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Author Topic: Roller... Yay or Nay?  (Read 33762 times)

fistocuffs

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Re: Roller... Yay or Nay?
« Reply #15 on: March 29, 2018, 01:03:07 PM »
Great observation.  As adults, we seem to sometimes take all the fun out of the fun things in life

coachbombay

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Re: Roller... Yay or Nay?
« Reply #16 on: March 29, 2018, 02:03:01 PM »
i think that's why kids play roller, because it's fun!. I think coaches and parents want to win so bad that they have taken some of the fun out of ice hockey.

hockeydad21

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Re: Roller... Yay or Nay?
« Reply #17 on: April 08, 2018, 01:29:22 PM »
At the younger ages nearly all of the top ice players play roller extensively. Those kids simply get significantly more time playing the game and really start to pull away. It also teaches a ton of concepts that dont get taught as well on ice because of the open rink 4v4 format, such as playing with your head up, creative playmaking etc. Roller kids also pick up passing much earlier because it is easier with more space and necessary for success in roller. As kids get older you see less kids play because the ice hockey commitments pick up. The bad habits are usually only transferred to ice if the kid is very young, like 10 and under, or if they dont play a lot of either ice or roller. Kids that play a lot of both can transition very easily and the roller kids even learn how to sort of stop with the super soft wheels.


Most importantly, roller is all about fun and helps kids develop a passion for the game. Tournaments are so frequent that winning and losing doesnt mean as much. Kids have fun hanging out at the rinks watching other older kids play and meeting kids on other teams. Parents are way more level headed and everyone usually knows each other because it is a smaller group of families.

ScottyB#22

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Re: Roller... Yay or Nay?
« Reply #18 on: September 07, 2018, 10:12:09 PM »
I have to throw my two cents in here. My son started plying roller at 5years old. @ 12, he decided to try ice. Although he knew the game well, he couldn't skate to save his life the first time he tried was hilarious. It only took 2 months to transition to ice through almost daily summer clinics, privates, pick ups and open skates at local rinks. In his first year playing ice, he tried out and landed on a really good AA team. He is at the bottom of the totem pole but holding his own.


Now we have seen both ice and roller and I can tell you that roller has a "fun aspect" to it. The teams are smaller, the families get to know each other quickly, the tournaments are monthly, the kids "SKATE" in-between games non stop and the "WIN" are not as important as they seem to be in ice. My son is LOVING the new aspect of being on an ice team. Its faster, its different, its exciting, but he has learned alot playing roller....and he did it at half the cost over the last 7 years.


Some people "knock" roller, I haven't quite figured out why. The top scorer on our current ice team is a dual player and does as much roller as he does ice.


On another note, I think my son has a few bad habits that he hasn't lost yet on the ice. His TURNS are like monster sized semi circles that take up half the width of the floor! The other kids hockey stop and bolt the other direction. On roller, wide sweeping turns are more common and my player hasn't lost that habit yet. Were working on it.


There won't be much roller going on this year, as the AA schedule doesn't allow for much free time, but it was AWESOME while it lasted and there is always those early summer roller tournaments to jump into. StateWars, Narch Finals and Junior Olympics.


I think that the So-Cal roller hockey scene has its place and should be embraced as an EXCELLENT feeding ground for new ice players...especially at the squirt / peewee level.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2018, 10:16:17 PM by ScottyB#22 »

Nowhearthis

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Re: Roller... Yay or Nay?
« Reply #19 on: September 08, 2018, 12:34:01 PM »
 Very well said and good summary.  Those who skip the roller scene really miss out on this special time as it is the closest substitute for after school pond hockey back east.  Some of the best beer leaguers still play roller weekly.  That there says it all.

jvreagan

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Re: Roller... Yay or Nay?
« Reply #20 on: October 01, 2018, 09:03:29 PM »

lcadad

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Re: Roller... Yay or Nay?
« Reply #21 on: October 01, 2018, 09:46:28 PM »
I grew up playing Ice and had a long youth career up into college.   As an adult I had all but given up on the sport.  I was visiting a high school friend of mine who had some roller blades and let me try them out.  Within 5 minutes I was sold.  For the next year or so I played a bunch of roller exclusively and that experience sucked me back into playing Ice. 

After about a year of roller, my ice skating technique was fairly messed up, and it took me probably 4-5 hours my Ice skating get back the feeling of skating normally again, but after that, I had no problem going back and forth between them. 

For a while I played both Ice and Roller and it wasn't unusual for me to have a couple of hours of Ice, and a couple of hours of roller in any given week.  I also spent a lot of hours playing pickup in the parking lot of the Santa Monica peer, where they used to, and perhaps stilll do play using trashcans as goals.  As an adult, I can speak to the benefits they provide in tandem.  Skating on ice is certainly different, and the difference in strategy between the rulesets of Ice and roller are substantial, but what you get from roller is often improved puck handling skills due to the fact that you have to constantly and assuredly attend to the puck since it doesn't glide the way a puck on ice does.  Your stick handling has to be cleaner and stronger, and you often see people who have played a lot of roller exhibit great puck control and that translates well to Ice. 

Anyone who tells you that roller isn't worth doing or is in some way detrimental to the Ice game doesn't know what they are talking about.   
« Last Edit: October 11, 2018, 07:06:08 AM by lcadad »

socal03

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Re: Roller... Yay or Nay?
« Reply #22 on: October 10, 2018, 06:11:48 PM »
Yay.  Certainly not all, but many of the top ice players in the area have leveraged roller to some extent for its numerous benefits, with making hockey even more FUN being the number one reason, as the top ice players typically dominate the roller tournaments.  There's a new batch of success stories that will go even further in proving roller has posed little to no adverse impact on reaching some of the highest levels on the ice.