Brief
Hockey History
Inline hockey has been in Australia for approximately
the past 10 years. It is best described as non contact
ice hockey on rollerblades and is becoming very popular
in Australia in all age groups. The local league fields
teams for all ages and abilities. The present divisions
are U10, U12, U14, U16, U18, Masters, C, B, A, Womens
and Pro Hockey League. To have a 'world class' facility
like Puckhandlers Roller Sports Stadium makes the sport
more appealing to a broader audience in Australia as
well as enables the kids to get their game to a level
competitive with those overseas.
The sport seems to attract kids who don't normally enjoy
traditional sports like football and cricket. For hundreds
of years, children and adults have played some form
of organized roller hockey in parking lots and traditional
roller skating rinks on skates that were known as quads
(4 wheels, 2 in front and 2 in the back). Only in the
past decade, with the introduction of "Inline Skates"
(4 wheels in a row) has the new form 'Inline Hockey'
become popular and is commonly referred to as the fastest
growing sport in the country. The design of this skate
closely resembles that of an ice hockey skate allowing
the player to maneuver easily as he/she is able to make
the sharp
turns
and quick stops needed to play the game. This makes
a for a very exciting, fast game that is very addictive
both as a player and spectator. In Australia there are
presently 10,000 inline hockey players and the number
is growing rapidly.
Each year the National teams fly over to the states
for International tournaments and get more competitive
each time around. Many local kids have gone overseas
and managed to be more than competitive and it won't
be long before we have some Aussie kids playing in professional
teams overseas. Keep your eye on them, you may be proud
to call them friends one day while they are on TV strutting
there Inline Stuff!
Let's hope anyways!!
