Roller Hockey Leagues Bring Kids in Line With Safety
Some members of the L.A. Blades and Team Canada All-Stars put on an exhibition of roller hockey recently at the Calahan Street School in Northridge.
After the show, the skaters talked about in-line skating equipment and safety, and recommended that kids sign up for organized roller hockey where they bought their equipment, at local YMCAs or at local parks or skating rinks.
Joining an organized league cuts down on the risk of injuries, whereas playing on the streets--as many kids do--means the players are fast-moving targets for even faster-moving autos. It’s a survival thing.
If you are still trying to figure out what the Blades are, and ditto for in-line skating, just ask your children.
Or read on.
The Cliffs Notes version is that in-line or roller hockey is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country.
Footwear for the sport is a high-tech skate with wheels down the middle. These skates are to the four-square roller what a Jet Ski is to a rowboat.
Before you rush out to buy a pair of these skates, along with some of the wildly colorful gear that goes with them, there are a couple of things to consider.
The main thing is that in learning to master in-line skating, it helps if you are a former Olympic-caliber ice speed skater.
It also helps if you are under the age of 10.
There is nothing as interesting as someone’s mom and/or dad peeling out on their new in-lines and going down for a series of quick, three-point landings. Keeps the kids amused for hours.
Now as to Los Angeles’ professional roller hockey team, the Blades. They are coached by Bobby Hull Jr. and owned by Jeannie Buss, daughter of Laker owner Jerry. They play home games at the Great Western Forum from June 3 to Aug. 8. In three years, attendance has risen from an average of 2,000 per game to 5,000.
According to Mike Altieri, Blades spokesman, it usually is the kids who talk their parents into coming. Then the parents get caught up in the fast action and a favored family activity is born.
The Valley, says Altieri, is a hotbed of in-line skating and neighborhood roller hockey games. In fact, the Blades’ leading scorer and high-profile hunk--Steve Bogoyevac--is a Valley guy who now lives in Calabasas.
Calahan Street School mom Cheryl Crooks--whose son, Marshall, is an in-line skater--says that when notices were sent out heralding the creation of a neighborhood roller hockey team, about 20 kids were expected for sign-ups.
About 200 showed up.
Altieri says the Blades will be offering more exhibitions and safety talks at local schools throughout Los Angeles County.
“We think that this will not only interest kids in attending Blades game, but also help them learn some necessary facts about safety,” Altieri says.
Camping Trips Should Give Everyone a Breath of Fresh Air
Three summer trips are being offered by the North Valley YMCA to schoolchildren in the Valley.
This means a vacation for the parents as well as the kids, says Josie Rea, the YMCA’s senior program director, with a laugh.
Rea is one of the brave souls who will chaperon two of the trips being offered. She says she likes being with the children.
The first trip, to Northern California, is for youngsters in eighth through 10th grades and is planned for Aug. 12 to 19.
“We will be caravaning campers to San Francisco, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe and Virginia City,” Rea says.
Included in the trip are visits to Alcatraz, Candlestick Park and the state Capitol, as well as a visit to a castle brought piece by piece to this country from Europe. The youngsters will go bike riding and camp out at night.
Rea will also lead an Aug. 26 to Sept. 1 trip to Mammoth Mountain for youngsters in grades six to nine that will include fishing, rock climbing, mountain bike riding and hiking. They will stay at the same campsite every night.
Rea says Roger Lee, who grew up in the Valley and went camping with the North Valley YMCA when he was a youngster, will lead a group of ninth- through 12th-graders on a major adventure to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Zion national parks. Included in the trip, July 24 to Aug. 4, is white-water rafting down the Snake River.
More information on cost and other stuff is available by calling the North Valley YMCA in Sylmar.
In response to an inquiry, she says no adult trips are planned at this time, nor in the future. Rats.
Overheard:
“No dear, they are Jeffrey Dollars, not Jeffrey Dahmers.”
Mother explaining Toys R Us currency at the Woodland Hills store to a somewhat confused child.