A THREE-RINK CIRCUS

Mike and Kari Katsimpas and their three boys make the 17-minute drive from their Camarillo home to the Roller Dome more times than they care to count.

Not that anyone in the family has time to count. Rolling, rolling, rolling, that’s all the Katsimpas clan seems to do in pursuit of the next roller hockey game or practice.

Mike plays in three men’s leagues, Kari competes in a women’s league and the boys--Kyan, 11, Jesper, 8, and Gabriel, 7--play on the Roller Dome’s smooth wooden rink when they’re not skating around their cul-de-sac.

“It’s become a lifestyle and we can’t live without it anymore,” Mike Katsimpas said. “The kids change gear and eat meals in the car. It’s a madhouse.”

The flurry of activity extends inside the Roller Dome, a three-year-old, 23,000-square-foot roller skating facility tucked into a Thousand Oaks shopping center.

The National Hockey League’s influence is evident inside the facility. Framed player jerseys and posters adorn the walls. Theater-style seating for about 30 occupies one corner, opposite a cluster of arcade games. Bleachers stand along one side of the rink.

Players constantly roam in and out of the locker rooms, the pro shop in the lobby and along the walkways beside the rink’s sideboards.

Nearly 1,000 children and adults compete in the Roller Dome’s roller hockey leagues, playing in three 15-week seasons during the year. Hundreds of others use the facility for skating classes, recreational sessions and birthday parties.

The Roller Dome has provided an outlet for roller hockey enthusiasts, whose passion for the fledgling sport contributed to its explosive growth in recent years. Although league organizers and equipment retailers say participation in the sport seems to have leveled off in the last year or two, roller hockey continues to be a popular activity.

On a recent night at the Roller Dome, many players were sporting the latest in fashionable protective gear: oversized jerseys with nicknames like “Wild Thing” and “Soo” on the back, where numbers and names tilt at crazy angles. Baggy, nylon pants in black, white or metallic colors covered the players’ lower-body padding.

Goals and assists in league games are announced by a scorekeeper, and music fills the facility during stoppages in play. Statistics are posted weekly for each league, prompting players of all ages to press against a wall to read them.

Darryl Seibel, a spokesman for USA Hockey, the sport’s national governing body, estimates between 500,000 and 750,000 people in the U.S. play roller hockey, which took off in the late 1980s with the advent of in-line skates.

USA Hockey InLine, the organization’s roller hockey arm, has 75,000 registered players and for the last three years has sponsored regional and national championships for players 18 and under.

In Southern California, the in-line skating boom coincided with the Kings’ acquisition of Wayne Gretzky in 1988. Suddenly, hockey fans in the region had a high-profile player to emulate.

Locally, roller hockey has blossomed into a pastime that rivals Little League and youth soccer at its lower levels and softball and volleyball on the adult recreation scene.

“It’s a fast-paced sport that one can excel in quickly,” said Walt Collins, who operates a roller hockey equipment store in the Roller Dome. He has been involved in the Calabasas-based, outdoor Tri-Valley Roller Hockey League since its inception in 1989.

“The parents get the grandparents and uncles and aunts to come out and watch the kids play hockey for an hour, and some of those adults then come back to play themselves,” Collins said.

The Roller Dome is the only indoor facility geared to roller hockey from Santa Barbara to the central San Fernando Valley.

Rollerplex in Mission Hills and Ice Chalet in Panorama City have about 1,400 roller hockey players combined, and a few hundred players flock to the Tri-Valley League’s outdoor rink in Calabasas for three seasons per year.

Parks and recreation centers from Simi Valley to Studio City are increasingly home to outdoor rinks and organized leagues.

In western Ventura County, Oxnard’s Skate Palace and Ventura’s Roller Gardens rent rink time to a combined total of about 700 roller hockey players. Another roller rink, Reseda’s Sherman Square, also has a roller hockey league.

The Roller Dome roller hockey programs are run by Chris DeLuca, a charter member of the region’s roller hockey enthusiast group.

Shortly after DeLuca’s graduation from Calabasas High in 1986, he and friends, among them Collins, began playing pickup roller hockey games on tennis courts using rudimentary equipment.

The group was chased from the courts as it expanded, moving to a fenced-in, outdoor basketball court at Agoura High, where the Tri-Valley Roller Hockey League was born.

Early participants quickly learned opponents weren’t the only hazard. Six poles supporting basketball hoops were situated in the middle of the playing surface.

“We were lucky there weren’t any serious collisions because people would use the poles to set picks,” said Collins, who wrapped the poles with lounge chair covers.

Youth participation in the league grew and Collins gradually converted the inventory at his Thousand Oaks sporting goods store from surfing and used athletic equipment to roller hockey gear.

The 1994 opening of the Roller Dome by a San Jose businessman was a natural progression.

“It’s a tough and competitive sport, but it’s a lot of fun,” said Mike Katsimpas, 41, who played high school ice hockey in Massachusetts. “Our family spends so much time at the Dome because the programs are well-run and there’s a real sense of camaraderie.”

Skaters as young as 3 can get involved through the Roller Dome’s weekly Little Ducklings program, which introduces children to in-line skating and roller hockey. Sessions begin with 30-45 minutes of fundamentals and conclude with scrimmages more akin to chaotic fire drills.

Players can progress through four youth divisions that extend to age 16. A high school division, five men’s divisions and a women’s division also are offered.

While traveling teams of elite youth players have sprung up in recent years, complete with the politics and infighting that accompany more-established youth sports, roller hockey’s foundation seems grounded in youth leagues that teach basic skills and offer competition for fun.

“Your grass-roots people are the ones who will climb through the [youth league] system and come back every season,” said DeLuca, adding that he emphasizes player development for younger children. “They will take advantage of the clinics, the free-skating sessions, all the aspects of our business. The travel-team kid might practice here but he’ll go elsewhere to play in tournaments and such.”

DeLuca estimates roller hockey makes up 85% of the activity at the Roller Dome, which he said operates at about 90% capacity.

Ned Collins, the Tri-Valley Roller Hockey League’s director and Walt’s brother, has a waiting list to play in his organization. No surprise then that new outdoor rinks are proposed for Calabasas and Moorpark.

“Roller hockey’s not as big as it used to be, but it’s certainly not dying,” Ned Collins said. “The problem is not enough rinks. People try the sport and love it, but they’re forced to drive around to find a rink so they get discouraged and try another sport.”

The Katsimpas family has yet to be discouraged, despite the commute to the Roller Dome.

Kari Katsimpas became aggravated, Mike said, when his renewed interest in hockey led to long sessions in front of the television during the NHL playoffs. He’s even thought of cutting back on his playing schedule.

“Last week I played three games in three nights,” he said. “I’m trying to reclaim some of the glory years from my youth and I’m in the best shape I’ve been in since my 20s. But I’m beginning to think I might be overdoing it.”