bad. I have a 10-yr old and there have been times we don't get home from practices until after 11 pm because that is the only time we could get ice time for practices. She is tired the next day, but she doesn't complain because she loves to play the game - I would much rather have her out on the ice playing a game she loves than sitting in front of the TV playing video games all day.
Our small-town has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of houses and families, but unfortunately our infrastructure has not. Our schools are struggling, our businesses are struggling, and our families in general are struggling. I completely agree with Ms. Kapala's letter in the Sept. 28 edition of the paper, if we do not invest in our youth and our community today we WILL pay for it later.
