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Now Ye're Talking - to an Inline Hockey Player

Boards.ie: Niamh

Our guest this week plays the awesome, fast-paced sport that is inline hockey.
It is a growing sport worldwide and in Ireland, with a new rink set up in Longford in the summer of 2015. There is also one in Portadown which is currently undergoing some improvements. There are a few dozen senior and junior teams throughout the country.

The 2016-17 season is coming to an end now with play-offs approaching but most of the teams train regularly and there are tournaments hosted every couple of months too. He is a registered player at Inline Hockey Ireland. It is a lesser known sport that our guest would like to answer questions on so ask away!

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Ericaa

How do you feel about the recent equipment changes that IHI have made?
Would you ever try roller derby? :P

Sabre0001

Hi there, couple of opening questions. How did you get interested in inline hockey in the first place (and then how did you make an entrance into it as an official sport)? How big is the scene in Ireland? And what's the thing that outsiders are most surprised by when you tell them you play this sport / explain what it is?

Thanks for doing this AMA.

newwan

Hi I'm a hurler emigrating to Canada soon and really want to play ice hockey. Did you ever play? Would in line help at all? What skates do you wear?

Tell me how

If you could play any sport for a living, do you think inline hockey would be your choice?

Were you able to skate/roller blade before you took up the sport?

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA

Ericaa wrote: »

How do you feel about the recent equipment changes that IHI have made?
Would you ever try roller derby? :P

I'm not sure if it was necessary, but at the same time the changes don't make a huge difference. I believe they're just trying to differentiate it from ice hockey a bit more. Leagues in other countries all seem to wear the trousers too.

I haven't tried roller derby yet but I'm up for trying to new things. If that was an invite, shoot me a PM and I might just come and try it out.

Sabre0001 wrote: »

Hi there, couple of opening questions. How did you get interested in inline hockey in the first place (and then how did you make an entrance into it as an official sport)? How big is the scene in Ireland? And what's the thing that outsiders are most surprised by when you tell them you play this sport / explain what it is?

Thanks for doing this AMA.

I've always loved ice hockey. I've always followed the professional leagues and international championships. Since ice isn't very accessible in Ireland, I came across a somewhat local inline hockey team, went for a training session with them and have been playing ever since. I regret not starting earlier because it's such an amazing sport, but better late than never, right!?

Inline Hockey Ireland (IHI) is a recreational league so anyone can join. The hockey scene over here is very... undercover, you might say. Even though there are a few dozen teams on this island, not a lot of people know much about the sport, despite it having hurling roots. Also because of the fact that not many people know about it, the financial side of the sport here isn't great. I would like to see more people getting into it.

When I tell "outsiders", as you call them, about the sport I always say it's inline hockey (so they don't think it's field hockey) and it's as close as you can get to ice hockey - which is the simplest way of putting it. The response is "Is that the violent sport that the North Americans play?" or something along those lines because most people would just see clips of it from movies or something. It's not as violent as many people think it is, so that shouldn't put you off giving it a try.

newwan wrote: »

Hi I'm a hurler emigrating to Canada soon and really want to play ice hockey. Did you ever play? Would in line help at all? What skates do you wear?

Nice. That sounds a lot like the Toughest Trade episode that was on a few weeks ago on RTE2. Did you happen to see that? If not, here's a link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXus8AbWGps

I have skated on ice before, but my first time playing ice hockey will be in Belgium next week. Really looking forward to that. Inline would definitely help because stick-handling, shooting, the strategy of the game is all the same. Practicing skating on inline skates will also help with skating on the ice. The skates I wear currently are Bauer Vapor XR1.

Guy Sajer

Do you think it's a sport that a 30+ year old could start from scratch (no skating or hockey experience) and enjoy it? Or is it a skill set you need to nurture from young?

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA

Tell me how wrote: »

If you could play any sport for a living, do you think inline hockey would be your choice?

Were you able to skate/roller blade before you took up the sport?

Ice hockey would be my first choice, but I would be very happy playing inline hockey for a living as well. Both sports are very similar.

To tell you the truth, I was a very bad skater when I first started playing. So, if you're not great at skating, you can still come to a training session with a team and try it out. Any team will be happy to take up a new player. We were all beginners once so you shouldn't worry about that.

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA

Guy Sajer wrote: »

Do you think it's a sport that a 30+ year old could start from scratch (no skating or hockey experience) and enjoy it? Or is it a skill set you need to nurture from young?

It's never too late to pick up hockey. We play hockey because we share the same passion for the sport and we have fun playing it. That's all that matters.

job seeker

What's the worst injury you got from playing hockey?

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA

job seeker wrote: »

What's the worst injury you got from playing hockey?

Luckily I haven't gotten any injuries (*knocks on wood*) believe it or not. Then again, one thing that separates ice hockey from inline hockey is - while they're both contact sports, body-checking is not allowed in most inline leagues, including IHI and also you do have plenty of padding as well so you wouldn't see injuries happening that often.

miamee

Am I right in thinking that inline hockey is like ice hockey but not on the ice? Are there many other differences to the game itself, rules, etc.?

Do most teams train or play indoors or can it be an outdoor sport too?

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA

miamee wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that inline hockey is like ice hockey but not on the ice? Are there many other differences to the game itself, rules, etc.?

Do most teams train or play indoors or can it be an outdoor sport too?

Yes, you're right - it's a lot like ice hockey. The differences are;

The puck is made out of hard plastic rather than rubber and weighs less - rubber puck would have too much friction and wouldn't glide at all. Inline hockey rinks have plastic floor surface as well.

In terms of equipment, all that really changes are the skates. However usually padded full length pants are worn in inline hockey rather than the shorts you'd see in ice hockey and generally lighter padding.

Ice hockey is usually played 5v5 (3 forwards & 2 defencemen) + goalie whereas inline hockey is usually 4v4 (2 forwards & 2 defencemen) + goalie. Although there can be 3v3, 4v4 or 5v5 tournaments in either sport.

There is no offside or icing rule in inline hockey. In ice hockey, offside is called when a player enters the opponent zone before the puck. When it happens, the play is stopped and there is a face-off. Icing is called when a player shoots the puck from their defensive zone all the way over to the other side behind the goal line. Again, play is stopped, the face-off is brought back to the defensive zone and the team which got the icing call is not allowed to do a line change. However icing does not apply when a team is on penalty kill (has a man in the penalty box). Also hits/body-checking are typically not allowed in inline hockey and you'll draw a penalty, regardless if the other player is in possession of the puck or not.

Those are pretty much all the differences. You could train outdoors as there are a lot of different tools available for off-ice training which are suitable for both ice and inline hockey.

In countries that get cold winters, people play on frozen lakes and this is called pond hockey. Games for fun are played outdoors - on frozen lakes. These games would be a bit different to a regular hockey games though because there are no boards to shoot the puck around, shots usually aren't taken very high or hard because you'll just end up losing the puck. Also because of this, full equipment usually isn't worn. There are people who play outdoor inline hockey as well but it wouldn't be as common.

Thank you for the question and I hope this wasn't too long of a post.

newwan

Thanks for this. Going to join my local club here before hitting for Canada for ice hockey... Can't wait. Hope I like it

atilladehun

Where are the teams in ireland?

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA

newwan wrote: »

Thanks for this. Going to join my local club here before hitting for Canada for ice hockey... Can't wait. Hope I like it

No problem. Thanks for the question.

If you like ice hockey, you'll like inline hockey too.

atilladehun wrote: »

Where are the teams in ireland?

The senior teams are;

Clare Waves
Clare Badgers
Cork Wolfpack
Dundalk Warriors
Midland Thunder (Longford/Cavan)
Longford Hawks
Galway Bay Lightning
Kilkenny Storm
Kilkenny Bandits
Dublin Rebels
Dublin Wolves
Waterford Shadows
Waterford Vikings
West Coast Pirates (Galway)
Armagh Stars
Ballymena Vandals
Bangor Chiefs

Might be missing one or two but that's most of them.

cena

do you play ice hockey with Celtic clovers?

cena

newwan wrote: »

Hi I'm a hurler emigrating to Canada soon and really want to play ice hockey. Did you ever play? Would in line help at all? What skates do you wear?

I play ice hockey here. Inline well help but total differences when you go on a slippy surface

newwan

Where about do are you?

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA

cena wrote: »

do you play ice hockey with Celtic clovers?

No, but I'd like to get some ice time. I messaged Clovers a while back to see if I can join them on the ice for a training session some time, they said they only do inline training and go on the ice just for games.

Sabre0001

What do training sessions typically entail?

How fit would you say the majority of players are?

Is there much of a community within colleges (or are there efforts being made to push the game through Clubs & Socs)?

What do you think is the biggest hurdle to growing the sport?

Kerrydude1981

When does the season start?

And how many divisions are there?

cena

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA wrote: »

No, but I'd like to get some ice time. I messaged Clovers a while back to see if I can join them on the ice for a training session some time, they said they only do inline training and go on the ice just for games.

The flying ducks do a learn to play for adults in Blanchardstown when the ice rink is there. You should give them a call.

cena

newwan wrote: »

Where about do are you?

I live west but travel to Belfast to play games. I am with the flying ducks in Dublin

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA

Sabre0001 wrote: »

What do training sessions typically entail?

How fit would you say the majority of players are?

Is there much of a community within colleges (or are there efforts being made to push the game through Clubs & Socs)?

What do you think is the biggest hurdle to growing the sport?

Training sessions depend on the team. Typically there everyone would warm up for a few minutes by stretching, skating, passing, taking a few shots to warm up the goalies as well. Then everyone would split in two and have a game against eachother. Sometimes training drills would be done prior to the match too.

There's usually a good mix of people. Some fitter than others.

No, there isn't really any college hockey communities that I'm aware of. Not sure what you mean by pushing the game through clubs & socs, sorry.

Biggest hurdle? Lack of awareness of it, probably. Very few know about the sport, which is why there are no sponsors or anyone else funding it. The word needs to spread that such a sport exists here and anyone who's interested should come down to a game or training session to see what it's like. Most teams would have spare gear for new players as well, before they go out and buy their own.

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

When does the season start?

And how many divisions are there?

Season usually starts in September.

There's 3 senior divisions - silver and gold, with the silver being divided into north and south.

B00MSTICK

Sabre0001 wrote:

Is there much of a community within colleges (or are there efforts being made to push the game through Clubs & Socs)?

Many years ago when I played there was a fairly active NUIG and UCC team but I believe these combined with their "county" teams.
Also depending on who is present/attending the college the leadership/management of the team can change quite a bit and simply vanish.

@I'm an Inline Hockey Player - How is the mix of players from Ireland/Eastern europe/Other nations matching up? Both in numbers participating and in general skill level

Are there a few teams that are dominating their respective leagues or is there much chance of an upset?

As you said the sport is pretty much underground - I did find it to be very well run, organised and of course great craic - it's a nice way to make friends (and rivals!) too.
Do you see a way of increasing its popularity or making it more mainstream? I know the Kilkenny teams have been great promoters of it from under-age to more senior levels, could this be copied elsewhere?

This thread has me thinking of taking my (very smelly) gear up to Dublin and giving it another bash

cena

B00MSTICK wrote: »

Many years ago when I played there was a fairly active NUIG and UCC team but I believe these combined with their "county" teams.
Also depending on who is present/attending the college the leadership/management of the team can change quite a bit and simply vanish.

@I'm an Inline Hockey Player - How is the mix of players from /Eastern europe/Other nations matching up? Both in numbers participating and in general skill level

Are there a few teams that are dominating their respective leagues or is there much chance of an upset?

As you said the sport is pretty much underground - I did find it to be very well run, organised and of course great craic - it's a nice way to make friends (and rivals!) too.
Do you see a way of increasing its popularity or making it more mainstream? I know the Kilkenny teams have been great promoters of it from under-age to more senior levels, could this be copied elsewhere?

This thread has me thinking of taking my (very smelly) gear up to Dublin and giving it another bash

Kilkenny storms coach is also the head coach for the irish national underage ice hockey teams

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA

B00MSTICK wrote: »

Many years ago when I played there was a fairly active NUIG and UCC team but I believe these combined with their "county" teams.
Also depending on who is present/attending the college the leadership/management of the team can change quite a bit and simply vanish.

@I'm an Inline Hockey Player - How is the mix of players from Ireland/Eastern europe/Other nations matching up? Both in numbers participating and in general skill level

Are there a few teams that are dominating their respective leagues or is there much chance of an upset?

As you said the sport is pretty much underground - I did find it to be very well run, organised and of course great craic - it's a nice way to make friends (and rivals!) too.
Do you see a way of increasing its popularity or making it more mainstream? I know the Kilkenny teams have been great promoters of it from under-age to more senior levels, could this be copied elsewhere?

This thread has me thinking of taking my (very smelly) gear up to Dublin and giving it another bash

There are still a good few students in the Galway team and I believe some in the Cork team as well but there are no college-only teams.

Majority of the players would be Eastern European or North American (I'd say approx 70%), but there are a few Irish and British players in the league too. Skill level depends on the person but since hockey is more popular in other countries, non-Irish player would have an advantage there because they would be more familiar with the game and perhaps have some level of experience before joining this league. Then again, if you love the sport and you're dedicated, you can learn all these things, which brings me back to what I said earlier - depends on the person.

Perkele Pelicans, Dublin Wolves and Clare Waves stand out, they've done really well, but there are other good teams too.

The league is organised well, but could definitely do with improvements. In order for that to happen though, we need more people taking an interest in hockey. It's true, it is indeed a great way to meet new people as well. It is great to see what Kilkenny has done, Paul from the team was also coaching Lee Chin in the RTE's Toughest Trade episode (which I put a link to in one of my first posts). It would be great to see more teams doing something like this and I do think it is possible.

Definitely do, gear up and give it another go. You won't regret it.

cena

I'm an Inline Hockey Player, AMA wrote: »

There are still a good few students in the Galway team and I believe some in the Cork team as well but there are no college-only teams.

Majority of the players would be Eastern European or North American (I'd say approx 70%), but there are a few Irish and British players in the league too. Skill level depends on the person but since hockey is more popular in other countries, non-Irish player would have an advantage there because they would be more familiar with the game and perhaps have some level of experience before joining this league. Then again, if you love the sport and you're dedicated, you can learn all these things, which brings me back to what I said earlier - depends on the person.

Perkele Pelicans, Dublin Wolves and Clare Waves stand out, they've done really well, but there are other good teams too.

The league is organised well, but could definitely do with improvements. In order for that to happen though, we need more people taking an interest in hockey. It's true, it is indeed a great way to meet new people as well. It is great to see what Kilkenny has done, Paul from the team was also coaching Lee Chin in the RTE's Toughest Trade episode (which I put a link to in one of my first posts). It would be great to see more teams doing something like this and I do think it is possible.

Definitely do, gear up and give it another go. You won't regret it.

Paul cummins is a sound man. Very knowledgable in the world of hockey.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Thanks to our AMA participant for taking the time to answer some great questions about inline hockey! I'm almost tempted to try it out myself. Maybe I'll start with spectating