Inline
Hockey: Rolling at some schools, struggling at others
By Chris
Burgess, Outpost
staff
Related stories Sections
When the University of Nevada, Reno joins the Western
Region of the Collegiate Roller Hockey league, it will
become part of a rapidly growing sport, but it will also
need strong support from the university and community if it
is to survive.
Pack takes to
the rink
Courtesy of
CSU
Chico Inline Hockey
This is a time of growth for collegiate roller hockey
according to Marshall Dickerson, director of the Western
Division of the CRHL.
"On the college level it (roller hockey) is growing every year," Dickerson said. "We have over 100 schools as members nationwide in the CRHL, and we have interest from new members continually throughout the season and summer."
CSU Chico Inline Hockey Club president and head coach, Travis Burkhardt, also said that roller hockey in the Western Region is growing steadily in numbers and competitiveness.
"I am really excited about the future of the region with two to three new teams entering it every year. The western division now showcases come of the top talent that inline hockey has to offer. College hockey is being taken seriously, and adding to the number of participating college teams just strengthens those figures."
While the CRHL appears to be flourishing, it takes more than players to maintain a roller hockey club once its established said Paul Villaluz, former general manager of UNLV's roller hockey program.
"It's vital to find players that are dedicated to the sport on and off the court," Villaluz said. "It's not enough to have a player that only shows up to play. They need to have total dedication. That means they need to help with fundraising. That's hard to find."
Dickerson said that it isn't difficult to establish a roller hockey program, but it does take time and support from the university. Though he described college roller hockey as being in its "early stages" as far as publicity goes, he said that the Western Region universities do support their clubs. He said that this support ensures that the clubs have stability within the roller hockey programs although the players change yearly.
Villaluz said that his club hasn't received this type of support from UNLV. He said a lack of funding for club sports, as well as the lack of an advisor to help keep the continuity from one season to the next is missing for the Rebels.
Courtesy of
CRHL
Western Division
"Schools like Sacramento State and UC Davis are blessed by
their college systems because they have school provided club
advisors. They have a budget. Some of them may be horrible,
but they (the programs) are paid for. UNLV went to the
nationals, but we can't get funding. There needs to be
someone to over see the club, someone to pass on the team
from student to student each year."
CRHL Western Division member map
"We've got to get some support or this team is going to die."
Unlike Villaluz, Mark Jaillet, who is currently forming a roller hockey club at UNR, said that he doesn't see any problems with funding for the program.
Even with college roller hockey's increasing popularity, some programs still face the funding problems that smaller sports often experience.
If Nevada's program is going to succeed, it will need funding for everything from travel expenses to equipment. Jaillet said that the only support he needs from the university is access to the university motor pool for transportation and capital to start the club. To keep costs low, Jaillet also said that he is working on a plan that would allow UNR roller hockey players to work at Total Sports, the club where the team will practice, in exchage for rink time. After those initial needs from the university and the work exchange with Total Sports, he said that the club could be self sufficient using the club's dues collected from players and other fundraising.
UNLV and Chico State have had trouble with funding even with club dues and fundraising.
Villaluz said that a lack of funding is the main struggle for the UNLV club. He said that UNLV's proposed budget was $21,000, but it would be lucky to get one-seventh of that amount. Burkhardt said that Chico State spent over $10,000 on travel and rink rentals last season.
According to Burkhardt, funding problems can lead to problems competing.
|
College Roller Hockey League homepage
|
Villaluz said that roller hockey clubs need to be more than sports teams. They need to be run more like business with a focus on publicity as well as advertising to the community and perspective players to stay afloat. He said a club has to market itself to the area in which it plays, something UNLV has struggled to do because of competition from other UNLV sports.
"You have to run the club like a franchise to do it right," Villaluz said. "You have to have someone predicated toward publicity. You have to have somebody predicated toward making the web sites. You have to have somebody that can get to the newspapers."
Posted
March 3, 2000
Copyright 2000
Nevada Outpost
|
|
|
|