time outdoors on the rink. We started out with the 20 by 40 Rink in a Box, but upgraded to a 44 by 84-foot rink last winter.” Because of the features of the NiceRink sys-
by KAMA KORVELA
During the winter of 1991, Jim Stoller de- cided it was time for his young son Tyler to learn to skate. After all, skating was in Tyler’s DNA — Jim and his brothers played ice hockey for most of their lives, and also took figure skating lessons to improve their hockey skills. “After all, if they can walk, you can put
skates on ’em,” Stoller said with a laugh. As Stoller started building a makeshift ice rink in his backyard, he faced some challenges. Te thick sheet of ice he had created completely melted by the first day and the uneven ground made it difficult to keep the ice surface level. Stoller quickly realized that in order to build a sustainable rink, different materials would be necessary. With this knowledge, as well as several years of experience in his family’s plastics busi- ness, he created NiceRink, today a leading manu- facturer of outdoor ice rinks. NiceRink, which is based in Genoa City,
Wis., sells a variety of rink packages, starting with the “Rink in a Box” starter package (20 feet by 40 feet) to larger-size “Complete Kit” gold packag- es, which includes everything needed to build a rink. Te company also sells individual components such as lin- ers, brackets and ice resurfacers.
Stoller, who is the president of the company,
said there are many benefits of his product for fig- ure skaters. “Te NiceRinks are great for skaters, because
they are able to practice spins, turns and other skills on a smaller surface,” he said.
When putting together any outdoor ice rink,
there are several things to consider, he said. “A high-quality liner, like one solid piece of plastic, is important,” Stoller said. “Without a good liner, you’re just fighting Mother Nature. Brackets are needed to support the water pressure on the sides (of the rink) from the water. Our brackets can hold up to 14 inches of water with- out any additional support.” Greg Michalski, a longtime customer of Nice Rink, says, “Our family enjoys spending a lot of
tem, Michalski was able to easily increase the size of his family’s rink. “Te great thing about NiceRink is you’re not just buying one size,” he said. “With how their brackets fit, you can always go bigger.” Many families purchase NiceRinks, because they want to spend more time together. “Parents want somewhere safe for their kids
to play,” Stoller said. “You want to know where your kids are at and you also want them to have a place for their friends to come over and hang out. “Te NiceRinks are also a lot safer than skat- ing on outdoor ponds and lakes. A lot of parents like the idea of having a safe skating surface in their own backyard.” NiceRink also has the “hat-trick” advantage. “We offer year-round customer support,”
Stoller said. “For example, customers will post questions on our Facebook page and we do our best to answer them quickly. Sometimes though, our customers are our best customer-service peo- ple, because they will chime in with a response to another customer’s question before we even get it.”
To learn more about NiceRink, visit:
www.NiceRink.com and
www.Facebook.com/NiceRink.
34 NOVEMBER 2013
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