Place your bets! NCAA status for Quidditch or Inline Hockey first?

**AZHockeyGuy** · 11-08-2010, 08:29 PM

I posted this in the General section and then realized I should have put it here.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=131144212

What are your thoughts?

**BEEZERAL** · 11-09-2010, 10:34 AM

They couldn't even get club sport status at UM.

**Bthumme** · 11-09-2010, 02:06 PM

Is it just me, or does it seem that almost all "niche" activities always come out of the east coast?

**bearcats_roller** · 11-09-2010, 11:01 PM

Its a sad sad day when it's Quidditch before Roller hockey

**AZHockeyGuy** · 11-10-2010, 05:51 PM

I think it definitely speaks to the amount of organization that is required to make a sport succeed on a larger scale.

**CUDangled** · 01-31-2011, 02:30 PM

The biggest thing holding our sport back is leadership at the top (on the business end). I'm not calling out particular people...so get off your soap box. I've seen so many companies, rinks, teams, leagues, organizations, etc fail...and usually (not always - don't string me up yet) the common denominator is the person running the show only had 1 of the 2 primary skills required in this industry.

#1 - Love of the game
#2 - Business sense

"Boo all you want - you know I'm right!" - Chris Rock

Love of the game is enough if you are a volunteer coach, team mom, etc. But at the end of the day, this sport hinges on the success of the businesses involved. Whether you manufacture equipment, run a rink, a tournament series, etc...you must make a buck. The problem is that too many people have been either blinded by their love, that they let their profit margins slide and pursue unrealistic endeavors, or they are so shrewd in their business deals, they forget about their love (or lack of) for the game.

To be truly successful, you need to be a SMART businessman (or woman) and love the game.

Of the people "leading" our sport...how many people can you REALLY say this about? So many of them/us are just former rink rats with a pure love for the game. We decided to try to make a living off of the game we love, rather than sit behind a desk somehwere in the corporate world. Is this wrong? Heck no! But it wouldn't hurt to have a few more business degrees floating around if you know what I mean (even if the degree was from the school of hard knocks!).

/rant

Now begin the execution...I'm sure someone is going to bite my head off.

**BEEZERAL** · 01-31-2011, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by CUDangled

The biggest thing holding our sport back is leadership at the top (on the business end). I'm not calling out particular people...so get off your soap box. I've seen so many companies, rinks, teams, leagues, organizations, etc fail...and usually (not always - don't string me up yet) the common denominator is the person running the show only had 1 of the 2 primary skills required in this industry.

#1 - Love of the game
#2 - Business sense

"Boo all you want - you know I'm right!" - Chris Rock

Love of the game is enough if you are a volunteer coach, team mom, etc. But at the end of the day, this sport hinges on the success of the businesses involved. Whether you manufacture equipment, run a rink, a tournament series, etc...you must make a buck. The problem is that too many people have been either blinded by their love, that they let their profit margins slide and pursue unrealistic endeavors, or they are so shrewd in their business deals, they forget about their love (or lack of) for the game.

To be truly successful, you need to be a SMART businessman (or woman) and love the game.

Of the people "leading" our sport...how many people can you REALLY say this about? So many of them/us are just former rink rats with a pure love for the game. We decided to try to make a living off of the game we love, rather than sit behind a desk somehwere in the corporate world. Is this wrong? Heck no! But it wouldn't hurt to have a few more business degrees floating around if you know what I mean (even if the degree was from the school of hard knocks!).

/rant

Now begin the execution...I'm sure someone is going to bite my head off.

I agree 100% the fact that this league is run almost entirely by people who used to play in it creates way to many conflicts of interest fot this league to ever achieve NCAA status

**CUDangled** · 02-01-2011, 02:36 PM

I wasn't limiting my comments to the NCRHA...but in the case of this league, you're right, it is run primarily by former players which can be an issue. The problem is, the league should be run like a BUSINESS, not like a non-profit organization that is filled with quasi-volunteers.

Why?

I'm not suggesting that they make a fortune off broke college students...but if you simply removed the day to day tasks from all the "volunteers" and gave them to one person - a PAID "comissioner" or "President", you would find that things would run MUCH more smoothly. Of course you would still have a "board" that is made up of reps from each region, team captains, etc...you wouldn't want one guy running the entire show, I understand that.

This would be the person's "full time job" so you wouldn't get into the situations where someone says "I haven't had time to get to that yet...I had a family function...or I've been busy at work"

How would the league fund this? Do the math...if each player paid an additional $20 and the current "salaries" were all merged into this one position, you would be left with a respectable salary to offer the "President".

Again...this isn't a personal attack towards any of the people currently working their tail off to make the league work. In fact, the best selection for "President" make be one of the people already working for the league.

**BEEZERAL** · 02-01-2011, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by CUDangled

I wasn't limiting my comments to the NCRHA...but in the case of this league, you're right, it is run primarily by former players which can be an issue. The problem is, the league should be run like a BUSINESS, not like a non-profit organization that is filled with quasi-volunteers.

Why?

I'm not suggesting that they make a fortune off broke college students...but if you simply removed the day to day tasks from all the "volunteers" and gave them to one person - a PAID "comissioner" or "President", you would find that things would run MUCH more smoothly. Of course you would still have a "board" that is made up of reps from each region, team captains, etc...you wouldn't want one guy running the entire show, I understand that.

This would be the person's "full time job" so you wouldn't get into the situations where someone says "I haven't had time to get to that yet...I had a family function...or I've been busy at work"

How would the league fund this? Do the math...if each player paid an additional $20 and the current "salaries" were all merged into this one position, you would be left with a respectable salary to offer the "President".

Again...this isn't a personal attack towards any of the people currently working their tail off to make the league work. In fact, the best selection for "President" make be one of the people already working for the league.

you are absolutely correct. while i wouldnt get rid of the other people involved, in my opinion the NCRHA needs to do a better job of making sure that each of its members is doing its job. Every conference has a different way of doing things and I believe if things were standardized a bit, it would make things a bit more fair and cut down on a lot of the complaints that many people have about this league