RYDE, UK – Ice hockey has never been the easiest game to learn. It rewards patience, commitment and bravery – all desirable qualities in a human. The players pulling on the jerseys of the senior teams didn’t slide on a pair of skates and pick up a stick a few months before. This honour is the culmination of years of dedication.
Raiders hockey family with great memories
Learning to skate takes months, even years to master. It involves repetition, skill and lots of falling over. Most players start between the ages of 5 and 10 and with opportunities to skate not plentiful, every hour counts. Public sessions with endless loops to music, avoiding fellow skaters and the flying boots of the ice dancers.
Once skating is mastered it’s time to strap on the padding and uncomfortable equipment and get a taste of hockey. More repetition, more learning of techniques and of course more falling over, often not helped by fellow players deliberately knocking them down.
After months of training it’s time to play the first game. The UK isn’t blessed with thousands of ice rinks, so distances can be long. The bus and car journeys with team mates, parents and coaching staff all follow.
For youngsters on the Isle of Wight this involves taking a boat to every away game… and back. It involves their parents and the club management putting in more time and miles than most. From under 13’s right through to the senior teams these players head across to the mainland representing the Island wearing their jerseys with pride.
Ryde Arena
These players then grow up together, form bonds together and will be the best men or ushers at each other’s weddings. They will pull together in times of tragedy and support each other long after they hang their skates up.
The game will teach them the value of team work, of exercise and of structure. They will give up their weekends to play together, for themselves, for their team mates, and for the senior team’s their supporters.
They will board that boat each and every week and then face a long bus journey at the other end to places like Cardiff, Oxford and London. Commitment is a necessity.
The rink becomes their second home. A place they feel safe and a place they can forget about the worries of day to day life. They will feel a sense of identity, a belonging and they may even find love there. All of their emotions will be laid bare inside the rink at some point whether it’s on the ice, in the locker room, in the stands or up in the bar.
The players will laugh, shed tears and will most certainly wince in pain within its walls.
The game will shape these players lives. They will spend less time drinking on the streets as adolescents, those weekend temptations fuelled by boredom are restricted and they will look back when their legs can’t take it anymore and be misty eyed.
Their friends and family and their supporters will speak of great memories and stop each other in the street to talk about the latest game or one from a decade ago. They will share images on social media, frame pictures for their houses and keep newspaper cuttings.
What next for the juniors on the island?
On a small island off the South Coast of England, to have the chance to be involved in such a special sport is one that those who used Ryde Arena were all grateful for.
This weekend the lights were finally switched off unceremoniously by AEW (Europe) Ltd citing rent arrears (disputed by community group Ryde Arena Leisure), who leased the building from freeholder Isle of Wight council.
25 years of ice hockey on the island now ends just 2 months into the new season. All of those players, parents, management and supporters left with nothing after years of dedication, sporting endeavour and commitment. Those kids thinking about starting to play the game and represent the island in future years left with no chance.
All eyes now turn to the council who face the prospect of losing a sporting legacy and an asset to the community unless they can somehow help provide a new facility.Some of the teams may try and finish the season on the road however for the main senior team, Wightlink Raiders they will reportedly play their last game today at Invicta Dynamos
Let’s hope this is a temporary state of affairs and a replacement is on the horizon. For the moment though… Wightlink Raiders and Ryde Arena, thanks for the memories.
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com
We will do a further piece on the Raiders in the coming days.
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