State Sanctioned Roller Hockey

[zipyaj]

State Sanctioned Roller Hockey.
How important is it to you?

Posed as something of a poll on this scholastic-specific topic, I would like your opinions, pro or con, on the benefits and/or impact of sanctioning by your state's athletic organization for the sport of Inline/Roller Hockey.

I have read bits and bytes through various threads by different members on this topic without any clear conclusions being drawn. To those involved with this segment of our sport, the effects of this topic are far-reaching. Even those who are not actively involved in this segment are invited to join in.

Thanks in advance for your two cents on this important high school roller hockey issue. If you have more than two cents, that's great, but please don't ask me for change!

INTERSCHOLASTIC HOCKEY FEDERATION (IHF)
Jay Piz
[email protected]

[rhhof]

Many people, including myself feel that this is vital to our sports growth. When I lived out east I've seen many kids that just play this and nothing else, or this and maybe one another sport - there are outdoor leagues with a "12th Grade" and under or 9th-12th grade division that is still pretty popular and branched across a couple of counties in NJ. There are "High School" divisions in house leagues across the nation. There has always been one out here in Vegas and it's been alive from the late 90's as far as I hear...down in Marple, PA and out in St. Louis, MO they have an EXTREMELY successful leagues as well and Im sure theres more

I tried to put together a league in two different states and I got almost the same answer...bring it together, see how it goes and bring the league that is running to the state. This would require a board, officials, sanctioned and insured events (USAIL, USARS, NARCh) and a bunch of paper work....

So why not just do it on a similar plan to NCRHA and help promote the sport for the future of the HS players anyway - hold events, set up for what could be the region or state champion, then lets load up the HS division at the NARCh finals with a couple of divisions and boom!

Im game - where do I sign-up Jay?? Im sure we could get everyone from these other leagues on board for a chat and work something out and get things going

[NLane]

Why start at the state level? Try the local school board first and stay within the city for 1 year. Then expand to other cities over time. Then maybe the state will give you some attention. It's easier to try & convince the locals first. I've had this thought for a few years just never had the time to try it.

[nyrhatric]

Here in VA, I know that there is atleast 5 or 6 different High School leagues in the different parts of VA. Northern VA has two leagues at two different rinks not 15 miles from each other. Winchester, Richmond, and Williamsburg all have High School divisions as well. And from what I understand they all seperate the high school divisions by high schools. I just recently started contacting Virginia High School League (VHSL) officials about making Inline Hockey a school sanction club or team. Just like Ice Hockey in the area, schools with small numbers will combine to form one team. Theres about about 20 high schools competing in roller hockey in just northern VA.

I think getting the school boards to accept Inline Hockey as atleast a school club team would be a great improvement. Then standardize the different leagues from Williamsburg, Winchester, Richmond, and Northern VA. Let them play their district schedules and then hold some regional and state playoffs. Make Inline Hockey more then just a house league.

Best of luck to anyone who is currently working on this.

Bobby Henry

[zipyaj]

Im game - where do I sign-up Jay?? Im sure we could get everyone from these other leagues on board for a chat and work something out and get things going

Dear rhhof;

Thanks for your feedback and enthusiam! As for signing up, you just did.

Indeed, there are numerous, high quality scholastic league programs across the country. While I can't speak for each on their goals or progress toward achieving State sanctioning, I would invite their participation to engage a group of likeminded folks who have an interest in advancing this sport for the scholastic segment.

In the meanwhile, please feel free to contribute to this forum topic, and others - search "High School" in the forum - or contact me directly for more!

Best,
INTERSCHOLASTIC HOCKEY FEDERATION (IHF)
Jay Piz
[email protected]

[zipyaj]

Dear Bobby;

Thank you for your valuable feedback! I believe you've also helped to address part of the previous post by NLane.

Making Inline (High School) Hockey more than just a house league is indeed an imperative if the objective is to eventually achieve State sanctioning - a long and arduous process. Developing a league structure and organizing the scholastic team interests is mission critical in progressing in the recognition for student-athletes process.

RECOGNITION. Levels include School (club), School District and State. Like a vine, youth hockey players need to have a direction to grow. Scholastic hockey: middle school, high school and college, are important growth steps and help them cling to the sport. If you want to make top-notch tourney players, pro inline and ice hockey candidates, help develop scholastic programs. Building recognition is a process. Playing with your peers while representing their colors is priceless!

Easier said than done, developing recognition programs at the school and/or district level, or the State level, requires good planning, information and persistence. It also requires that all parties (or has been referred to as 'tribes' by some), need to have buy-in and participate. One example may be illustrated inside IHC and the article HOCKEY MOMS SEEK VARSITY LETTER (http://www.inlinehockeycentral.com/article.php?article_id=51434) - a story about five high schools banding tgether to regain recognition for their club programs from the school district. At the School Board meeting nearly one hundred hockey enthusiasts showed up wearing their colors which produced very positive results.

Even here in California, our so-called tribes still struggle to communicate on the topic of recognition (sanction) by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). However, we have made progress. In fact, the San Diego section of the CIF granted sanction to roller hockey and has been governing the Metropolitan League as a winter sport (Nov-March) for several years now. This league has had up to twenty varsity teams from across San Diego County compete within the league.

Leading into its 11th year of operations, our IHF league represents and organizes competitions for 29 high schools, 56 teams and nearly 700 student athletes here in the southland (Los Angeles, Orange and Inland Empire counties). With the consistent growth of the sport in the area and new influencing factors, we are forecasting even more participation in the 2008-09 season with up to ten new high school clubs joining the league. Further north are the 6-high school teams in the El Segundo area (house league), 11-high school teams from the Central Coast High School Hockey League (CCHSHL) and 45-high school teams in the house league at San Jose's Rollin' Ice, to name a few. That's a lot of tribes to bring together, but we're trying!

The challenges faced in gaining recognition can be daunting regardless of where you are. Making the decision to start and uniting your particular tribe are the most important parts of the journey. If it's important to you and for your student-athletes to gain recognition, the end results will be worth every bit of effort, even if those youngsters just entering the sport won't know who helped them get a varsity letter playing roller hockey for their school or how that scholarship program got started.

Best of luck in all you do!

INTERSCHOLASTIC HOCKEY FEDERATION (IHF)
Jay Piz
[email protected]

[joisyan]

it's getting there, even in the smaller towns where i'm at. in warrenton, va (half hour, or so drive from DC) they have an outdoor rink right across from their high school. not sure about the league, because i dont play there. and in the Winchester area, there are 5 high school "club" teams that play in a league. granted there's not a whole lot of players in the league, but that's a hell of alot more then when i started playing

[CUDangled]

I think we need to cleary define the question...sanction by your state is a completely different animal than simply maintaining a statewide structure or ranking system.

I think it is vital to maintain a sanctioning body at the national level (USA Hockey Inline, etc.). Otherwise you will end up playing by a different set of rules everytime you leave the state. This is a big issue that the NCRHA is dealing with. Although the NCRHA is the national governing body, within this are various regional "member organizations". Each region, to some degree, is free to set their own rules and regulations. Within reason of course. Where the big problem comes into play is the standard of play (what is and is not called by the officials) and the "uniform" uniform policies. Also, how are bids for regionals selected? It varies by region.

That being said, I think it would be really nice to have statewide standings...similar to ice. But sanctioning state-by-state...possibly more trouble than it is worth. Plus, what if you live in a state with very little inline hockey. Then what? Are you unsanctioned? How would you interact with other sanctioned states?

[zipyaj]

[QUOTE=CUDangled;49934] I think we need to cleary define the question...sanction by your state is a completely different animal than simply maintaining a statewide structure or ranking system. QUOTE]

Dangled,
Not wanting to seem argumentative in any way, but the issue of state sanctioning is quite succint without mixing the message of Intrastate to Interstate and NGBs, etc.

By reading the recent IHC thread, AAU High School Nationals 2008, it's clear that there are issues to be addressed, but mixing the challenges of NCRHA into a 'KISS' topic merely attempting to help define the pros and cons of high school state sanctioning seems to be an unnecessary stretch.

[QUOTE=CUDangled;49934] But sanctioning state-by-state...possibly more trouble than it is worth. Plus, what if you live in a state with very little inline hockey. Then what? Are you unsanctioned? How would you interact with other sanctioned states? QUOTE]

The relevance of this is super! It actually reflects the current condition in which we find ourselves: Unsanctioned and interacting with other unsanctioned states.

The high school segment does not have a true national championship opportunity in either of the NGBs. NARCh clearly is not the answer. And not having every state with a league doesn't give the solution either. Playing intrastate among sanctioned teams in districts at least is capable of producing a true State championship structure. In California's CIF structure there are 10 Sections within the state. Of those, only Section 10, San Diego, has approved (sanctioned) roller hockey. While teams compete under their guidelines, student athletes may not compete in another CIF sport or compete against any non-CIF team until their season has been completed.

But as you say, it may be more trouble than it's worth and surely some states will likely never have a sanctioned roller hockey league.

Hence the introduction:
State Sanctioned Roller Hockey.
How important is it to you?

As always, thanks for the feedback!

Jay

[zipyaj]

In light of the mounting number of inquiries from parents and students alike, this thread and poll seeks to help provide answers to high school leagues and facility operators who work closely together in responding to the needs of the inline hockey public on important topics like this.

While this topic of discussion will go on, the voting on this poll closes June 14th. Please take a few minutes to visit the forum and cast your opinion or vote and help guide your sport.

Thanks!
Jay

[puckstopper31]

Speaking as the Coach for the Rancho Bernardo Varsity team, the topic of being a CIF recognized sport is very important. It lends credibility to the sport as well gives players something additional to strive for as they progress through the sport. Competition for roster spots on the CIF team is very stiff and seems to bring the best out in our players. I've coached many of my current players on club and travel teams and the level and structure of play goes way up when competing against other CIF teams.

Winning a league championship (non CIF) doesn't inspire the kids nearly as much as winning a CIF championship. What would be very interesting would be to have state wide recognition so that say the Metro Conference, Southern section Champion team would then progress to play the Champion of a different conference and so on until there was a California State High School champion recognized by the CIF.

We've been fortunate enough to win the past two CIF championships here in the Metro Conference but would have liked to have progressed further into a Regional and State CIF Championship tournament or game.

Sincerely.

Patrick Sagara
Coach
Rancho Bernardo Broncos

[RichardGraham]

Hi Patrick,

Welcome to Inline Hockey Central. I hope you'll become a regular contrbutor. Good luck with your program!

[zipyaj]

Speaking as the Coach for the Rancho Bernardo Varsity team, the topic of being a CIF recognized sport is very important. It lends credibility to the sport as well gives players something additional to strive for as they progress through the sport. Competition for roster spots on the CIF team is very stiff and seems to bring the best out in our players. I've coached many of my current players on club and travel teams and the level and structure of play goes way up when competing against other CIF teams.

Winning a league championship (non CIF) doesn't inspire the kids nearly as much as winning a CIF championship. What would be very interesting would be to have state wide recognition so that say the Metro Conference, Southern section Champion team would then progress to play the Champion of a different conference and so on until there was a California State High School champion recognized by the CIF.


Hi Pat,
Thanks for joining in on this discussion and welcome to IHC!

As your California neighbor league to the north (the IHF), we don't yet have the luxury of competing with your San Diego league during your winter season, but would love to have that opportunity! Although not reflected in the poll tally with this thread, many have expressed to me their desire for CIF sanction and the opportunity to compete and determine a state champion.

On behalf of scholastic roller hockey everywhere, thanks for contributing and all you do! I look forward to our working together on this and other programs to help benefit this important segment of our sport.

Best!
Jay