Novice Leagues

[sabby47 2]

I'm the Asst. Hockey Director at my rink and we've been toying with the idea of starting up a Novice/Beginner League for those who go through our Adult Development (Learn to Play) classes. As it is now, newer players join our Rec league. It was originally the 35 and Over League and ended up evolving into a Rec League as we let newbies join since there really was no other league for them to go to. This is our only league that we draft and the other leagues (Level 1-3) are entered as teams. We've had a handful of guys complain that they miss the lack of competition as the skill level has dropped somewhat due to the mixed level of skills. We're now trying to decide if we should go back to making it strictly a 30 and Over League to try and push the new players into the Novice League and build it up. (This league will also be drafted)

What I would like to hear is how your rink/league is set up as far as where they put players new to the game.

Edit: Oops, was reading in the Equipment thread and accidently posted here. Can a mod please move this to the Gen Hockey Discussions? Thank you = )

[Chadd 916]

Two thoughts about it:

First of all, would there be enough people to have a legit novice level league? If so, it wouldn't hurt to have another level of play and to help true beginners get into the game.

Second, why don't the guys who want to keep a higher skill level move up into the other divisions?

[sabby47 2]

Two thoughts about it:

First of all, would there be enough people to have a legit novice level league? If so, it wouldn't hurt to have another level of play and to help true beginners get into the game.

Second, why don't the guys who want to keep a higher skill level move up into the other divisions?

As of right now we have enough for almost 2 teams. This is just with the newbies that are not yet playing in a league.

Almost all of the guys (other than the newbies) that play in the Rec League do play in another league on a different night. They really use this as another nite to play hockey.

[Chadd 916]

Can you pull at least two more teams full of guys into this new league? You can't really start a league with less than four. How many teams are in your draft league?

[sabby47 2]

Can you pull at least two more teams full of guys into this new league? You can't really start a league with less than four. How many teams are in your draft league?

Right now we have 4 teams in our draft league and would be able to make up for the handful of new players if we pulled them from that league.

I was thinking even if we had 2 teams in our novice league halfway through the season we could re-draft. Every fifth nite instead of a game we are going to have a team practice. I'm not sure how much of an issue only having 2 teams would be with new players, as I would think their biggest concern is just playing hockey and getting more experience. Obviously we don't want to cheat new players of anything, and any recommendations are more than welcome.

[jds 20]

This is exactly how I started playing hockey at 43. I would have been too intimidated to join the regular Rec league having never played. THere is a league designed for adult beginners that has been going for several years that has been quite popular and a second league was started in a near by city this past summer and it just exploded and now has 10 teams for the winter season. I thought I was a rarity in starting hockey at such a late age but I am amazed at how many folks are in the same boat-there are tons of us out there. I suspect if you announced a rookie adult league you would get more than the two teams that you have now which is made of the hard core beginners that are willing to mix it up in a regular rec league. THere are likely lots more players who just don't don't take the plunge because there is no league for them to do it. All the aging baby boomers are trying to recapture their youth (at least I am) and many are doing it by taking up sports they never tried. Put some feelers out and you will probably get lots of interest.

[Ogie Oglethorpe 14]

First off, here in Dallas, they have:

* Instructional (leagues that are 10 weeks only with 2 of the events being practices. You are assigned a coach who will help teach you the basics)

* D league

* C League

* B League

* A League

In the A league there is no league involvement on the roster where as the league reserves the right (but seldom do) to remove players too skilled from rosters. D and C league can't have anyone who played on high school or college teams in the last 2 years (of course, that requires the applicant to be honest on their application).

NOW, they have tried to have many 35 and older teams. However, the problem was like what has been discussed here in that it's hard to get 4 teams together of that age bracket. Most just have 2 teams. The talent level is all over the map, though (personally, I'm fat and old and hate chasing the young 20 somethings around the ice or dealing with the ones that think not only are they bullet proof but so is everyone else around them; it's embarrassing to give a presentation the next day at work and be missing a tooth or have a black eye because some numb-nuts who makes a living on their parent's couch decides it's funny to take runs at people).

ANYWAY, the other real problem you have in a 35 or older league is that they tend to the be the ones who are more likely to be parents or have professional careers which means missing more games (travel, kid's events, working late, etc). This also means that the 35 and older leagues, who are likely the ones who don't want a ton of ice time, are the most likely teams to end up with only 8 people showing in a given night. Thus, all the leagues around here who tried it had very flexible sub rules so that folks could try to field at least 10 skaters. That included allowing up to 2 players that were 25 or older provided your team was short on the roster.

Like I said, I'd be for it (and you will hear most folks would be). However, you will have a hard time filling enough teams for it, you will have a wide variety of talent, and attendance will be spotty.

[JR97 2]

You could try a World Division type thing. It's basically a closed drop-in but it can have refs, time/score keepers and all of that. The director pre-assigns teams ever week so that the skill level is somewhat even and gives a chance for everyone to play everyone. It's more about learning the game and comradeship than it is about competition. Although, now that most of the guys have been playing with each other for a while, it's getting pretty competitive in a friendly way. Kill yer buddy kinda stuff. It's been a hit here. Fills up quick. This summer they ran two and both filled up. We have goalies every week and there's a pretty big list of goalies who love to sub for it since it's free to them.

The other rink did it a little different but it required having a lot of players. They would have 2-3 drop-in style games and then assign players based on skill level to teams to make sure things were somewhat even across the board. Then it's a normally run league at that point. They've had trouble getting enough players for it, though. The last time it ran they had 3 teams of 10 skaters plus a goalie.

[Race4LastPlace 31]

Here in louisville, we have a "Never Ever League" a "Saturday Night Fever" league, C, C+, and B leagues.

I started in Never Ever league and loved it.1 night a week. 2 teams. 20 minutes of 'chalk talk' before on ice (from gearing up to setting up plays as the season progressed). 10 minutes of warm up and stretch on ice. 30 minutes of on ice skills (edge work stick handling skating) followed by a 30 minute 'controlled' scrimmage. worked out really well. Saturday night fever is 1 game on saturdays 3 teams. includes people grauated from never ever and c league players. very even teams, lots of fun. Thats how its done here.