Growing your inline league

[dhm_81]

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted to get some ideas and input into what people think is need (or are good ideas) to helping your league to grow from an executive standpoint...lots of advertising, letting people make their own teams and then "tiering" them, etc.

What are anyones thoughts/suggestions? What has worked well for your leagues growth?

[Benny_Gulakiw]

Hi,

You can contact me directly at [email protected] This is exactly what my company, Inline Hockey America does.

Benny Gulakiw
President
Inline Hockey America

[DannyG]

suggestions:

1. Everybody signs up as individuals, then the league, as a group (assigned committee) makes the teams, through some system: draft, skill pool/lottery draw, etc.

2. Its okay to have a separate, "club" division where players make their own teams, but that becomes "exclusionary," where new players can't compete, and player numbers then diminish, which is the opposite of what you want. Last time we tried the offer, only three teams showed up, pretty much full of all the jerks of the league, and nobody else wanted to play with 'em...everybody else was very happy to play in the rec league.

3. We have numbers to offer three teen-adult divisions, based on skill level, age, etc...Premier Division reserved for the top 24 skaters in the program, second and third division likewise tiered, but in all cases, teams designated/drafted through some system, and teams re-drawn each new season.

***all the divisions of our league are rec-league in nature...from the total player pool, we also encourage and support anybody who wants to form an "all-star," or "select" team for competitive tournament play. Last year, our 18&over group placed third at the USAHIL adult nationals, our Girls 12's came in second, etc...our league had 10 teams at the USA Hockey Inline youth and adult nationals, and five players made the nationals all-tournament teams...our system of local league play has produced some legitimate top-level players and teams, but all our league play is fair, balanced, and recreation level for everybody...

4. New teams each season, four seasons, year round, all age groups (kids)...teen-adult leagues: one strictly adults (all skills mixed in), one league strictly for over-30 (any skill level) mixed with over-21-novice level [our "Masters-Novice" division]; during the summer, we also offer 3v3 leagues on the small floor...

You can experiment, and have fun...

We do minimal promotion, we note that anybody who really wants to play will seek us out deliberately....make all the teams fair and as equal as you can get, then all have success, you don't lose very many, you gain every season...

You must have some place where brand-new, learn-to-play adults can have some initial successes, then you won't lose them...same thing for kids...



<font color=purple>DannyG</font color=purple>