Specialty sports businesses gain ground in valley

Public Record, The, Aug 13, 2002 by Slahor, Stephenie

Certainly golf and tennis would head the list of sports you might consider first when thinking of the Coachella Valley. The area has gained international recognition for its many competitions in both sports.

If you gave it more thought, you would add swimming to the list of sports residents and visitors en joy. Looking out the window of a flight over the valley reveals the thousands of blue pools dotting back yards, hotels and recreation centers. Thinking more about the valley's most Popular sports, your list might include biking, hiking and horseback riding.

But a new trend is well on its way: specialty sports, with stores and facilities dedicated to small but growing groups of followers.

Among these is Palm Springs' Get Wet Scuba. Although it may sound like an anomaly for desert dwellers there are many who enjoy scuba diving. In existence for over two years, Get Wet Scuba is headed by Kathy Peper, who runs a full retail shop offering gear, lessons and trips for new and experienced divers. Her customers come from throughout the valley and the high desert.

She admits that when she first opened her store, she anticipated only a small number of customers, but in the short time she's had the business and its Web site, she was amazed to learn the number of valley residents who dive or are interested in diving. Most of her customers are 30 and older, due to the fact that scuba diving is an expensive sport. The cost of equipment is the main expense factor, but also there are lessons and trips to diving locations, so customers tend to be those who have a larger budget for recreation.

Peper organizes dive trips to Santa Catalina Island, the Channel Islands and Mexico and runs a monthly club for divers. Lessons are given in local pools; then an ocean dive is done to complete the basic certification. Peper also oversees a diver mentoring program in which volunteers assist new or previously inactive divers in honing skills, and she organizes civic/community activities such as beach cleanups.

Another specialty sport gaining ground in the valley is skateboarding and its winter companion, snowboarding. Industry Ride Shop of Palm Springs, Palm Desert and, soon. La Quinta, is run by Jared Lee. His stores offer clothing, skateboards, accessories and shoes.

A skateboarder himself, Lee began his business in Victorville, then relocated to the Coachella Valley. Success soon saw him adding new stores and an informational Web site. He says the secret to his growth is listening to his customers, mainly youngsters 10-18, and providing the gear and clothing they need for safe and enjoyable skating and snowboarding. Lee sponsors promising youngsters anxious to enter amateur competitions. He says these are sports that youth take seriously, and he's pleased that communities are showing more respect for the activities.

One of the newest specialty sports stores is Robin Hood Archery in Indio. Open less than a year, the store stocks bows, arrows, accessories, archery videos and some clothing items.

Carmen Santacruz manages the store and serves as one of the coaches for neophyte through advanced archers. Lessons are given at the store's indoor, 20-yard range, and the store sponsors occasional outdoor archery activities.

Most noteworthy is the caliber of coaching. available: all instructors are international-level archery competitors. Their students range from primary school-aged children up to senior and handicapped students. The "proof in the pudding" of their teaching success showed in the July California Games where Robin Hood Archery students fared well in several divisions.

Yet another specialized sport growing in the valley is gymnastics. Action Gymnastics Center in Palm Desert is headed by T. J. Weaver, who previously had a gymnastics center in Pasadena. Open a little over one year, his store fills a previous void in that there was no gymnastics center in the valley. It's a sport, he says, that gets attention once every four years with the Olympics, but is growing in popularity as a means of fitness, discipline and fun.

Lee has many young students from ages 2 through 16, and also adults who enjoy the sport. Like the archery store, he has seen great successes achieved by his students who have entered competitions. He says gymnastics is not only a way to develop muscle and body awareness, but also has been proven to help students mentally and academically because of the discipline and concentration that is developed in the sport. And it is a sport that can lead to college scholarships.

His business has a Web site offering gymnastics clothing, shoes and accessories and also equipment for those who want to own their own balance beams and other equipment. Weaver says that since opening the center, he has found a great need for tumbling classes for students interested in being better cheerleaders, so he has added many more classes in tumbling/acrobatics. He emphasizes that gymnastics is a sport that is progressive in nature, so a student is always learning and improving not only in skills, but also in patience and positive thinking.