WOODLAND HILLS : Lockhurst School Now Roller Hockey Capital

Suzanne Siegel stumbles, catches herself and then cuts a graceful arc on the Lockhurst Drive Elementary School blacktop.

The fourth-grader is finding her feet on in-line skates, getting ready for next month when West Valley children officially join one of the nation’s fastest-growing sports--roller hockey.

By the end of this week, portable, 144-foot roller rink walls will be set up at Lockhurst to host practices and weekend games for the new West Valley Roller Hockey League. The founding of the league, organized by school officials and a local sports shop, will coincide with the start of North America’s first professional roller hockey league this summer.

Enthusiasm for the sport has even touched Lockhurst Principal Ilene Meyers, who last year called police to report in-line skaters, also called Rollerbladers, as trespassers on school grounds.

Although she still opposes unauthorized skating at the school by older kids--who she says leave beer cans and trash on the playground--Meyers now describes herself as the West Valley’s “queen of roller hockey.”

“This is the sport that’s sweeping the country, and I’m just glad our kids will be able to play with some supervision,” she said. “Hopefully, with the league going on, the older kids will find somewhere else to play.

Acquisition of the rink will be a double victory for Lockhurst, which will use proceeds from the league to install air-conditioning units in some classrooms. Meyers hopes to have the first units in place by the time students return in August, when soaring temperatures can bring on headaches, nosebleeds and nausea.

Besides funding air conditioners, the $99 enrollment fee will pay for uniforms, coaches, referees and insurance for the non-contact sport, said league organizer Ric Collins. Despite the reputation of ice hockey as a violent game in which spectacular collisions are nearly as exciting as scoring, children’s roller hockey is relatively safe, Collins said.

“The kids are literally covered in pads, and if they show up without them they don’t play,” he said.

About 200 youngsters are expected to enroll by the May 15 tryouts. More information about the league is available from Encore Sports in Woodland Hills at (818) 225-1145. The school is located at 6170 Lockhurst Drive.