By Stephanie Linehan
A big part of motherhood for me is being a hockey mom. My husband played growing up and then later, coached and served on the youth board. Our son has been playing since he was little. Our daughter played for a short stint. Both my husband and I put in numerous volunteer hours at the rink. And we just love watching hockey and belonging to that community.
Being part of RFYHA, you notice the ins and outs. You notice the many people involved. You notice the highs and lows; the good times and the bad. You notice how hard everyone works and all the blood, sweat, and tears.
Something so special and so significant to our youth hockey program is that we are 100% volunteer-run. There are compressors to check on in the middle of the night, grounds to be mowed and plowed, a concession stand to run, bathrooms to be cleaned, not to mention running the clock and music, announcing between whistles/periods, covering the penalty boxes, ice maintenance, and sweeping the mezzanine. And our rink is association-owned. It’s not operated by the school district or the city. For all our years in youth hockey, I just couldn’t get over how much time and energy people would give. Yes, no one did it for the recognition. But it certainly would be nice to be noticed by people outside of our little community within a community.
In January of 2020, I stumbled upon Kraft Hockeyville. A competition in which people rallied behind different youth hockey associations/rinks across the nation. Photos, videos, stories, and nominations were uploaded to the Hockeyville site. Eventually, our rink was starting to get traction. We were getting noticed. And we were starting to take somewhat of a lead. Before we knew it, we were in the top four. This is the acknowledgement I had been wanting for us.
It felt so good to have the whole town rally behind us, support us, and notice us. That’s when my confidence in promoting goodness started. Afterall, how could you not believe in and stand behind a small 100% volunteer-run youth hockey association-owned rink and the love for the game?
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