Will Air Travel Hurt Roller Hockey?

[Benny_Gulakiw]

Just a thought for discussion. Will the rising cost of air travel and the increasing hassle hurt the large roller hockey tournaments like NARCh, TOHRS and even CRHL NCT? Will this effect a player's or team's decision to participate in a national event and/or will it effect a tournament organizer's decision where to stage a national event? Last year, NARCh Finals did well because it was in a major, centrally located city at a new, attractive venue. TOHRS Finals was also in a centrally located, major city (Detroit) that is easy and cheap to fly to. CRHL NCT IV was also centrally located in St. Louis. This year, NARCh is in Florida and some West coast teams are thinking about not going. TOHRS Finals is in Rochester, not the easiest or cheapest place to fly to. CRHL NCT V is in the Philadelphia area and you have one West coast team claiming expense is preventing them from participating. I know that there are a lot of other factors that go into a teams decision as to whether or not they attend an event, but I was curious as to what anyone else thought about air travel. With a looming war that might make flying even more prohibitive in the future, should tournament organization consider this when picking a location for their national events for 2004?

And to keep everyone happy, how will all this effect Lindenwood?

Benny Gulakiw
President
Inline Hockey America

[Superstar9]

In my opinion, all of these teams should be able to afford the tourney no matter where it is. If they want to play on the national scale and money becomes a factor, they need to pick up some local sponsors or even do fundraisers. If they arent willing to do that and earn it, (they should, it doesnt benefit anyone else by them going) then they should stick to house leagues. It isnt that hard to get local sponsorship for travel teams, its even easier to set up a fundraiser. They have 12 months to raise funds for it, its not that hard. No matter what, the cost is going to be something, a few bucks more per player because its a little further away from some shouldnt matter if they have their stuff together. It's going to be more for someone no matter where it is. People will still go regardless, some will just have to get funding by earning it. Not the end of the world.

[Benny_Gulakiw]

Money is definitely one of the biggest factors to consider and you've addressed that, but what about what some people perceive as the risk of traveling, particularly with the younger teams. Will parents be more reluctant to send little Timmy or Suzy across country under adverse circumstances?

Benny Gulakiw
President
Inline Hockey America

[Superstar9]

I see your point there, not sure about that one.. it may impact the younger divisions, not likely to hurt the older kids and the adults of course. Not sure about that one.

[sactosaxons]

I don't see cost being a prohibitive factor - teams seem to always scrounge up enough money to attend national tourneys.

As for travel in these uncertain times, I think moms, dads, coaches, etc. are definitely more aware/concerned about air travel. But, I have yet to see any of our players/teams elect to not attend a tourney for that reason. Let's all hope & pray that air travel remains a "concern" and nothing more serious.