The Thrill of Victory at Wide World of Indoor Sports By Paul Lonardo As former standout collegiate hockey players, Linhockey for the Lions through high school, so he and experience and start-up capital. The first person coln residents Steve Sangermano and Dan Fawcett Steve had known each other as competitors on the Steve thought of was his old friend, Dan Fawcett. may know a little bit more than most people about ice for many years, developing a casual friendship in “I knew he’d been in that world,” Steve says about competitive sports, but as co-owners of Wide World that time. When Dan went on to play for UMass, Dan. “He ran Rhode Island Sports Center, the ice of Indoor Sports, Inc. they know a good time rink in North Smithfield, for 10 or 15 years. when they see the fun that all the kids and He rented ice time and ran leagues, so I aptheir parents are having at one of their three proached him with the idea and after we talked about it for a little while, we tweaked over state-of-the art indoor sports facilities. “People like us,” Steve says, “because we’re some details together and then he told me, ‘Yeah, let’s do this thing.’ And from there, we a family-friendly facility. We don’t tolerate yelling and swearing. When the kids come in, began a great partnership.” North Smithfield was chosen as the site of the best part for Danny and me is just sitting back and watching them play. While they’re the first facility and Wide World of Indoor Sports opened in August 2008, though it here, they’re not on their phones, they’re off took a little longer than they anticipated gothe social media, and they’re getting exercise. And the parents get into the games watching ing from ground breaking to grand opening because they had the building constructed from positions above the playing surface. We give them a great viewing area.” from the ground up. It was just last fall that the business part- Steve Sangermano, left, and Dan Fawcett wanted a safe, clean and multiple “I found that a lot of the other indoor ners added a third facility in Montville, CT sports facilities out there were housed in old use site for local sports, so they built one in North Smithfield, to go along with the ones located in North warehouses and factory buildings,” Steve later expanding in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Photo by Paul Lonardo/The Smithfield Times Smithfield and North Kingstown. All three of says. “But that’s not at all conducive to what these immense indoor sports complexes acpeople want in an indoor sports complex. commodate up to six top-of-the-line, non-boarded the two lost track of one another. While they went They want open space. What you’re doing is takturf fields on 80-90,000 square feet of open space, ing the outdoors and moving them indoors. In New their separate ways, they were destined to meet including ample spectator seating and concession England, as we all know, there’s not much you can again and work together, establishing Wide World do outside for a considerable portion of the year. area. of Indoor Sports, Inc. One thing you don’t want is poles all over the place Clean, comfortable, climate-controlled, with a It all started nine years ago, when Steve and his wife, mezzanine overlooking all fields where parents and Sandra, were watching their daughter, Alexis, play when you’re running around inside.” guests can watch the games, the fields are equipped The cost of steel in the construction of buildsoftball at the YMCA. to accommodate a variety of sports, including soc “The children were playing in these cramped ings engineered to accommodate large open indoor cer, lacrosse, flag football, baseball, softball, field rooms,” Steve says, “the acoustics were bad, it was space was formidable, but it’s what Steve and Dan hockey, among others. The facilities also offer inloud, the parents were all squeezed together. I felt was needed to establish a state-of-the-art indoor struction and clinics for children as well as sports turned to my wife and said, ‘There was to be somesports facility today. leagues and field rentals for athletes and people of The season at Wide World of Indoor Sports basithing better than this.’” all ages. Sandra implicitly understood the inference her cally runs from October through the end of March, Steve grew up playing hockey in Burrillville, and husband made that they should look into finding an though it is in operation year-round. after high school he attended American Internaadequate, more accommodating facility. And that’s “Unfortunately,” Steve says, “we are like an ice tional College and then enrolled at Roger Williams what they set out to do. cream stand. We’re extremely seasonal. Six months University, playing hockey for both schools. Upon of the year we’re packed and six months of the year “We found some real nice ones,” Steve says. “The graduating in 1994, Steve went on to play profesonly problem was that in Rhode Island there really it’s pretty desolate around here. When you come sional hockey for eight seasons, lacing them up for a weren’t any. So we decided to look into finding a in during the winter and see everybody here all at number of different teams and levels of play, includpiece of land somewhere in the state with the idea once, you might think it’s packed like that all the ing National Hockey League-affiliated franchises in of starting our own indoor sports business.” time. But if you come on a Saturday in late April, the UHL and AHL. He retired from the sport in While necessity proved to be the mother of inyou can probably get the place pretty cheap.” 2001, coming close but falling short of getting on a vention, Steve and Sandra quickly realized that they This reality did not stop Steve and Dan from NHL roster. lacked a couple essential requirements to properly expanding. They opened up a second facility in Dan Fawcett was raised in Lincoln and played get their business venture off the ground, namely North Kingston in 2012, and then three years after
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April 2016