Where have I heard this before?

[Defense1st]

Found this online the other day, I wonder how many states it applies to? Is it a statement of inline problems again or is it an ice problem now also?

Looking back on the winter season, we had better participation than I expected. With continued bad economic news throughout the year I expected a sharp drop in participation. That did not occur and dedicated parents made sacrificed to keep their children playing. With no dramatic turnaround for the Michigan economy in sight we need to consider some changes to keep our game affordable for all. When participation drops at rinks, the answer is not to force the remaining teams to take more floor time. And when associations have available floor time, turning shared practices into full practices does not help either. We want all kids to be able to participate, and excessive costs and excessive time commitments will drive more players from our sport.

All rinks and associations need to take a hard look at their programs and make sure they offer something every parent can afford in terms of dollars and time commitment. The days of true "house" hockey have disappeared over the last 10 years. With increased specialization of youth sports and the perception of "if you're not on a travel team, you're not playing real hockey" has hurt our game. To much emphasis has been placed on travel hockey at the expense of creating opportunities for all players to play. This short-sighted attitude of elitism will eventually erode the base of players need to support elite levels and a serious decline of players will occur. House hockey needs to make a come back to make hockey more affordable for players of all skill levels and economic standing. Community-based hockey needs to make a comeback too. Playing in your community helps reduce time commitment and travel cost for parents. What happened to kids playing with their friends and being proud to represent their community against all others?

As we look ahead to next year, we as an organization and you at the local level, we must ask ourselves if we are doing what we can to make sure we get back to the basics and make hockey affordable and accessible for players and parents of all levels of commitment. Unless we move back in that direction, our sport will continue in its current slow decline. We must a make a concerted effort to make the needed changes to meet all players and parents needs to be able to keep our organization one of the premiere programs in the country.


It came from George Atkinson, President of MAHA, the Michigan Amateur (Ice) Hockey Assoc.

[CoachClipboard]

Amen to this statement by George. Probably the most point by point insightfully correct thing I have read on hear in a long time. Just like corporate America the state of the sport must look deeper into itself and not only rebuild itself from the grass roots, but stop all the infighting between NGB's and rinks in regional proximity and start doing a little hand holding and brain mixing together. We need to promote to the youth and parents of roller hockey the idealism of class and sportsmanship over showmanship and elitism. If we do not, player levels will dwindle away continuously, and rink after rink will collapse. All that will remain will be some leftover tournament teams and adult travel elite leagues that have put themselves at a distance from the building of the sport long ago, and they will be a lonely lot in a lonely world where no one cares any longer.

Doom and gloom? No. Just one observation from someone involved. It doesnt have to be this way. We can fix it and change it. If people truly care.
Start at the community level. If you are that elite good player youth or adult, give back of yourself to the sport by taking a beginner under your wing to teach them. Volunteer some of your time you would normally spend with your elitist hockey pals learning trick moves and reminiscing about the good old days and hold a free clinic or even spend 10 minutes each day talking to a parent or player you normally wouldnt have glanced at. And the good old days will be all thats left.

Rinks need to get back to the promotion of the sport to new players instead of focusing on tournaments and the quick big buck bookings, or there wont be players or a sport to attend them, just some piles of flyers in your lobbies that no one picked up and left for the foreclosure people who are boarding up your doors and windows.

[ACCCT2]

GREAT POST. And SPOT-ON for our sport.

[zipyaj]

Wise words from Mr. Atkinson and Coach Wiley. Doom and gloom? I think not. Perhaps their words can help be a sparkplug to creating solutions.

As our 1990, '91 and some '92 players prepare to graduate from high school and move on to fill rosters in the collegiate ranks, the adult leagues or just plain move on, what could be more important than to compete for new hockey recruits and utilize the recognized strengths of scholastic sports to take their place and fill the rinks. In his address Mr. Atkinson refers to "community hockey." What could be more community-based than scholastic hockey to address this need?

Understandably different than clubs and travel teams, the scholastic segment of our sport provides participants with heartfelt reasons to stick with the sport, and stick with it season after season. From the first day on the rink playing with friends and classmates in representing the school mascot through competing at the Varsity level against other schools for the championship title, student athletes, their familes and fans are motiviated by more than the next Brand X tournament. At the primary and secondary education levels, this segment equates to having players, teams and leagues compete at the local rink sparking not only their continued interest in the sport but also driving good business dollars and sense.

Having read, and even proposed, numerous threads and suggestions addressing the so-called grassroots development of the sport, I am keenly aware of the challenges and the opportunities. I observe chief among the challenges are recruiting new players and competing with other sports and interests to young people and their parents. Included among those challenges is the question, "Who is supposed to do the work, spend the time and resources to recruit new players?"

Coach Wiley wrote, "Rinks need to get back to the promotion of the sport to new players..." Threads within IHC run rampant with other suggestions. A local radio program survey even says that professional sports teams/leagues need to help fund development programs. Somewhere in between lies the answer.

As for rinks, some do better than others in their marketing efforts. Some get better support from manufacturers, and some make better money from hosting tournaments than others. Some do little-to-nothing to get new messages out to new recruits, develop new programs or merely rely on a website. Face it, flyers in the lobbies and posters on the walls of rinks can only be seen by those who visit the rink and advertising dollars spent on current customers can only market to them and does not either reach or attract new customers.

I also observe that there is competition for the young people who are the grassroots for any sport. As one example, included are pictures attached taken at a local elementary school of signage posted on site and across the street from the school entrance for capturing the attention for sports programs including soccer, flag football, swim team and even cheerleading. These same and similar signs are likewise posted at area parks and street corners year round. None, however include a Learn To Skate or Play Hockey sign. To use sales speak, grassroots development means working in the trenches. Bottom line: Take the time and reinvest some dollars into seeds that grow the grass.

I don't propose to have all the answers to the dilemma posed by Mr. Atkinson and not every answer will work everywhere, but I do observe that solutions are readily available and implementable if only actions are taken to do so.

Thanks in advance for all you do!

[RichardGraham]

Hi Folks,

Great posts on this topic from all of you. Jay, photos do say 1,000 words or more.

Obviously, we've got our work cut out for us. Let's keep rolling.

[Stampede#11]

I see the challenging times as an opportunity for inline hcokey.

In the UK, Inline is a lower cost alternative to ice hockey, due to cheaper floor time and lower cost of equipment (less needed!).

The time to do something is now for rink managers/owners to do some marketing based on price, especially as it is "off season" for many ice hockey programmes.

I am not one for selling on price, but if the issue is getting people through the doors, then use the price as the hook and show the value of the rinks/coaches/hockey programmes to justify the pricing Vs Ice Hockey

The initial boom of inline hockey was on back of the Roller blade creation (as poss Mighty Ducks played a part!!), but I know I started playing inline becuase in the early 90's tough times, roller was a far cheaper alternative and also offered far more time actually playing the game with smaller benches of players and more affordable floor time.

We played 4 hours a week in Gym halls Vs the guys I knew who played ice for 1 hour a week.

Ever challenge creates opportunity .... Where is a genius marketing exec when you need one? ... ACCCCCCT2???? ;)

[skooled]

ii think alot of the "entrepeneurialism" needs to be taken away from the sport. th gap between grass roots and "elite" (how is it elite when there are som many teams?) must be bridged. I am commiting myself to fix the problems where I live, what are you, the "average JOE" in your area doing??? don't take this the worng way, I see all of us needing to do something to save our game