A string of Olympic size Ice Arena’s nation wide. Including built in skate shops, which make custom made to fit and customized ice skates both Hockey and figure with any design on them. There aren’t many Olympic size ice rinks nation wide, many skate shops cant get skates in stock from abroad due to the huge rush for skates. Ice-skating both figure and hockey is becoming increasing more popular, due to the winter Olympics and the celebrity TV show ‘Dancing on Ice’. The ice rinks that are currently open are n need of refurbishment and many are being closed down.
Option Two. Martial Art Gyms (Dojo’s) across London, for young children and self-defence classes for females. This is because the streets of London are become increasingly violent and dangerous both during the day and the night-time. Children and women need to learn how to protect themselves from violence. Children at school are targets from violence also from the school bullies, there has always been bullying in schools but over the past few years, the amount of physical and psychological violence has increase resulting in children committing suicide and turning on every one. Bullying is one of the main problems for children in this generation. So in order for children to get out of being bullied they need the confidence to stand up to bullies and teaching them to defend themselves is part of it.
Females are the main targets in London for violent crimes, these might include theft, robbery, rape, and mental/physical abuse from their husbands and boyfriends. Domestic violence is very common with 1 in 4 women experiencing it in their lifetime and between 1 in 8 to 1 in 10 women experiencing it annually. Though less than half of all incidents are ever reported the Police, the Police still receive one call about domestic violence for every minute in the UK.. Two women are killed every day in the UK due to domestic violence.
The majority of children witness the violence that is occurring and in about half of all domestic violence situations, they are also being directly abused themselves. Having the females self defence classes would also show kids who see domestic violence in their house hold that it isn’t acceptable for them to either do the same when they get older or take the violence. Opening up this type of business would be a valuable asset for children when they get older, to help to protect and defend themselves from being victims all their lives. The gyms would be in partnership with other local martial art clubs to promote, the idea and see how much interest there is in it.
Option Three.
Get Active. After school sports lessons/activates for children aged between 5 and 11 yr olds. This is a step to beat obesity among youngsters and to set them on the path to a healthier future. It is estimated that up to 15% of children in the UK are overweight or obese, Children who are overweight tend to grow up into adults who are overweight. They therefore have a higher risk of developing serious health problems in later life, including heart attack and stroke, type 2 diabetes, bowel cancer, and high blood pressure. The risk of health problems increases the more overweight a person becomes. Being overweight as a child can also cause psychological distress. Teasing about their appearance affects children’s confidence and self-esteem and can lead to isolation and depression. The number of overweight and obese children in the UK has risen steadily over the past 20 years.
For the boys they have options of football, athletics, cricket and basketball and the girls can choose between football, netball, athletics and gymnastics. This could also include teaching the children about healthy eating and nutrition, letting the schools introduce junk food bans. Football would learn circuits, ladder drills, basic skills like dribbling, passing and defence. Netball and Basketball learning ball control, passing, shooting, defending. Gymnastics learning stretching, floor routines, balance beam work and so on.
I have chosen business option number 1. A string of Olympic size ice rinks, with skate shops, which make custom made to fit with customisation of their skates with pictures, gems or inscriptions on them with matching accessories, like blade guards, bags and protectors. I choose this business option because at the moment ice skating both figure and hockey is becoming increasing more popular, due to the winter Olympics and the celebrity TV show ‘Dancing on Ice’. People both young and old have gone mad for the sport. Plus there aren’t many Olympic size ice rinks nation wide, many skate shops cant get skates in stock from abroad due to the huge rush for skates, so many people are now ordering from e-bay and from the states as most skate shops nation wide have a waiting list of over 2 months. The ice rinks that are currently open are n need of refurbishment and many are being closed down.
The new arena’s will be set up nation wide. Open through all four seasons, with opening time of 10am-11pm 7 days a week. Each having it’s own male and female hockey teams that could be host to competitions for both hockey and figure events. There will be two rinks in each arena one for the hockey and figure skaters and the other for recreational purposes. A large car park and cr�che for parents. There will be seating all around the arena, restaurants and cafes, skate shops, people who do the recreational skating would be able to hire proper skates either figure or hockey instead of the plastic one’s many rinks have, so people have comfort.
The skate shop will make made to fit skates so that the buyer knows there skates are proper fit and size to stop discomfort. The skates can also be customised with images, lettering, engravings and rhinestones put on them, so that each pair of skates are unique to the buyer and so that if lost people would be able to identify there skates easier. Each customisation would be optional and buyers would have the choice of buying matching accessories like outfits, bags, blade guards and protectors. The arenas hockey teams would be able to get made to fit uniforms, and have their skates and pads customised with their teams motif. The cost of skates would depend on the size and nature of the customisation ranging from �50 pound upwards.
To get the business underway we would need a grant from the Lottery and Sports England. Also as Streatham Ice Arena in London, future is still not looking good, we would start by getting planning permission from Streatham council to refurbish and renovate the arena as our first project. As Streatham Ice Arena is home to many Hockey teams including the Redskins and the Warriors, it would be one of the best places to promote the new facility. Many people attend Streatham Arena daily, so to build a state of the art arena would be beneficial for the locals and those who travel miles just to go skating. There is a huge amount of money to be made from new arenas and skate shops in the next few years due to the huge demand for more skating facilities as the nation has gone ice skating crazy.