Inline hockey developpement

[psfye]

I'm french and I'm following with interest the evolution of our sport in the US. But I'm surprised by the number of Elite leagues and Organisations (USARS, USAHockey, Narchs,...) who seem to work separetly. Maybe it's partly du to the size of the country. Because we now have only one organisation with everybody working together for the developement of inline hockey. The leagues are ranked by level (National 1, National 2,...) so ALL the best players are playing in the same league and the level grow faster. All the teams in france must be registered to the organisation (wish is recognise by the sport minister)to play in a championship. I think it's a good way to have a fast and sure evolution and I wonder why all those motivated guys in the Us don't put their efforts together to built something very strong... But maybe I'm to far from US to know the reasons of aal that or maybe the diversity will help or sport...
Let me know what you think about that and maybe put your new ideas ....

[SpeedDemon]

He said it all. I will just nod my head in agreement.

[WMBG_GM]

hehe, I'm pretty close to teh US and I can't figure out a good reason why we seem to do "multiple choice" in just about everything.

I do wish I knew the answer to this! I do have my guesses but I haven't been around long enough to know the sorrid details :)

Ben Loyall
GM/Owner
Williamsburg Warriors, MLRH AAA

[RichardGraham]

Hi Psfye,

You make very good points. I wish I had a good answer to all of your questions, but I don't. The only thing I can say is that it is good to have so many people who are passionate about inline hockey trying to make it grow. On the other hand, it does cause a "Balkanization" of the sport here in the United States to have so many groups competing with each other for a slice of the action.

I see USA Hockey InLine and USA Roller Sports/AAU doing great things for the sport, but since they're working on parallel paths that apparently will never meet, it makes you wonder how long the situation can go on.

With the competing tournaments, it's much less confusing: Each (NARCh, TORHS, ECHO, etc., etc.,) competes against each other in the marketplace for the loyalty of players. That makes each tournament work harder to be better and more attractive to these players. That's capitalism, and it gives players lots of choices. Unfortunately, sometimes these tournaments compete for referee loyalty too, and that can be a problem. I've heard stories about tournaments blackballing referees who work at competing events. That's not right, and if true, needs to be stopped.

Even referees should be able to make a living. /wtimages/icons/wink.gif

Sincerely,

Richard Graham
Editor
Inline Hockey Central