A League of Their Own

I find the distinct lack of inline hockey rinks in Los Angeles to be very disturbing. Before I moved here, I figured that California, especially Los Angeles of all places, would have an inline hockey rink in every city, if not on every block. I came to a sad realization last Sunday when I found out that not only are there not hundreds of rinks in LA, but inline hockey the sport is in a steady decline.

I have been in search of a league in which to play since we moved here last August. Like any person living in 21st century would, I used the internets to conduct my search, thinking it was a reasonable way to find a place to play. Everything I found, though, was out of business, no longer had a league, or was over an hour away… and considering how much I hate driving in Los Angeles, having to drive long distances in the city really was not an option for me.

My luck turned around 2 weeks ago when I found out that my YMCA was actually going to start a summer league for men’s inline hockey. One of the reasons why we chose to buy a membership to this particular gym is that they have a functional outdoor rink for inline hockey and arena soccer. The gym staff indicated that there were regularly scheduled leagues and that the sport was healthy in the area, but in the months to follow, I never once saw an organized game for adults. When Megan and I were leaving the gym one evening, I saw a new flier for a men’s league that is to start in April plus pickup games every Sunday night until the season began. I inquired about the validity of the advertisement, obviously skeptical of what I read, but again, the staff was confident that this league would actually start. I took a flier as a reminder, but I did not want to get too excited since I had been waiting for months for this to happen with no results.

Last Sunday I packed up my gear and drove to the gym. One person beat me to the rink, a goalie, who was also skeptical about the scheduled pickup game. We talked briefly about the state of the game in Los Angeles: here is where I found out that the sport has been in decline for several years, whereas ice hockey has steadily grown in popularity. I suspect this trend has something to do with the weather –no one wants to gear up with insulating equipment in the middle of a valley summer- but without having a way to verify this, it will have to remain speculation.

I laced up and skated on the floor for 30 minutes before other players started to show up. Before long, we had enough people to actually start a game with one team shooting against a goaltender and the other having to shoot for the posts. The level of talent appears to be the same as the leagues I played in back home: there are 2 to 3 hotshots with the rest being on or around my level. Most of the guys present indicated that they knew each other, so I did my best to socialize so I could possibly find a team in need of another player.

My efforts did not disappoint, as I found a team before I left for the evening. I only met 3 of the guys on the team, but they seem nice enough, and I will be honest here, this is the same thing as a men’s softball league: it is for fun and should not be taken too seriously. I am looking forward to playing, even though the facilities are not the best; an outdoor rink is good in concept but terrible in application: dust makes getting good grip with your wheels impossible, it is hot, and games are cancelled due to rain and excessive moisture on the floor, but this is better than nothing, which is what I had before. Besides, the registration fee is only $45 for YMCA members, so even if the league turns out to be a bust, at least I got to play without shelling out any cash.