Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 22G
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, March 28,1999
SPORTS, LEISURE & ENTERTAINMENT
Skating and in-line hockey enjoying boom in Forsyth
By Jonathan Hamilton
Sports Staff
i
In-line skaters and hockey play
ers have a new place to play their I
sport as it continues to grow in i
Forsyth County and the surround
ing area.
The new Slap Shots Sportsplex,
which broke ground back in
September of *9B on Piney Grove
Rd. off of Hwy. 9, is finally up
and running.
Jhe Cumming Skate Center,
which celebrated it’s 17th
anniversary March 27 this year,
has also seen a period of exciting
growth and remodeling this year
as well.
Slap Shots
Since SlapShots’ opening last
month the response from Forsyth
County and the Roswell/
Alpharetta area has been over
whelming.
“Not a day goes by that we don’t
have parents come by and ask
about the current leagues that we
are running,” said co-owner Trey
Butler. “We are running a four
team league, for ages 7-12. All
the coaches have agreed to bal
ance the lines so that roughly the
same age players are on the rink
at a time.”
The kids league has about 50
players. In addition to that league,
they also have a developmental
league for those who want to
learn the game.
“We are working with the kids
that have no real experience in
skating,” said Butler. “After 12
weeks of practice, about 80 per
cent of these players will be ready
to play in the regular league. The
really young kids, 4-or-5 years
old, will really benefit from going
through the developmental league
again. We have one coach work
ing with four or five kids. It is
really a good learning experi
ence.” /
Along with the recreational and
competitive roller hockey, there is
family skating, aggressive skating
and other activities for all ages.
“We always want to have skate
time for non-hockey,” said Butler.
“The hockey hasn’t totally domi
nated rinks in Georgia like it has
in California or Florida. We want
a good balance.”
Balance they have.
In addition to regular skating
they have hockey time on
Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, 8 p.m.-
9 p.m. for kids and 9 p.m.-l 1 p.m.
for adults.
**We would eventually like to
have an adult in-line hockey
league,” said Butler, an ex-hockey
player. “We are about halfway to
our goal in that respect.”
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Slap Shots is currently projecting
growth to about 300 kids skating
through the end of the year.
For more information about the
hockey programs or other ques
tions, call (770) 888-5000.
Internet users can go to
www.bravewc.com/slapshots for
more information, also.
Skate Center
The TNN/CBS network’s joint
venture, Roller Jam, held open
tryouts in late October of last year
at the Cumming Skate Center.
The tryouts attracted 75-plus par
ticipants to show their stuff and
15 were asked back for interviews
with the producers of the show.
North Forsyth HS alum Laura
Hyzer was signed as the star jam
mer for the Texas Rustlers.
But that isn’t the only exciting
thing happening.
Top-ranked speed skater Derek
Downing, son of Skate Center
owner David Downing, recently
signed a three year contract with
Fila/Verducci making him and his
partner, Chad Hedrick, the highest
paid speed skaters in the world.
David Downing has also contin
ued to be heavily involved in the
speed skating scene, having been
named the “Speed Skating Coach
of the Year” twice in the past
three years.
The GT Speed Team, operating
out of the Skate Center and
coached by Downing, has been
widely recognized as the most
successful speed skating club in
the United States
Prep hockey
In-line hockey has been a big
part of the boom and the interest
has grown to the point that many
individuals are interested making
in-line hockey an official high
school sport.
To that end, an in-line hockey
league has formed and now has
12 teams this year (all from the
metro Atlanta area), including
teams who attend all three
Forsyth schools.
At Forsyth Central, in-line hock
ey is a club sport, but for South
Forsyth and North Forsyth there
is no official connection of any
kind. Nonetheless, each of the
students competing for the South
Forsyth league team attend South
and wear the school colors. North
calls its team the “Rolling
Raiders.”
Against more established teams
from Gwinnett, Cobb and Fulton
counties, the Forsyth schools are
holding their own. The Bulldogs
have even found themselves bat
tling in the middle of the 12-team
pack.
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Photos/Tom Brooks, submitted-’
Skating and roller hockey are all getting big in Forsyth now. In
above photo, local youth get to try out the new floor at Slapshots,
the new facility off of Hwy. 9. At left, top-ranked in-line profes
sional Derek Downing has had another banner year and is
poised to take over his father’s business and Cumming GT
Speed team when he retires.
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