USA HOCKEY WEEK ACROSS AMERICA IN FEBRUARY AN OPPORTUNITY FOR RETAILERS

BY TOM VAN JACOBS HDA MANAGING DIRECTOR

USA Hockey created Hockey Week Across America in 2008 to grow the game, engage the community in celebrating the sport at all levels and expose the game to new audiences. The potential benefit for Hockey Dealers Association (HDA) members is the partnership with rinks hosting events.

“It actually started as Hockey Weekend Across America with a connection to the NHL and their broadcast partners’ Hockey Day in America celebration,” said Kevin Erlenbach, Assistant Executive Director of USA Hockey. “Having a national call to action to celebrate our game become more and more popular. We extended it to a week’s-long celebration to help us encompass all the many people and stakeholders that make up the American hockey’s fabric.”

During the week of February 20–26, 2023, USA Hockey will create a social media presence with daily themes to build excitement and allow people to share their experiences for why they love the game.

“First of all, it gives a measurable level of awareness, especially over social channels. Whether it is all the traffic for people wearing their favorite hockey jersey to the stories that come forward about the people that drive hockey within their community,” says Erlenbach. “Then our second national ‘Try Hockey For Free

Day’ that occurs on the Saturday of the week has turned into one of our top producing events for attracting brand new families to the game to try the sport for themselves.

“Especially as it relates to timing, even though late February is towards the end of the traditional youth hockey season, we see a much larger average participation total per site due to new families being in the throes of winter and wanting to learn more. It turns out to be a great opportunity for rinks to fill their ‘Learn to Skate’ and ‘Learn to Play’ programming for the spring and a nice sales-lead base for local programs to follow up with heading into the fall.”

“Try Hockey For Free Day” engages more than 200 rinks nationwide to participate in the event with approximately 7,0008,000 kids trying hockey for the first time, according to USA Hockey.

Hockey Week Across America is a great way for hockey retailers to get involved with your local community and help grow the sport.

“Independent retailers can greatly benefit by partnering with local rinks and associations hosting ‘Try Hockey For Free’ events to provide onsite fitting help and connecting with these potential new hockey families about purchasing equipment and helping them feel comfortable about investing in their child’s new sport of choice,” says Erlenbach.

Karissa Niehoff

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF STATE HIGH SCHOOL ASSOCIATIONS (NFHS)

Our kids need these opportunities more than ever. If people say sports and activities are a strain on the budget I would play the card and say no. When I was teacher/coach 20–30 years ago, the percentage of a school-district budget that goes into athletics and professional development for teachers was in the single digits. Athletics does not chew up a big portion of the school budget. They never have although I wish they could.

I don’t think wherever we are as a nation economically does or should influence what we do to support scholastic programming like sports and performing arts. Whenever someone says we don’t have the money for it, I just want to say no, no, no, stop. For pennies per child, per violin, per basketball, you say don’t have the money? Personally, I take issue with that.

NINA JOHNSON-PITT

Financial barriers play a large factor in the decision-making and lives of families all across the United States. As an organization we are continuing to strengthen our commitment to breaking down those barriers to ensure every child has the opportunity to enjoy the Little League experience, regardless of their financial situations.

Thanks to our generous partners at T-Mobile, one of the great programs we have been able to offer the past few years is the T-Mobile Little League Call Up Grant (LittleLeague.org/CallUpGrant), providing families in need with financial support to help cover registration fees. Through our work with T-Mobile, we have learned that 1 in 5 children may not have the opportunity to play sports due to financial challenges. While payment is never a prerequisite to participate in the Little League program, registration fees are an important part of a local league’s finances to ensure they can operate effectively. Because of that, T-Mobile has awarded more than $3.5 million to help cover registration fees for over 30,000 Little Leaguers in 2020–22. In 2022 alone, more than 1,800 local leagues across 47 states received a Call Up Grant.

Similar to the T-Mobile Little League Call Up Grant, many local Little League programs also create scholarship programs within their own leagues to help support those families in need. Little League also works with its partners at DICK’S Sporting Goods and Pitch In For Baseball And Softball on a number of equipment grant and donation opportunities to ensure parents can provide their children with the equipment needed to participate on the field.

Little League remains focused on making sure every child has the opportunity to participate in the Little League program and will continue to find ways to support its parents and players, as well as the local league volunteers to provide a welcoming atmosphere that lets children feel welcome, wanted, and included both on and off the field.