Letter from the President

December 11, 2011

Dear RMRHL participants:

We come to the close of another great year at Rocky Mountain Roller Hockey League Inc.  It does not seem possible that it was over a decade ago that we started playing outside on parking lots. Our mission is to serve the community and secure the future of inline hockey in Colorado for generations to come. We know that this economy has put stress on all of you and we are not immune.  RMRHL has significant monthly expenses both operating and paying for the construction bonds.   We are vigilant to minimize all expenses and still deliver quality to our participants.  Our board of directors is working to develop and grow inline hockey, while creating new partnerships and diversifying the facility use. However, RMRHL is going to have to raise our rates going into 2012.

We don’t do this lightly, since the Lakewood facility opening we have only raised player rates once in the eight years.  Unfortunately over these eight years the cost of running the rink has not held constant and we have no other recourse in this economy but to raise rates. Effective January 1, 2012 a rate increase of $10.00 will be applied to all youth and adult league programs, hourly practice rentals and all outside vendor rentals per hour.  This increase will not apply to RMRHL league programs already in session from 2011 but will go into effect for those leagues at the start of their next session. 

Going into 2012 you will see some changes at the rink.  You may have already noticed some changes in our facility use. RMRHL is now home to Inline Hockey, Roller Derby and Box Lacrosse.  Roller Hockey and Roller Derby are both club chartered with USA Roller Sports (USARS) and recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the Federation Internationale de Roller Sports as the National Governing Body for Roller Sports.  Over the years many of our hockey players have gone on to play lacrosse for their university or high schools, not to mention the popularity of the Colorado Mammoth with our players.  Box Lacrosse is bringing the Mammoth type experience to youth players and leagues and we are excited to be the premier location in Colorado for this new activity. 

It is mandatory for all RMRHL roller hockey participants to have a valid USARS membership (January 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012) to play at RMRHL.  The USARS membership includes a supplemental insurance policy for players. The USARS house leagues individual membership fee is $20.00. The high school and tournament travel teams individual memberships are $30.00. USARS memberships are available online at www.usarollersports.com.  Please visit and take care of this before January comes around.

RMRHL is a not-for-profit organization and serves the community in many ways.  One constant factor for the rinks success has been being blessed with very dedicated rink volunteers. All of the youth league programs are supported by volunteer coaches or team administrators and much of the facility maintenance is maintained by volunteers. In this time of giving, remember that we are a 501(c)3 and as such donations to RMRHL are tax deductable.  There are many ways to donate including volunteering your time and expertise to the rink.  We are in need of additional volunteers to help with fundraising, marketing and referral programs. If you are interested in becoming a rink volunteer please contact Tina Scinski by email at tinarmi@aol.com.  

A major emphasis for 2012 is to rebuild our youth hockey programs. We used as our guide a new approach now being used widely across the country to build skill levels. Part of that has been to revamp the youth program to make it more rewarding for all participants from the newest participant to those having participated longer and having more skills. To provide access to a more consistent quality of instruction we instituted the combined practice in 2011. Every effort has been made to balance the skill levels of all teams so that everyone can enjoy each game. We now need to expand our reach to new participants and will be kicking off a program in January to attract new participants through all of you.

So as 2011 comes to a close and we reflect on the year past, I would like to thank all of our patrons and rink volunteers for their time, dedication and commitment to inline hockey.  I especially want to thank our members of the armed forces for their service – we have many veterans (past and present) who are part of the RMR Family.  Looking toward 2012, our greatest challenges are still to come.  As you take a break for the holidays we at RMRHL wish you a Happy New Year!!

Best Regards,

Rick Lebsack

RMRHL, President

RMRHL- a community within a community!