Face it ”“ you and your colleagues just can”™t beat Mollie Marcoux”™s workday workout options, what with laps on the ice or in the pool, some dodge ball ”“ yes, dodge ball ”“ or scaling the face of a climbing wall.
If you can”™t beat ”™em, join ”™em as the saying goes.
In the coming months, Marcoux is hoping the best workouts she gets are  wind sprints to field phone calls from people intent on doing just that, in her new role as executive director of Chelsea Piers”™ sports entertainment complex under construction in Stamford.
Targeting a July 9 opening date, the facility will possibly represent Fairfield County”™s best option yet in helping colleagues bond in after-hours recreation, with devotees of Stamford”™s “Alive at Five” downtown summer concert series possibly quibbling with that notion.
Area businesses can expect phone calls from Chelsea Piers, Marcoux promised, including commercial printers, caterers and other businesses offering needed products or services. But the facility”™s real value lies in the new options it provides area businesses looking to bolster employee health and morale.
“It”™s been just so amazingly positive,” Marcoux said, of her initial interactions with Stamford and its residents as the Chelsea Piers takes shape. “People have been so receptive; people are so excited about sports in Fairfield County.”
Marcoux comes to Stamford via Ithaca, N.Y., where she grew up; Princeton University, where she chalked up Ivy League accolades in ice hockey, also playing soccer and lacrosse; and Chelsea Piers in New York City, where she has worked her way up the ladder since the foundation was laid.
For the record, given Fairfield County”™s split loyalties when it comes to pro sports, she is a New York Yankees fan. But she professes herself a certifiable sports nut, whatever the color of the jersey. For now the color she is most concerning herself is green ”“ as in the color of money. As such, Chelsea Piers hopes to draw members from a wider orbit around Stamford to include Westchester County, N.Y., where she lives.
If a singular facility in New York City, running corporate and recreational leagues across a wide spectrum of sports, Chelsea Piers”™ is counting on being the star of Stamford”™s extracurricular scene, which has comparatively few other outlets.
Chelsea Piers runs competitive sports leagues under which individuals can sign up to join teams, as can organizations that want to field their own team. In New York City, between 30 percent and 40 percent of soccer teams are sponsored by a business or organization, she estimates.
“There is going to be a ton of opportunities,” Marcoux said. “Bring down 50 people for a team building day, we can do experiential games, rock climbing, jumping on trampolines.”
In fact there will be a trampoline room ”“ and if you haven”™t played dodge ball since you were a kid, Marcoux suggests you give the game a second try with the ability to go vertical.
Marcoux did not venture a guess as to how many members Chelsea Piers expects annually in Stamford. In New York City, the facility totals some 4 million visits annually.
If practiced in running a sports facility, overseeing a staff of 100 people in New York City, Marcoux said the startup of the Stamford facility has been daunting.
“Just keeping all the balls in the air,” Marcoux said, asked to cite the area she is finding the biggest challenge. “We take for granted now that we”™ve been (in New York) 16 years ”¦ Got to go back to the basics.”