Asphalt Heroes : Entrepreneur Plans a Home in Thousand Oaks for Growing Legions of Roller Hockey Enthusiasts

While driving around Thousand Oaks, Jim Davis has recently begun to notice more and more street scenes that remind him of the winters he spent growing up amid the snows of Vermont.

In schoolyards and cul-de-sacs, on tennis and basketball courts, Davis has been watching the children of Thousand Oaks as they lace up their skates and pick up their sticks for a ritual once witnessed only on frozen ponds in far more frigid regions.

They’re playing hockey.

Credit superstar Wayne Gretzky. Credit the invention of in-line roller skates. Credit the rapid expansion of the National Hockey League. Give the credit to whomever you want, Davis says. “These kids are dying to play hockey, and I’m going to bring them a real place to play.”

After a year and a half of wrangling with the city, the businessman recently received approval to turn an empty Thousand Oaks warehouse into the county’s first indoor roller hockey rink.

The sport, played on in-line skates, is essentially ice hockey without the ice.

When construction of the facility--slated to include NHL-style boards and glass--is completed in November, Davis expects more than 1,500 children and adults to sign up to use it.

Other roller hockey enthusiasts said that estimate might even be too low.

“This sport is on fire,” said Walt Collins, who founded the Tri-Valley Roller Hockey Assn., the Agoura-based league that sponsors weekend games for about 1,000 kids from an area stretching from the San Fernando Valley to Ventura.

“Everyone is looking for space to play, and it just doesn’t exist,” Collins said. “I have to turn people away because we don’t have enough space.”

The number of people playing the sport nationwide has doubled each year for the past five years, according to Shawn Jones, executive director of the Miami-based National In-Line Hockey Assn. And nowhere is it growing faster than in Southern California.

“It’s just explosive out there,” Jones said. “I’d say there are more than 100,000 adults and kids who are playing it there.”

Davis, a lifelong ice hockey enthusiast who five years ago became entranced by the sport of roller hockey, said he is shocked that local parks and schools are not accommodating roller hockey players, despite all the desire and interest.

In several cities around Southern California, roller blades have been barred from public tennis and basketball courts due to damage to the courts.

Here, Collins said, few cities have been willing to cooperate with in-line skaters, either because they don’t want to compromise their facilities or they fear the liability involved in a sport in which hard falls are commonplace.

“It struck me that there were all these kids who were playing out in the street or are forced to break into tennis courts to play this sport,” Davis said. “I thought maybe we ought to go ahead and build something for them.”

He was not alone. For the past several months the city of Moorpark has been trying to settle on a location for a roller hockey rink. The city recently allocated money in its budget to pay for such a project.

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And Collins, whose Tri-Valley League games are played on a basketball court at Agoura High School, has been searching for someplace to set up shop.

So when Davis found an empty warehouse in a financially strapped strip mall on Avenida de los Arboles, he thought he had found the perfect spot.

“It had everything we needed,” Davis said. “The playing area was the right size, it had room for a retail shop and locker rooms, and it was in a great location. And the city said no.”

Thousand Oaks officials, concerned about added noise and traffic, worked with Davis for a year on a plan to turn the proposed rink into a private club to ensure adequate supervision of activities there.

Then the National In-Line Hockey Assn. pitched in to provide insurance and training for coaches and officials. And local business leaders came to Davis’ defense before the city’s Planning Commission.

After more than a year, the commission approved the plan for the rink, which is expected to cost Davis and his investors about $350,000.

Davis calls the plan a dream come true. He will run league games for children and adults, open a shop to sell skates and equipment and probably coach a team or officiate.

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And local players, who have had to settle for the street or the park for their impromptu matchups, are also excited.

“I think it’s a great thing for the city,” said Steve Bogoyevac, a Newbury Park High School graduate who plays for the Los Angeles Blades, one of 24 professional roller hockey teams.

“There was never anything like that for people interested in the sport, and I think the popularity of the sport is finally beginning to convince people that this is for real. It’s not just a fad,” Bogoyevac said.

Bogoyevac, who also plays minor-league ice hockey during the winter, said he hopes league play in Thousand Oaks will help create a new generation of roller hockey players who haven’t crossed over from the ice.

And although Davis wants to bring wider acceptance to a sport that has primarily captured the attention of children, there are a few issues that stand in the way.

One is the sport’s expenses, which include pads, sticks and other equipment, and Davis’ rink will require monthly dues similar to those charged by health clubs.

In an effort to counter those costs, Davis said he is putting aside 7% of his profits to develop a fund for children who want to play but whose parents can’t afford it.

Also at issue, he said, is parents’ fear that the sport is too violent or rough.

Such fears are not often realized, said Don Dusablon, who coaches 7- to 9-year-olds in the Tri-Valley League.

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When kids play under league supervision, they wear masks, pads and other protective gear, Dusablon said. And the league does not allow checking or high-stick play.

“I’ve had kids get the wind knocked out of them or get a bruise here or there,” he said. “But I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and I’ve never seen a kid have a major injury.”

Davis said part of the appeal to kids is that, like hockey, there is constant action and everyone’s involved.

“It’s like a video game for them,” he said. “It’s not like baseball, where they may get a chance to handle the ball once or twice the whole game.”

With construction beginning in August and plans for league play to begin in November, Davis said he hopes the new arena will put Thousand Oaks on the roller hockey map.

“I’d like to see this sport played in high schools and on the college level,” Davis said. “And someday, I’d like Thousand Oaks to be a training ground for the pros. A place where great roller hockey stars of the future are able to get their start.”