FEATURE STORY
Holy Rollers Kids discover love for hockey, no ice required, at Kilgore Skateland
BY CARTER MIZE | cmize@marshallnewsmessenger.com PHOTOS BY MICHAEL CAVAZOS
H
ockey may seem like a foreign language to most East Texans, given that, for many, the only time they’ve seen a frozen lake was during a freak February storm. Terry Houk doesn’t seem to care that the sport he coaches for Kilgore-area kids requires ice, because, as he’ll tell you, a pair of inline skates will do just fine. Dozens of kids and their parents have taken the bait after hearing Houk preach the gospel of roller hockey, which is a version of the game played on a typical roller rink. No ice needed. Every Monday night, Houk acts like something of a shepherd for his flock of a few dozen skaters as he slowly floats on inlines across the Kilgore Skateland skating rink, barking out orders for
drills over a loudspeaker and a handheld mic. The drills take Houk’s small army of kids, from around age 4 to the late teens, through speedy maneuvers around the fluorescentlit Skateland rink. Sometimes they form single-file lines that whip into figure eights, while transitioning back again and again between skating forward and backward. Other times they simply skate across the rink in pairs, practically drag racing with a friend to work on speed and endurance. Houk treats each skater the same during drills, regardless of ability. He’s taught the fundamentals enough for them to remember, and they appear to have listened enough to execute his orders without much hesitation. Spring 2022 | Etcetera 15
