High School Recruitment

[zipyaj]

Reading through the Collegiate Inline Hockey forum section's topic of "2009 NCRHA Nationals" has motivated this observer to open this new and very relavent topic of High School Recruitment and separate it from its origin.


.... let's talk about recruiting. James and I have been recruiting from high schools in the area for years. Its nothing new and nothing illegal.... In St. Louis, thanks to people like Ian Mackie, we have the best high school roller hockey in the world. It's easy to draw from and well organized. St. Louis is a hockey hotbed and the fact that Great Plains teams with players from St. Louis (Mostly UMSL, Truman St., Missouri State, etc) are highly successful should be expected... Ben Lambert

Mr. Lambert's statements and compliments to the Missouri Inline Hockey Association (MOIHA)'s Ian Mackie should ring the bell of truth and help demonstrate the imperatives for developing quality scholastic programs and relationship to others.

Advancing the Collegiate level of the sport places an inherent reliance on the health and growth of the scholastic leagues, programs and the student athletes in the high school and middle school ranks below them in the growth pyramid. While college rosters may not be exclusively filled from graduates of high school hockey programs, it would be inescapable to not recognize the importance of them. After all, enrollment from the high school ranks is the lifeblood to College. For hockey players, it's merely the natural progression for graduating student athletes seeking to blend their love for the sport with their educational choices. Recruitment should likewise be a part of the process. But how best to recruit and by what practices and rules, if any, should this process be governed?

In the 2009 NCRHA Nationals topic, Kevin Murphy, Head Coach, Towson Univ. and ECRHA Commissioner, introduced the NCRHA League Operations Manual in his reply regarding Recruitment. Included therein is no mention for How To. Included also in this same manual is the section devoted to the position of Director of Development in which it describes: Responsibilities of the DD include fostering relationships with high school players and leagues, creation of literature aimed at prospective students and teams promoting of the league, and other duties assigned from time to time by the Board.

As a long-standing partner with the NCRHA and WCRHL, my comments are not intended to belittle any effort. Rather, I make my inquiry to those who either do or want to recruit and build their respective programs about what's working, or not, and why.

For example, within the last 24 hours I have received one request to recruit and one request to co-promote from college teams with our IHF high school league (30 high schools in So CA). The promotion part was easy - the local Saddleback Gauchos won the NCRHA JC National title this past weekend with a roster mostly filled by our alumi. The recruitment part poses more the question at hand.

Aside from the obvious values and benefits of interscholastic competition for student athletes, the high school program also provides role models and a platform for youth players and to the future both in terms of their longevity in the sport and the fiscal health of the facilities and industry alike. The high school ranks feed the ever-growing collegiate roller and ice hockey programs alike. Hence, it could be said that the ranks above should be helping to influence and foster the ranks below.

Even Hollywood has helped to influence this sport when, on October 2, 1992, Coach Bombay introduced the Flying "V" and the Mighty Ducks were launched by Disney and spawned a growth phenom for this industry. Today, those little kids who watched that movie are playing college roller hockey! And the birthyear 1992 high school kids are graduating (class of '09). What will you be doing to help recruit them?


Some of the High School programs around the country:

Arizona
Arizona Inline Hockey Association (AIHA) www.aiha.info
California
Interscholastic Hockey Federation (IHF) www.ihf-hockey.org
Colorado
Colorado High School Inline Hockey League www.chsihl.com
Florida
Florida Inline Scholastic Hockey www.pbskatezone.com/
FISH High School Inline Hockey League
Georgia
Gerogia High School Roller Hockey Association (GRHA) www.ghrahockey.com
Louisana
Top Shelf Jr. and High School League www.topshelfsports.net
Michigan
Michigan Roller Hockey Association www.mrha.info
Mississippi
South Mississippi Inline Hockey League www.smihl.com
Missouri
Missouri Inline Hockey League (MOIHA) www.moiha.org
New York
Skate Safe America - Islandwide www.skatesafeamerica.com
High School Roller Hockey League of Long island www.hsrhlofli.com
Ohio
Ohio Interscholastic Hockey League (OIRHL) www.oirhl.com/
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvinia Interscholastic Roller Hockey League (PIRHL) www.pirhl.net
Texas
JOPA Sports Complex www.jopasports.com

See you at the rinks!

[GoRangrHky]

I offer candy and false promises!

No, seriously, recruiting for our program for a while did not really seem necessary. We had a great core of guys who just happened to be going to the school and knew a few other people who played, and that worked out well for a number of years. However, after those players graduated, we were left with a lot of guys who are great people and enjoy playing hockey, but unfortunately did not produce the way that we really needed them to in order to be successful at this level.

This year, through a lot of work of one of the current players who coaches a number of high school and travel teams, we were able to successfully recruit from these programs to add to the current core. Having a relatively well known and respected coach also aided in this process.

The second means was to draw from within the school. Unfortunately, I personally feel that in the past we had not done as good a job as we could have in spreading the word that the team even existed. In a school that has a large (albeit annually decreasing) commuter population, there were too many students who simply went to class and went home. Getting the word out to them was difficult, especially when you're competing with hundreds of other organizations and cultural events who all want maximum attention. We got a head start this year, going to accepted students days, which is where HS seniors who have been accepted but have not made a decision on where to go come to the campus for a day, and they butter them up. We made an appearance there, and got contact information from a whole bunch of kids. Now it is on us to speak to them and make them feel that our team, and the university in general, would be a good fit for them. We have been actively doing that, and it seems that it will result in quite a few quality players joining us next year.

[hockeymonkey44]

I play in the RMCRHL where we have a very good high school league set up in Colorado. I have tried having the high school league help promote the next level. Most kids in our area seem to not know about college roller hockey or only play PIHA. If anyone has any ideas on how to get the word out that our teams exist and that they are worth playing on in conjunction or instead of PIHA I would really appreciate it.

[ianmackie]

Thanks Jay...and Ben too. I know you work harder than anybody in the High School field and I appreciate that.

The High School leagues can be the one "awesome" experience for some players, while others will move on to play in college as well. We try to inform as much as possible to the youth players through the men's leagues what we have going in St. Louis. Is it perfect? No, it is always evolving. But, we try to do this whole thing as a team to improve it each year. I love watching a MOIHA game where the players play their hearts out to win a game. It just brings a pride in me.

Anyway, on the Colorado front...have you talked to Eddie? Maybe just a little swap of booths at each other's events will work for both of you. Good luck and lemme know if you need any help.

[zipyaj]

Thanks Ian, Ben, and Contributors for keeping those ideas rolling in!

In our market, we are fortunate to be geographically desirable to the NCRHA / WCRHL offices in Torrance. At key High School events and tournaments, Brennan Edwards and Chad Wallin often set up a booth and bring literature for college prospects and to speak with parents. Whenever possible, they get "mike time" to address the audience about College Roller Hockey. Likewise, our league sends email announcents to members promoting local college hockey events and special announcements about our alums when they're in the news.

Coming soon, we'll be including a directory of college and university roller hockey teams on our website and publish, when available, their digital brochures.

While these measures are promotional and not recruiting by nature, they are measures to demonstrate some means of working together.

Hey GoRangrHky, d'ya bring enough candy for the whole class?

[GoRangrHky]

Yeah, I got Michael Jackson's leftovers. :D

What we have a tough time drawing the line between is promoting college roller hockey in general versus promoting our school. Naturally, we want the best kids to come play for us. However, at the same time, we're realistic, and realize that a kid may not want to come or can't come because of a variety of factors (academics, financials, etc.) So then we are in the position of trying to get the kid to go to a school that has a team, compared to one that doesn't. One of the ways for the league to grow is to get the best players into it, and let it build off of talent.

[hockeymonkey44]

Thanks Jay...and Ben too. I know you work harder than anybody in the High School field and I appreciate that.

The High School leagues can be the one "awesome" experience for some players, while others will move on to play in college as well. We try to inform as much as possible to the youth players through the men's leagues what we have going in St. Louis. Is it perfect? No, it is always evolving. But, we try to do this whole thing as a team to improve it each year. I love watching a MOIHA game where the players play their hearts out to win a game. It just brings a pride in me.

Anyway, on the Colorado front...have you talked to Eddie? Maybe just a little swap of booths at each other's events will work for both of you. Good luck and lemme know if you need any help.

I haven't talked to Eddie. The only contact info I can find are general email addresses (the info. email dosen't work).

[zipyaj]

I haven't talked to Eddie. The only contact info I can find are general email addresses (the info. email dosen't work).

Eddie is a great guy and just had acknowledgment of the high school league published in the Denver Post... (right her on IHC) Alternative appears to have taken hold (Inline Hockey, Denver Post, March 26 - ref: http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_11997778)

Eddie Delgado
American Scholastic Inline Hockey Championship, Inc.
dba,Colorado High School Inline Hockey League
303.248.6238 Fax
http://www.chsihl.com
[email protected]

[zipyaj]

Attention College Team Managers and Promoters

This is an open solicitation to collegiate roller hockey organizations to provide a digital brochure featuring your institution and inline hockey club for the purpose of getting information into the hands of high school players and parents. Our cooperative recruting program is on-going and your participation is invited.

The Interscholastic Hockey Federation (IHF) represents over 600 student-athletes from southern California communities. The IHF has been producing champions for over a decade and our alumni are well represented on numerous collegiate teams, college All-Star teams, collegiate champion teams and national teams including the 2009 Team USA Junior National Team.

Please send your information or inquiries to the contact below.