With the start of summer just days away, AdventHealth Center Ice is
the perfect place to escape the Florida heat.
Located in Wesley Chapel, AdventHealth Center Ice offers skaters of all
skill levels an opportunity to enjoy ice skating at the largest ice sports
facility in the Southeast.
One of the skating rink’s most popular programs is its “Learn to Skate”series, which offers classes for recreational or competitive figure
skating and/or ice hockey.
AdventHealth Center Ice impressively has the largest “Learn to Skate” program in the state of Florida. In fact, last season the program had more than 415 participants.
In this series, there are three main classes: IC’s Snowballs, IC’s Skate
School and IC’s Hockey Super Stars 101.
The IC’s Snowballs teaches young kids from ages 3 to 8 the basic
fundamentals of skating, whereas the IC’s Skate Skool is for kids 9 and
older, and the IC’s Hockey Super Stars 101 is for ages 5 to 14.
“These classes are great exercise and teaches kids about working
together,” says Jim Charos, vice president of Strategic Initiatives for
AdventHealth Center Ice.
But the “Learn to Skate” series, which runs from June 1 to August 7,
isn’t just for kids. AdventHealth Center Ice also offers adult-only
classes every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. And, if you end up
finding you have a real interest/talent in skating and/or playing hockey,
you can join one of the skating rink’s 80+ adult leagues.
On top of AdventHealth Center Ice’s “Learn to Skate” series, it also has
its own development academy, Global Prospects Academy (GPA). This
academy merges traditional educational curriculum with on-and-off
training of hockey, ice skating and sports performance/recovery.
The educational curriculum is in conjunction with the North Tampa
Christian Academy, as some of its teachers come to the skating rink to
instruct the students.
GPA is for ages 8 to 17, and Charos says they are bringing in students
from all over.
“We have two kids coming in from California, and one coming from
Minnesota,” says Charos. “Parents don’t want to be driving their kids
all over town. Having their training and schooling all in one place is
very convenient for them.”
Besides offering fun programs for all ages, AdventHealth Center Ice
also prides itself on giving back to the local community. In fact, this
summer it will be focusing on its “Summer of Giving Back” series,
where a portion of money raised from themed public skate nights will
go to a different charity each month. The three charities are The Trevor
Project, United Service Organizations and United Way.
“We live off the community and want to give back to the community,”
says Charos.
For more information on AdventHealth Center Ice and its “Learn to
Skate” series, please go to AHCenterIce.com/learn-to-skate/.
Published June 09, 2021
