Sam Houston State University is welcoming back the inline hockey team next semester after disassembling for a year due to a fallout.
Inline hockey is not what you would typically think hockey would be. The sport is played on roller blades, and instead of ice, the team plays on a materialized surface.
“Inline hockey is non-contact,” President of the club Brad Duggan said. “You have roller blades instead of ice-skates, there is no offside, no icing and we play on a plastic floor.”
The previous inline hockey team at SHSU had a fallout due to an insufficient amount of players. Members of the previous team graduated and their spots were never filled.
“I was part of the old team since 2011,” senior Nathaniel Plaza said. “It was mainly a falling out of people graduating and not enough new players coming on to the team. Hockey is a growing sport here in Texas and we are hoping to change that.”
The club is looking to turn the problem around. The team is preparing to go out of their way to get people to join the club. No experience is needed to join the inline hockey team.
“We want to have a bigger presence on campus,” Plaza said. “We want to make it a known sport. We want to not only get people interested into the team, but just a greater interest in the sport as a whole.”
The newly formed inline hockey team is adopting a method in order to keep things organized this time around. The club will start passing information from previous presidents to new ones when they graduate so things will have a better flow.
“It all starts with getting organized and having everything set up,” Duggan said. “When presidents graduate, we had the problem of them not leaving behind enough information of how to run things. I plan on keeping a notebook with notes on how to prepare for rec sports, how to prepare your budget, how to get new players the importance of social media and overall involvement with the school.”
However, the club offers a unique travel experience to their members and they will look to keep things entertaining throughout the season.
“The amount of fun that we have when we travel for tournaments is one thing that we are looking to bring back,” Plaza said. “We are taking it serious when we travel, but we also want to have fun.”
The team will be playing in the South West Collegiate Hockey Conference, which will consist of schools like the University of North Texas. The team will also have a non-conference schedule.
“This next semester, we will be playing against East Texas Baptist University, University of North Texas, University of Arkansas, and Louisiana Tech,” Duggan said. “We will be playing in the SWCH Conference as well.”
The club’s number one priority right now is looking for players. The team is looking for anybody who is interested in playing. No experience is needed. For more information, contact [email protected] or the club president at [email protected].
