The Humble Family Skate Center has been hosting family-oriented roller skating since it first opened in 1977. Generations of children and adults have enjoyed it for both the recreation it provides and the friendships made.
Whether it is birthday parties, school parties, special events or just an afternoon of fun with friends and family, it is a great way to spend time together. However, there is also a highly competitive sports team there that calls it home.
“Texas Speed of Humble” is an inline speed skating team competing on the national stage and whose members are winning recognition.
The general manager of the Skate Center, Rachel Study, proudly said, “We just had four skaters participate in the Duluth Minnesota Northshore Inline Marathon and Skate Fest which is the largest in the country with 2,600 total participants competing in marathon, half marathon and other skating events.”
The annual event was held in Duluth Sept. 13 and 14. It is currently the world’s fourth largest inline skating race behind the likes of Berlin, Germany; Paris, France; and Seoul, South Korea. Study said that the Texas Speed of Humble team who competed included her husband, Jack Study, who is the coach of the team. The three other skaters were her daughter, Emerson Study, 11; Clayton White, 13; and Patrick Daniels, an adult speed skater who fell in the 26.2-mile race, got up and finished, even though he suffered a broken collarbone. Emerson took third place in her age group and Clayton took sixth in his age group. Daniels, even with his injury, finished ninth in a field of 39 men in his 40-44 age group. He is now recovering from his injury and currently not skating. In addition, both Emerson and Clayton won first place in their respective 100-meter sprint events.
Inline speed skating is a family tradition for the Study family. When the Humble Family Skate Center was founded by her parents, Rachel Study was a young girl and she loved to skate.
“I was seven when my parents opened the skate center and I have been a competitive speed skater from the very beginning,” she said.
Study explained that was how she eventually met her husband, Jack.
“I met him right here at the skating rink,”she said.
Jack, whose primary occupation is a “heavy hauler” for the Texas Sterling Construction Company, grew up as a competitive skater in Colorado. He kept skating when he came to Texas, along with coaching.
Texas Speed of Humble practices on Sunday, Monday and Thursday evenings. Currently about 30 skaters are on the team, ranging in age from young children to mature adults. It is truly a sport for all ages. Study pointed out that they have had skaters over the years ranging in age from three to those in their 60s and even 70s.
Study said the team competes within Texas and was sending a team to Georgia to compete in the A2A 2019-38th Annual Athens to Atlanta Road Skate. She said that there will probably be about 200 competitors at this event. Six members of the team will participate, including Coach Study and the Duluth veterans, Emerson Study and Clayton White, along with Lucas Sims, Joslin Ingraham and Bella McCoy. They will skate the 38-mile “Short Road” course. Two cyclists, Carrie and Sherry Daniels, will accompany them. Study said that the team frequently practices in the Crosby area near Humble to avoid heavy traffic while they practice.
More information about the speed skating team is available by contacting Coach Jack Study at 281-627-0115 or visiting the Humble Family Skate Center web page: humbleskate.com under Speed Skating.
