Inline on the decline???

[CUDangled]

I constantly hear people saying "The sport is on the decline"... Is it really? Does anyone have any evidence to support this? We have all heard of rinks closing their doors, but I hear about rinks opening as well. Perhaps the rinks that are closing are getting edged out of the business by newer, more efficiently run facilities? Just speculation...

I know people say it is on the decline, but with all the positive things that I see, it is hard to believe.

-State Wars come virtually our of no where and puts together a great event, returns the following year and does the same...and now working on year 3.

-NCRHA (college inline hockey) seems to be growing stronger every year

-PIHA and MLRH coexist

-Narch, Torhs, ECHO, Topcat, 2Hot4Ice, etc...the major tournament series seem to be growing and growing...

-Equipment manufactures and making more and more "inline specific" equipment (Mission, Tour, etc.), where several years ago you were either using the Franklin street hockey gear or jumping to ice gear.

Maybe I am just made ignorant to reality by my love for the game.

Does anyone have any stats? USAIL enrollment down? Narch entry numbers down? Something like that...

I read a post on another board about this topic...and someone made a great quote...
"Roller hockey is like most endeavors, the future is controlled more by those who form the present, do not live in the past and have a vision for the future. The status quo is never acceptable if an activity is to grow and thrieve"

[CoachClipboard]

What a great and well written thread. Even the quote at the end was great. I personally dont see Inline hockey on any form of decline. All your points you made were incredibly true and gave me pause for thought as I am sure you have made others do as well. Very poignant have you brought up some interesting facts. State Wars was incredible both years (As I attended both as a coach) and not only was it well attended but it was first class, first rate and I dont feel there is another event anywhere in the sport of hockey that represents the competition between State play Nationwide than What Jason and Tim have put together. They did it with class, and they made players, parents, coaches, and the sport in general reflect and find something outside the sport itself, if only for a week, in relation to competing not only for them, or their organization or normal travel team, but for their State, for their Country. They took words like Pride and Honor and made them a reality for players and families. Players played for pride and honor for their State, not so that their normal travel team was a focus, but their State, with players they normally wouldnt play with, but against. It is an Honor to play for that selected team, but not for self. For State, for Country. Unparralled anywhere in sports besides World Cup Soccer, and it happened in Roller Hockey. And it grows each year. I personally know that players I talked with, and parents, it has left a very positive experience with them. Some saying that it made a huge impression on them and something they will never in their lives forget again.

NARCh, Torhs, and all the other events you mentioned, have had numbers soaring. Have you taken a look at the Schedules for these things? We are talking two weeks plus to complete them! Thats a lot of teams. That is a lot of players. Were talking half a months time for one tournament event, nonstop! I agree, show me numbers of decline here.

Each year the NCRHA seems to expand more and more. The organization seems to be beyond its growing pain years and is now drawing new Universities Nationwide. I talk with young players everyday, managing a roller hockey facility, and I am now being asked frequently about colleges that support and function within the NCRHA and more specifically to my region the ECRHA. Just a few years ago, players and parents were talking ice hockey at college, fully unaware that this organization existed, but not anymore. It is often that I hear, "What about such and such college? Do they have a roller hockey team? and how can we get involved?". It is catching on, rather than dying out.

I coach a team in PIHA, and I tend to be very involved with the league, so I have first hand witness to the league itself not only growing, but doubling in the past year. This is players who run this league in the long and short of it, not some money hungry get rich group of owners. These players form their own programs within their region to compete now not only geographically local, but Nationwide. The league has always had top notch talent. Some of the sports very best players, but this past year it has taken nearly every name youve heard of in this sport at the adult pro level and enveloped it under its wing. The league is set to expand for sure next year as well, and one can only imagine where this can go! It has its issues from time to time, as any league does, but the organization is something not seen as of yet in any attempted professional roller hockey league.

Grass roots hockey programs too have grown. In the East we have NAYRHL and it is a travel league for teams to compete from region to region, but not just for the very talented player, for all players. They have different skill divisions for teams so that not only do the very best players get to experience going a few hours drive to play other kids, but all players can experience it. It is something that can go many positive directions, and it is already being used by teams in PIHA at rinks they play at, to make JR versions of the pro teams, but with young kids of all abilities, to emulate that pro team and have some pride playing under their wings! I see this program catching and spreading quickly, and it is organized first class by people who care. So many many ways for youth hockey to expand and become a wholesome thought of sport in community, and its happening in NAYRHL.

If numbers are down in USAinline hockey, USARS or AAU, I cannot imagine why or how that could possibly be. No Mr. CUDangled, you are not ignorant to this sport in any way. To the contrary, your eyes are wide open, focused and in-line with what the sport itself is all about. The naysayers out there who bash and beat on this sport can and will continue to do so. Is it big brother Ice? I dont know. Is it someone who could not conform to the sport as they thought they would,or have been removed from it for the better of the game, be it player or parent? Not sure. But someone is blindly negative to roller hockey and we must all endure and ignore it. It is their misfortune, not ours, that they are not involved as it evolves.

[DannyG]

The above two contributors are obviously each thoroughly knowledgeable of both their local scene, and the general tone-and-timbre of the national scene.

Absolutely not to rain on any parade, just to bring to light two facts.

USAHIL number of leagues and numbers of players is indeed in a downward trend...has been for about four years or so.

As a generality, kids at the youngest entry level, ages 6-10, are not joining the sport in numbers comparable to 5-10 years back.

This is because the inline skate phase/fad/trend of the 90's is over. The price of inline skates went in '93 from $179.00 to $39.95. Every little kid had a pair of skates. To get a kid to think, "Hey, I can skate, maybe I should try hockey," was an easy transition.

Now, no little kids have skates. To get a kid out of the clear blue sky to say, "Hey I might like to go buy skates, learn to skate, and try to play hockey," just doesn't happen...

Your optimism is infectious, however. I share your vision that, if we offer a legitimate recreation experience for a modest price, we can create the next "generation" of entry-level skaters and hockey players. We just have to do it...

I am about to launch my new "Xtreet Sports" endeavor, having left my cushy government job (Parks' Dept Recreation Administrator) of 18 years. At our new facility, we offer "Street" versions of five sports, including inline hockey...

It is our hope that the true "sportsman" interest in every kid will prevail, and a large number of kids who play basketball, baseball, and soccer will see other kids having fun playing inline hockey, and want to jump in. We'll let you now how it goes...

But anyway, that's how I see the "state of the sport..."

[RINKRAT]

As a generality, kids at the youngest entry level, ages 6-10, are not joining the sport in numbers comparable to 5-10 years back."

So true! Many points mentioned earlier in the first 2 posts are also true statements, however, most of it focuses on the "elite" level of the sport, (statewars, torhs, narch, etc...) which is not where the decline is. It's like Danny G stated. The decline is with the younger, "entry" level players signing up to help keep the "house league" programs stay alive which in turn is the cause of many of the local rinks having to close it's doors. I live in South Louisiana and have been running an inline program since 1998 and have seen rinks in the LA/TEX area close left and right due to lack of #'s at the entry level. Back in 2000, a group of potential investors (hockey dads) came to us with interest in building a rink in a nearby city of Lake Charles, LA. They had the money, the enthusiasm, a local minor league ice team in town to draw interest to the sport and all they needed was some advice to get things started. Along with the blue prints to our building, we offered these words of advice..."First, build a successful youth house league program and second, worry about everything esle, including and especially travel hockey later. Find the youngest potential players out there and apply your efforts towards introducing them to the sport. In reality, a house league program can survive without the existence of a travel program. But on the other hand, without a house league program to feed it, a travel program doesn't have a chance." So the first thing that this young program did was...you guessed it...assembled travel teams with the small # of players in the area, contacted torhs and narch and booked a couple of tournaments and started a travel hockey program. It did not take very long for the politics of travel hockey to consume the group. 2 million dollars, 3 years and 4 management groups later, the hockey rink is now a BINGO Hall and doing quite well these days from what I hear. Plus there's no more parents to deal with...lol. (I assume someone pulled the batteries out of all the smoke detectors first...geesh!) Now those kids are playing baseball again...YUCK! In our area, the bulk of the players are kids that were born in the late 80's to early 90's. Most of those kids are juniors and seniors in high school now or already in college. So we have a pretty strong high school, adult and collegiate hockey interest in our area. However, if nothing is done to get new players between the ages of (4-9yrs old) into our sport, sooner or later the well is going to run dry.

Like the NAYRHL, we have been working on a similar program that will involve several nearby programs through out the states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi that will also offer the tournament experience to all level players instead of just the elite. Don't get me wrong, my son plays travel hockey and my family absolutely loves it and look forward to many more years of it. However, like most programs, the "elite" player represents about 20% of our league membership which means the other 80% are usually excluded from such an experience. Back in December '06, we offered a "true house league" level tournament for programs in our area. What made it unique was that all players had to play with their current house league team as rostered by their league/program as there was no altering of any team rosters. This leveled the playing field for all teams/programs and also included the usually exlcluded 80%. Teams were charged half the price of traditional tournaments, since there was no middle man to pay (insert name of tournament company here "______"). We gave our refs and scorekeepers a raise, added a shootout, goalie competition, some really cool trophies, money giveaways, gift certificates to our Pro Shop and gave many of these kids an experience they will never forget. And believe it or not, the local rink actually made a profit to help keep the doors open. (Did I hear someone say B-I-N-G-O?) The highlight of the weekend came during the 11th round of a sudden shootout of a 10U semi final game when a first time player from my program (and the last kid on the bench) walked down the rink as if he were walking on stilts praying not to lose the puck in front of packed arena and buried the game winner while his grandmother covered her eyes because she couldn't bare to watch. And the unlikely hero brought the fans to their feet...YEAH!!! The very next week he was in the pro shop ordering a yellow helmet because that's what all the good (travel) kids wear. This kid's hook for life now and a STAR in his own mind is born! We just need to find more like him and give them the same opportunity...or else, this sport will continue to be on the decline!

Sorry, so long winded...but it's 6am on a Saturday morning and I have nothing better to do and a couple of hours to kill before having to head to the rink for our Saturday morning house league games...and that's my take.

RAT

[RichardGraham]

Hi Rinkrat,

Great post. What you and Danny mention has been a concern of mine for years. I've always thought it a shame that the two or three best players were taken from house-league teams and put onto all-star teams that can compete at the high-end events. What about the 10 or 12 players on the team left behind? What are they thinking when their best friends are chosen for the travel team and they're not? I think that this emphasis on the very best players, at least at the youngest age levels, is a mistake. If you don't build the bottom of the pyramid, how is the sport going to grow?

I know that some of the major tournaments are aware of this problem and are trying to create new divisions, etc. I just hope it's not too late.

[growl89]

i think that the elite levels are thriving indeed, but the grossroots, the house leagues are getting smaller and smaller... growing up i played at ISCA in NJ and when i played Bantams and Juniors in the house leagues there was both an A and B division for each with 10+ teams in each, now looking at their website, they have 4 teams in the league, only one division. It's not that ISCA has done anything differently, it's the the kids stopped playing and stopped signing up. Another Problem also is that there are too many rinks all over the place. This not only spreads out the talent, but it spreads out the numbers of players. I think also most parents do not see a future for roller hockey for their child compared to ice hockey. Playing both all my life and working at the local ice rink, there is no respect, still, for the roller hockey world. I dragged a couple of my teammates from my college ice team that were against roller hockey, to a PIHA game and their opinion changed instantly. How do we market roller hockey better? sure there is top end merchandise that is promoted, but if i was not a roller hockey player and knew where to look, i would have no idea that these things; PIHA, NARCH, TORHS etc, even exsisted. It's actually sad to see some of these regional tournaments that used to sell out almost instantly, now they struggle to put a division of 4 teams together. Also, in the NJ area anyways, we can all remember the weekend tournaments at the coliseum. These used to sell out and they werent even regional qualifiers, now it's hard to even find a tournament at all to play in. What can be done?

[STEVENSDANEYKO]

Among 18 And Over Inline Players, I Do Not See Much Decilne. However There Are No Kids Playing Roller Hockey Anymore. Over The Past Few Years Three Rinks That I Played At In The Ny/nj Area Closed Down. Sportsfest On Staten Island, Rexplex Exit 13a Off Nj Turnpike, And Rumored To Be Closing At Year's End Center Circle In Rahway, Nj. If The Sport Was As Popular As It Was In The Mid 90's They Would Be Making Money, And Who Would Shut Down A Money Making Business?

[RINKRAT]

I think also most parents do not see a future for roller hockey for their child compared to ice hockey.

Thank you for saying that. Believe it or not, even down here in South Louisiana (where hockey is still relatively young), we have our own home grown "Little-Wayne-Gretzkys" that are on their way to the BIG SHOW. In our city, the ice program puts more effort into recruiting kids from the roller program versus trying to develop younger players of their own. I don't have a problem with kids playing both. My kid enjoys both. I just wish that our ice program would contribute to the cause by going after "new blood" rather than seeing how many roller kids they can convince to try "real" hockey. I personally take the time to introduce soccer, basketball and t-ball players to inline. I help them find used gear, offer some free lessons or rink time, tell them how exciting the game is compared to other sports and eventually get them involve with our house league program....knowing that if this kid sticks with it and develops enough, he will be approached by an ice parent/coach one day about coming out for the ice travel team.

Another issue is the ice hockey magazine that my roller players receive from USA Hockey for being a USA Hockey "INLINE" Member. It does not help the cause either that majority of the issues hype up the kid from MINNESTOTA or BOSTON College that is a top NHL prospect or who is a shoe-in for the Olympic Team. Again, these such players are the minority of the sport...ice or roller. To me, it promotes a false sense of realistic opportunity. Personally, I'd rather read about what area has the most new players in their house league and what they did to find these kids or how to get equipment companies to donate out dated gear to house league programs to keep the intial costs of joining the sport down. I believe that USA Hockey is sending the wrong message to these kids. What should be emphasized is that the reason why you play hockey is because it is the best game in the world....plain and simple! It's FUN and there is nothing else like it. And most importantly, it brings families together like no other sport. I tell people this all the time because I truly believe it. It's the most exciting game on earth, BAR NONE...Sorry to break it to all of you World Cup Soccer Fans. I've brought this concern up to USA Hockey about publishing a "Roller" magazine for the inline members and was told that the majority of their members were significantly ice players so it was not even an option. That's understandable, but frankly, I would prefer that they stop sending them anything at all. So, thank you Tim & Jason with Statewars and Daryn with Narch for stepping up to the plate. I mean, Let's be real here. Most of these kids that convert over to ice at the age of 10 or 12 just to chase the dream often end up guitting by the time they're 15 or 16 once reality sets in. If they are playing because they love it, then great. But if they are playing for the NHL contract or picture on the Wheaties Box, then they are playing for the wrong reasons. I am 30 something and born and raised on good ol' American Football. Played in the backyard, in the streets after school, at the neighbors house, pop warner, junior high and my freshman year in high school until I discovered...well we won't get into that right now. The reason I played was because it was FUN, FUN, FUN! Now, I WAS going to be the next Joe Theisman when I grew up and played in the NFL. Then of course, around that time, the ROCKY Movies came out and I quickly set my sights on the Heavyweight Boxing Championship Belt instead. Needless to say, I never got a call from the NFL nor my title shot with "Clubber Lang" (or Mr. T for those readers that aren't old enough to remember), but I have no regrets about all the time I spent playing in all of those after school backyard superbowl championship games when I was kid. My point is, it's ok to let a kid dream, but let's make sure that the real reason they are playing is because they are just having FUN...and as parents, we need to be ok with this and ignore all the voices inside our heads.

Ok, I'm done

RAT

[Berry_Bramble]

It is nice that kids 17 years and older have tons of options on where to play....but what are people doing to get not only kids 6u or 8u but even 10u's playing roller hockey...roller hockeys identity seems to be thru tournaments for competative play...but there are only a handfull of people trying to put together 8u teams every year....not only are the numbers dropping in 8u every year tournament wise but they are dropping in house leagues too. It has been like that for the past couple of years here on LI, can't speak for the rest of the country. So what happens when the kids reach 14 or 16u. Having 4 team divisions in house leagues that used to have 12 or 20?

[Defense1st]

To all who have posted:

Great posts right on the money in most cases.

I could go on for about 3 hours on this subject. But I have done that in the past as Danny G can attest (as has he) and nothing has changed. Most of the time I end up with phone calls or emails from "people" who want to know why I said what I did in a public forum, threats they are going to sue me, or or at best those people who are most influential in our sport wondering why I would "dis" them since we are friends, and have known each other for years, and so on. My son and I are known pretty much in every rink that has held a tournament in the last 5 years, east of the Mississippi, so I am not just some nut with a big mouth; and I never hide behind a name on a message board.

The bottom of the pyramid is getting smaller even in "HockeyTown, MI." Although we do have programs on the East side of Michigan for 6u's, 8u's and 10u's.

Rat, I do have a ? for you: in your last post you said the following:


"So, thank you Tim & Jason with State Wars and Daryn with Narch for stepping up to the plate."


What exactly do you mean by that? What is the reference? To me it infers that they have done something recently, out of the ordinary, to build the base of the pyramid everyone agrees needs to be built (6u's up to 12u's) for this sport to grow.

I am very interested in your explanation of that statement as it applies to this topic.

Phil Steur
Michigan

[DannyG]

Phil, please allow me to extend my neck a little here...

Presently there is not a single inline hockey program for under-12's in my local area. There are about 60 ice players under the age of twelve in the local USA Hockey-sanctioned ice program. As a lot of you know, a while back I was transferred from my Parks & Rec admin job at our local facility. Five months ago, I took my pension and quit my cushy government job of 18 years. I am now (as of this week) opening up my own facility, small floor, small sided games. Five sports, each along the lines of Ozzie Ice in Phoenix.

I am about to embark on a month-long recruitment program to attempt to create from scratch a new bottom-of-the-pyramid inline hockey program. My experience with this age group in other programs shows me that the 7-8 year olds are a strong group in terms of the "try-something-new" attitude. I anticipate u-8's, u-10's, u-12's as a target set for divisions of play for my new program.

I am going to every school and PTA meeting over the next thirty days (except that school is out for spring break this week. My goal is to have 40-50 kids playing inline hockey by April 15th.

If this does work, my recruitment methodology can become a model for anybody else to follow. If it doesn't work, then we'll try something else.

I will let you know how it goes...

[Defense1st]

Danny,

I have no doubt you will make it work; it may take longer than you would like.

As you know, I ran in inline hockey and soccer facility in Lexington, Ky; after that I ran a Children's Athletic Training School in NY (this school was for 18 months to 6 year olds only) and then moved to Michigan to run a 3 rink facility, now closed, that had soccer, inline hockey, volleyball, camps/clinics and the 2 most dedicated youth inline teachers (Michelle Hernandez and Stephanie Robertson) I have ever met.

One of the most important things you need to remember to be successful is:

Girls, ages 6-12 can play every sport you can offer in your rink, and most of the time it is NOT about the competition but the socialization.....introductory level at all costs is essential. Statistics show that girls in that age group have a higher propensity to being overweight, shy, and EAGER TO LEARN and GROW. They are also a larger body of opportunity then boys, who percentage wise gravitate to sports automatically (usually pushed by their parents who need to relive their past through their children).

Good luck to you Danny on a wonderful chance to do a lot of good for your area's children.

Phil Steur
Michigan

[RINKRAT]

Rat, I do have a ? for you: in your last post you said the following:


"So, thank you Tim & Jason with State Wars and Daryn with Narch for stepping up to the plate."


What exactly do you mean by that? What is the reference? To me it infers that they have done something recently, out of the ordinary, to build the base of the pyramid everyone agrees needs to be built (6u's up to 12u's) for this sport to grow.

I am very interested in your explanation of that statement as it applies to this topic.

What I was referring to was the new RHT magazine published specifically with Roller Hockey in mind in contrast to the monthly Ice Hockey magazine that features one paragraph in the entire issue that highlights the "inline team of the month" while the other 70 pages of articles focuses on Ice Hockey only. I would rather my kids read the RHT magazine so I applaud Tim, Jason & Daryn for their contribution.

As for doing something to build the base of the pyramid...NOT AT ALL what I was referring to! Infact, I don't know how much any of our industry leaders can and/or will do to help. The pyramid is upside down and we're trying to balance it on it's tip. Sometimes I think these companies/orgranizations believe that just by offering a lower level division at their Nationals that they've found the solution to the problem. That may help them get more teams to their naitonal events short term, but long term the pyramid is going to eventually tip over on it's side. And it doesn't matter how many Team USA Tryouts there are (North, South, East, West, Northeastwest, Southnortheast, Southwestsouth or whatever other region I left out) or how many Conference Championships (SBC, MAC, KFC, ABCDEFG) that anyone offers, the problem is not going to be solved by just offering more divisions. So, to all of you tournament companies, stop wasting your time coming up with MORE divisions...PLEASE!!! I'M BROKE ALREADY! I mean, even if you solved the problem of kids being able to attend a National without getting mercied in the first period, most parents of kids at that level of play are not quite ready to make a commitment to flying or driving halfway across the country, paying for tournament fees, 4 days of lodging & dining expenses, while taking off of work for a week. What we need to do is find ways to introduce NEW kids to the sport instead of trying to find ways to recycle the ones that have already sold their souls the game. Here are some suggestions:

Equipment Companies: Help us (youth programs) keep the initial start up cost down by donating out dated gear to local house league programs or offer it to them at a discounted rate. What do you do with it anyway? Does it just sit in a wharehouse somewhere collecting dust while your paying for storage space? Do you sell it on ebay or to a company like HockeyGiant? I've always wondered about that. If it helps a kid get into the sport, than chances are you probably have another customer for life. When a kid has to invest at least $400 - $500 (equipment, league fees, USAHIL or AAU Membership Fees) just to get started, it makes it impossible to compete with $60 and a pair of shin guards for soccer.

Tournament Companies: Please stop scheduling so many tournaments on top of each other. Doesn't make sense. I know this subject has been beat to death on here as well as other message boards, so I'll spare everyone. I do respect your passion for the game but ask that you respect mine and stop over saturating the market. Just recently our rink restructured their pay scale and tournament host agreement policy. Included was a new hourly rate pay scale that is based on the amount of time rented. A deposit is required 30 days prior to the event to protect the rink owner/league should the event be cancelled after reserving the rink for the weekend. Also, incase the recruiting process doesn't go over well, the rink does not have to be concerned with the tournament company calling them 2 days before the event requesting that they put a bunch of kids together from the house league to fill a division or else they may have to combine age divisions or even worse, cancel the tournament. Well, as a result of the policy, we will not be hosting an event this year that has been at our faciltiy since 1998 because they (whom will remain nameless) are trying to keep entry fees down and are hoping that we reconsider. What confuses me, was that the rate that they are requesting this year is the same rate that they have been paying each year since '98, however, their tournament entry fee has gone from $325 per team in '98 to $495 per team today....HMMMMMM! Doesn't anyone in here have a calculator? We we're told that expenses have gone up...well duh!!! So has ours. Let's see...lights, water, facility staff, concessions, pro shop, liability insurance, property taxes, waste management fees, facility maintainance and repair expenses, etc, etc, etc... And I didn't even mention having to deal with the parents (rink rental rates should triple just for having to deal with the parents). Just more reasons why so many rinks are closing.

Rink Owners/League Directors: I definitely do not have all the answers but would suggest a place to start is with getting new players (4-12yrs old) into the sport. If anyone has any creative ideas on how to do this, post it here whether it's been proven to work or not. Maybe we can all learn from each other. Also, once those new players are in the program, don't exclude them from special events (camps, clinics, tournaments,etc). Find ways to get them involved and allow the poison to set in. I do believe that changes in the sport have to start at the bottom with us (rink owners & league/program directors). Obviously, no one "above" us is going to do it for us.

My Rant for the Day,

RAT

[RINKRAT]

I am about to embark on a month-long recruitment program to attempt to create from scratch a new bottom-of-the-pyramid inline hockey program. My experience with this age group in other programs shows me that the 7-8 year olds are a strong group in terms of the "try-something-new" attitude. I anticipate u-8's, u-10's, u-12's as a target set for divisions of play for my new program.

I am going to every school and PTA meeting over the next thirty days (except that school is out for spring break this week. My goal is to have 40-50 kids playing inline hockey by April 15th.

If this does work, my recruitment methodology can become a model for anybody else to follow. If it doesn't work, then we'll try something else.

I will let you know how it goes...

This is AWESOME! I am very interested in how this turns out and will tune in here to learn more. I'm particularly interested in how receptive the school system is to you (or hockey in general). In our city, we have to get a authorization letter that has to be signed by the assistant super-intendant each year in order to distribute newsletters at the public schools. And even then, each school has the right to decline to distribute. Now we do get several phone calls as a result of the newsletters, but more often than not, the cost will scare them away in addition to the fact that it is not a "true" school sport. Do you plan on forming a "hockey club" at each school? Myself, I've thought about approaching the schools about offering it as a course for Gym Class. I remember when I was in school we would do stuff like bowling for a whole 6 week period and would take a test for an actual grade. Our parents had to sign permission slips and waivers. We had to learn the rules and scoring system and even go to the bowling alley to play. That's kinda what I had in mind with hockey. Or go out to each school and do a 30-45min demonstration during Gym Class and hand out literature about our program. GOOD LUCK with this!!!

Keep us posted, please!

RAT

[DannyG]

Do you plan on forming a "hockey club" at each school?
RAT

I plan on using the schools only as a conduit to get information into kids/parents' hands...schools here are much like you described, with the real decision as to how you can disseminate info being made by each individual principal...in fact, the PTA route is the place to go...here is an entire meeting of parents that care enough about their kids to get involved and show up at the meeting. They are pre-disposed to be looking for things that benefit their children.

I have player equipment ready for every little kid. Although, in my small floor case, that's only about 20 sets of gear I need. My player fee is $49, less discounts for report cards. Kids can play additional sports in our program's rotation (basketball, soccer, baseball, lacrosse) for no additonal cost above the $49 fee. I am confident we will get "spill-overs" playing hockey from the other sports, and vice-versa, it's a two-way street...

In all cases, every player signs up as an individual, we make all the teams, and re-make them each season, with an eye toward maintaining consistent team balance. This way, even the new kid can have some successes, and enjoy the fact that each game he accomplishes something good; that keeps them coming back, and hooks them on the sport.

Okay, blah, blah, blah, I realize that I am preaching these things to you guys who already know them.

Next two weeks are introductory, and we go to a "regular season" in April...I will definitely keep all apprised of progress, thanks for asking.