FEATURED STORY FROM THE Best of BG – 2016 ISSUE
BGSU Ice Arena:
An Ice Skater She’s Not, but Jamie Baringer is THE Skater’s Best Friend in BG
For someone who wasn’t familiar with ice skating in any form growing up, it might be a little ironic that Jamie Baringer has made a successful career out of managing ice skating for others. Baringer is the Assistant Athletic Director of Arena Operations and oversees the Ice Arena and Stroh Center at Bowling Green State University.
Sixteen years ago Baringer entered into the field, and at the time, she had only skated a total of three times in her life. “[Skating] was not something I grew up with, and so it’s ironic that now I’m into the industry, I teach other managers and operators how to operate facilities within the industry,”
The position is not only wide-ranging, but also extremely rewarding for Baringer. “The most exciting thing is when you see a child come in that may have been struggling skating, and they’ve now successfully completed something,” she said. “Or when you have repeat customers that come to the building because this is where they feel comfortable. It’s really all encompassing”.
All students and BGSU affiliates (faculty and staff) receive discounted rates for admission and skates.
The discount reduces the cost to only $3 for admission, and $3 for skate rentals. Public skates are held every day of the week, however, the arena’s larger turnouts usually take place over the weekend.
The staff work hard to promote the services provided to students. They also work to spark an interest for such services in first- year students at the beginning of the academic year.
“During welcome week we have specific skates that are free,” Baringer said. “We always have a very large turnout.”
The Bowling Green Community has a large presence at the arena. “The public uses a majority of our ice time,” Baringer said. People can be found skating at the arena 8 a.m. until 1 a.m. or later the following morning. From 3:30 p.m. until closing in the early morning, there are primarily people from the community that are out on the ice. A lot of ice is also rented out to the Bowling Green youth hockey, high school hockey, and figure skating.
Seven high schools rent the arena for their practices and games as well. The arena has a large yearly turnout, as well as a large amount of impressions, which include a person seeing a sign about the arena. On average, the ice arena has over 250 thousand impressions a year.
Although the arena already has a lot to offer students here at Bowling Green State University, it is still expanding on its offered services.
“We are trying to still get broomball up and running,” Baringer said. The arena holds a couple tournaments a year to try to gain student’s interest and involvement. These tournaments are exclusive to BGSU students.