Cool Runnings

It could be January and still feel like fall, but it really doesn’t matter. Bellaire residents who love winter sports will find a way to seek their thrills. Some winter sports fanatics may need to take flight to the Rocky Mountains or other slopes around the globe to get their fix, while some enthusiasts may be fulfilled right here in Space City. Two Bellaire kids, Brendan and Patrick O’Connell, are as much at home playing competitive hockey and snowboarding as they are playing school soccer or SFL football.

Brendan says their dad, Walter, got them passionate about their sports. Walter grew up in upstate New York, practically with a hockey stick in his hand. Although he moved to Houston right out of graduate school, he has never lost his thirst for the ice. Patrick, 15, a sophomore at St. Pius, started playing ice hockey at age 6. He took ice skating lessons, and started out on roller blades. Brendan, 10, a fifth-grader at Condit Elementary, was determined not to be outdone by his older brother, and also started playing at a young age.

Both parents and kids are clearly dedicated. Most Saturdays begin with an early-morning practice, and mom, Melinda, says she is thankful when it is at 7 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. The monetary commitment is also considerable. At a cost of $300 per hour to rent a sheet of ice (translation: ice rink), and at 2 to 3 practices per child’s team per week—well, you can do the math. “The parents on the team share the cost of rentals. The cost for the season, which typically goes from August through March, is significant, and most parents have to pay if off in installments,” says Walter. This doesn’t include the equipment, which is pricey and bulky. Melinda laughs good-naturedly at the fact that hockey sticks rest alongside her dining room wall, and the enormous equipment duffels, too heavy to take up and down stairs, mostly lie in that room too. “We used to have a walk-in toy closet, which is now an equipment closet,” she confesses.

10-year-old Brendan O’Connell is ready for the slopes. (Photo: www.solarisstudios.com)

Since most ice rinks are outside the Loop, getting to practices can pose a challenge. “With two kids on two different teams, we’re going all different directions all over town, such as to Clear Lake and Memorial—sometimes we get lucky and get to go to Sharpstown,” Walter says. “Ice hockey is really big in Dallas, and they have over 35 rinks compared to Houston’s six. Most of the kids who play competitive ice hockey live out in the ‘burbs, so it is hard to find carpools from around here. We would love to have kids in our area join the leagues,” he says.

Patrick, who also played soccer for his school, does not seem phased by the lack of laid-back Saturday mornings. In fact, many weekends, the family is out-of-town for tournaments, and most of the time the kids are up by 4:30 a.m. to be at the rink by 6 a.m. It appears the benefits reach far beyond just being a sport for him. “Most of my loyal friends come from hockey,” says Patrick. “You build up a respect for each other. You have to protect each other when playing,” he says.

Although the sport can be rough at times, Melinda says that she feels it is less so than football. “They’re well protected,” she says, although she did share an incident where a player skated over Patrick’s neck when he was in Pee Wee. “The kids don’t like to wear a neck guard, but Patrick’s neck guard was sliced in half and it saved his life. Our coach has kept it and takes the neck guard out each season to show the parents and other players how crucial it is to wear it all the time,” says Melinda.

And what about the nasty brawls we all associate with ice hockey? Walter says the leagues are cracking down on fighting in the junior programs. “It’s more acceptable than in other sports, but less acceptable now. They are really trying to clean up the sport,” he says.

Brendan’s advice to those interested in playing is to start as young as possible. “If you are older than age 8, and want to get ahead at it, you’ll have to work that much harder if you start later,” he says.

Patrick O’Connell mixes it up on the ice.

Both Patrick and Brendan’s comfort on the ice has paid off with their agility on snowboards. The family hits the slopes any opportunity it can get. “Snowboarding is like being on a skateboard going down a hill really fast,” says Brendan. “I like to jump. The difference between snowboarding and skateboarding is that the snowboard is attached to your boots. If feels like you’re flying,” he says.

The boys took to the snow at a young age. “Brendan was still in Pull Ups when he learned to ski,” says Walter. “We lied about his age because he was ready, and the ski school would not take kids who were not potty trained. At age 6, he was ready to snowboard, so we had to lie about his age again.”

“We’re a full-throttle, get-out-on-the-slopes-every-day family when it comes to skiing,” says Melinda. Walter and the boys are always on the last lift going up each day.

It seems the boys are game for anything that will slide them along the ice or snow. Last year, when Patrick’s team was invited to compete in the CanAm Tournament at Lake Placid, the O’Connell boys got an opportunity to bobsled. And as the movie, Cool Runnings, showed us, if an untrained Jamaican team can rock the bobsledding world at the ’88 Winter Olympics at Calgary, there’s no telling what two brothers from Bellaire can do when it comes to winter sports.

Taking it to the Extreme

If you think George Hirasaki, a professor of chemical engineering at Rice University and Bellaire resident, can get enough of excitement from heli-skiing, think again. Even though George is used to going up in a helicopter and being dropped onto terrain so rugged and into powder so deep he can’t see his skis, George is always looking for a new way to push his limits.

“People who enjoy extreme sports often are not doing it for the thrill. It is to challenge ourselves to do the most we can,” he says.

On his 50th birthday, George scaled the Matterhorn in Switzerland and had to train extensively. “I trained for the Matterhorn by climbing Mount Rainier in Washington. Before my guide would accept me, I had to demonstrate my ability to self-arrest (halting one’s decent). I kicked steps in the snow until it got too steep to go higher. Then he had me fall over backwards, slide downhill on by back going headfirst, and use my ice axe to stop my sliding,” he says. But even George’s intense training could not have prepared him for the challenging Matterhorn climb.

George Hirasaki, 65, loves to heli-ski and has won the Texas Ski Council senior men division several times.

For 16 hours straight, his expedition hiked towards the summit. Now George can joke about the descent, which didn’t go according to textbook. The group was delayed in getting down the mountain from exhaustion and dehydration, and had to halt their climb. That night, they roped themselves together on a narrow ledge through an unexpected snow storm, talking all through the night to keep awake. If one of them were to fall asleep and lean forward, all would have been in danger of falling. The party was not equipped with the right clothing to brace the freezing winds and falling rocks, and their only meal consisted of a chocolate bar, shared between the four men. It was with great relief that the party was able to get down the mountain the next day. Especially, for George who was eager to get back to his new love, Darlene, whom he’d recently met while they both were on a Space City Ski Club excursion. At age 40, it was only Darlene’s second ski trip, but with her natural athletic ability and George as a partner, she would soon become an expert skier herself.

Still members of the ski club, Darlene and George are avid skiers. Darlene has been among the top two senior women in the Texas Ski Council several times, and George has also won the Texas Ski Council senior men division.

When it comes to heli-skiing, George looks for words to describe the breathtaking scenery and exhilarating experience.  “When the snow gets deeper, your thighs are like snowplows and they are shooting snow up in your face between turns. Then you look and take a breath of air between turns. When it is also steep, your poles and hands disappear into the snow with each turn and the snow you throw up is sliding down about the same speed as you are skiing. You are a controlled avalanche.”

George’s thirst for adventure is insatiable. When the snow has melted, he gets his kicks windsurfing in Maui. Not bad for a 65-year-old college professor from Bellaire!

Editor’s Note: Space City Ski Club is the largest snow ski club in Texas with over 1,000 members. The member-run nonprofit organization is located in Houston. Starting each year at Thanksgiving, the club runs anywhere from 15-18 inexpensive ski trips a year, and is a member of the Texas Ski Council. For more information, visit www.spacecity.org.

Editor’s Note: For more information on junior hockey leagues, visit www.houstonhitmen.com or www.junioraeros.com.