How to Start a Pickup Hockey Group

Here’s a little history and some easy steps to get your own pickup hockey group up and running!

Humble Hockey Beginnings

When I was a kid, we didn’t have youth hockey programs near us like my kids do with Pottstown PAL and Pottstown Jesters for travel.

‘Back in the day’ I called my friends up and they drove a half-hour so we could play roller hockey in the local school parking lot.

Eventually we got tired of chasing the ball, and smartened up and moved our games to the fenced-in tennis courts at the local high school.

In college, we played roller behind one of the boys’ dorms. Sometimes it wasn’t even 3 on 3.

I loved hockey all my life, but I never really found my true calling to *actually* play until after kids. In fact, I started playing ball hockey because of my daughter.

After my first year of playing for the women’s tier of the NBHL, I headed to Rhode Island to play in the all-women’s Oktoberfest tournament. That hockey weekend changed everything.

I came home with such an undeniable energy and shift in perspective. I just *knew* other moms just like me needed (and deserved!!) to play hockey! Not a doubt in my mind that they needed hockey in their lives as much as I did.

It was right then that I decided to start a local women’s pickup hockey group. We had over 30 women join our group literally overnight!!!

The women’s tournament in Rhode Island and the new pickup group set things in motion for even more hockey activism that I can’t even rightly explain, but that is a story for another day.

Today I am here to tell you how you can start your *own* pickup ball hockey group!

How to Start a Pickup Hockey Group

1. Create a public or private group on Facebook, Next Door, or your preferred network.
   
2. Text, call, and email your friends to get them to give hockey a chance!
   
3. Blast out the group on local groups in social media, like the local moms’ groups and community message boards.
   
4. Post flyers on bulletin boards, at the gym, or anywhere you can.
   
5. Create a scheduling chat in your group. Discuss possible meetups with your members.
   
6. Schedule your first pickup game.
   
7. Ask around to make sure everyone has a hockey stick at the very least (although full gear is safer).
   
8. Make sure you have nets, or at the very least, milk crates or similar.
   
9. Get together and play!!
   
10. Take pictures so you can use them to promote future pickup hockey gatherings.
    
11. Keep spreading the world and growing the sport!

It’s really as simple as that! Every program starts somewhere.