New Hanover Hockey Dek – How Two Girls Saved Their Rink
How It All Began (as told by Kate)
Hi, I’m Kate. This has been quite the hockey journey for Natalie and Lilly and their wonderful hockey community – from saving the New Hanover Community Park Hockey Dek to the current initiative – reimagining it into an amazing hockey home for the community! I have no doubt that all our paths connected on this for a reason, and I’m excited to share how we got here and where we’re going!!
For the backstory, my oldest daughter Natalie was a gymnast from the time she could walk. At just 18 to 20 months old, I’d constantly find her on the back of the sofa. Nope, into gymnastics you go! If you’re gonna be wild and free, you can do that in a safe and productive environment!! She was a gymnast for at least 6 years and had just started competing in meets. Of course, then covid happened and the gym shut down. It wasn’t long before we looked for an outdoor sport and my girl fell in love with dek hockey. (Her little sis Olivia is just warming up to it now!)
Nat held a hockey stick for the first time in a game scenario, since we found out about the PAL Dek Hockey League at the eleventh hour. She played her first season on a losing team – the Hitmen – a team that truly came alive in the playoffs. Her confidence sparked in the playoffs, too, and people noticed her. She was invited to join a travel ball hockey team, Pottstown Jesters, after just that first season of ball hockey.
Although we hadn’t met yet back then in that first season, Lilly Walter also joined PAL dek hockey with her friend Olive. Eventually, all 3 girls landed on the same team and became great friends! (Spoiler alert: These are also the 3 girls who stood up to speak in the New Hanover Township Rec Meeting on 11/01/23!)
Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I felt really at home cheering on the girls and their teams during the games. Too at home. So at home, in fact, that I soon undeniably realized I was on the wrong side of the boards.
From Pickup Hockey Meetups to League & Tournaments
Ever since Natalie started playing, I often organized pickup hockey games at the park, for supplemental practice and just for fun. At the end of her first season at Echo Valley, I created a Facebook group to stay connected with other hockey parents who might want to set up pick up games for the kids. It had a clunky name like Coed Kids Pickup Hockey Montco Berks. We recently renamed the group to Pick Up Sticks Hockey to make it easier to find and connect with our vision of getting people to Just Pick Up A Stick!
At one of the gatherings, another hockey mom, Heather, brought her daughter Lilly to play. She and I were chatting and she said she’d LOVE to play. It clicked for me in that moment – I would love to play, too. We were literally like, “I will if you will!” And, the next time we got together, I’ll never forget it. She brought a KOHO hockey stick her husband found for her! And we played hockey with the kids, just like kids!
Then, on December 30, 2022, we had a wildly popular and successful pickup ball hockey gathering at New Hanover Community Park over holiday break. More than 30-40 players (kids AND adults!) showed up to play, from three different hockey teams and beyond.
Since I organized it, I knew a lot of the people who came. I also met a lot of new people that day! Two of the coaches I knew called out to me to get my hockey stick and come play. I had a blast, scored a goal, and the guys told me, “You should play.”
Happy to have played well enough for comments like that, I asked what they meant. “NBHL. They have a women’s league.” No. Way. I had no idea! At this time, it was only going to be the second season of the women’s tier of the NBHL in the Philly / NJ region.
Joey and Ben recommended I connect with Alexis to get involved if I wanted to play. They also said Rachel – another hockey mom like me – was thinking of doing it!
Organized team sports after kids seemed daunting at first but I knew in my heart I had to go for it. Something about it just felt right. I talked to my brother and my mom and both encouraged me to give it a whirl.
After much back and forth with Rachel and Alexis, I decided to sign up. In a beautiful twist of fate, Alexis, Rachel, another hockey mom Michele, and I were all drafted onto the same women’s NBHL team, the South Jersey Ginos. Alexis, Rachel, and I also played together at North Americans at 422 SportsPlex on the team Side Hustle, and came in as the finalist in our division.
Hockey Just Keeps Getting Better
I kept coming to hockey and Alexis kept inviting me to more. The next invite was to play in the United Women’s Ball Hockey Foundation’s All Women’s and Girls’ Oktoberfest Tournament over the weekend before Halloween in October 2023. After a little back and forth, my dad encouraged me to go to Rhode Island and have the experience. I am beyond words grateful for this experience.
I rode up to Rhode Island with Liz and immediately felt that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Playing hockey. Surrounded by supportive new friends I never knew I’d been meeting or needing in my life.
The weekend’s miserably rainy weather couldn’t touch the energy and positivity of this all-women’s hockey gathering. Sportsmanship, kindness, and support radiated from every corner of the facility.
When Inspiration Shifts to Motivation
I came home feeling so refreshed and inspired from the experience. In a beautiful twist of fate, inspiration struck and I immediately realized I just had to start a women’s pickup hockey group. I knew other busy moms like me, and women in general, could really benefit from some hockey in their lives and maybe they just didn’t know they needed it!
So, I started a Women’s Pickup Hockey group on Facebook for our area and invited a bunch of hockey moms and local female hockey players that I knew. I reached out to Maura, another local teammate, and Alexis, and together we built the group. Overnight, our group went from being newly born to over 30 members in less than 24 hours! Soon it surpassed 50 members and it is still growing to this day.
The success of starting that group motivated me to schedule our first pickup game. We chose Wednesday, November 1, and kept inviting people to join our group. A few days later, I remembered that the New Hanover Community Park Hockey Dek only had 1 net available.
To solve the issue, I reached out to the township offering to buy and donate a hockey net if someone with a truck could go pick it up and drop it off at the park.
A Stressful Discovery
At 10:17 at night on a Friday in the end of October, I received an email from the township manager, Jamie, who expressed appreciation that my email came through when it did. He let me know in plain terms that the hockey dek was in discussion to be converted into pickleball courts.
I freaked out! I immediately shared the news with Alexis, as she and I constantly talk about how to grow the game and get more women playing hockey.
Like a superhero out to save the world, she sprang into action and had a petition drafted on Change.org in no time flat. Seriously, like 20 minutes later, we were already blasting out the link and amassing signatures to save our rink. The two of us lost all concept of time, clicked right into hyperfocus and stayed up working on it until about 2 a.m., even though it felt like mere minutes. We hit the ground running with literally everything we had.
When Stars Align
Coincidentally and quite poetically, if you believe in stars aligning, you’ll love this – our already-scheduled pickup game (planned BEFORE we knew about pickleball) was already scheduled for the EXACT SAME day as the New Hanover Township Recreation Committee Meeting when pickleball would be discussed – Wednesday, November 1.
The meeting was at 6:30 p.m. and we’d planned hockey for 4:30 p.m. I can’t make this stuff up.
At one point after we’d been playing hockey for a while, a white utility van pulled up and a guy stepped out with a huge camera. Then Fox 29’s Dawn Timmeney stepped out, gorgeous as ever.
They filmed us playing hockey for quite a while and then rolled over to the township building for the meeting.
It’s fair to say all of us hockey people showed up to the meeting with our torches and pitchforks – prematurely – but ready to defend our hockey to the bitter end.
From Youth Hockey Players to Sports Activists
In a flurry of passion, my daughter Natalie and Heather’s daughter Lilly actually wrote their own speeches at the hockey dek during a quick break they took from playing that day of the meeting.
I saw my daughter’s scrawled list of bullet points after she gave her speech that night and I’m honestly so impressed with the public speaking she did at age 11, especially coming from a next-to-nothing background of giving speeches.
Equally so for Nat’s friend Lilly and their teammate and friend Olive, who also spoke.
(To this day, Lilly and Natalie continue to receive compliments from the board members for how well-spoken they are and for how they carry themselves.)
The First Recreation Committee Meeting
On that fateful first day, November 1, 2023, parents, hockey kids, and coaches all packed the boardroom inside the New Hanover Township municipal building. We had a goalie in full gear, kids in helmets, kids in jerseys, kids with sticks. Players from Boyertown Bears Ice Hockey Club, Pottstown Jesters Ball Hockey, and Pottstown PAL Dek Hockey all came to support the need to keep this hockey dek in place.
Despite this electric outpouring of support, the rec board was not won on attendance alone. A rocky start with one of the rec committee members gruffly made it clear that residents’ opinions are what really matter.
One of my favorite parts of the meeting came as a result of this. Someone from the board mentioned one of the speakers not being representative of the residents because this person wasn’t actually from New Hanover. A resounding echo of “I’m from New Hanover” “I’m from New Hanover” filled the room with affirmation to keep the rink in place.
Justin Remick, the president of Boyertown Ice Hockey Club, and also a New Hanover Township member, said all the right things, so eloquently underscoring the deep need for free, accessible hockey for kids.
The president and founder of Pottstown Jesters also spoke, as did many hockey parents and advocates supporting the dek.
A Positive Outcome – We Saved the Dek!
What really gave pause is when three young hockey girls took it upon themselves to stand up and speak up for what they love. Don’t take our rink. “Make it somewhere else, please,” said Lilly Walter, 11.
Each of the girls spoke from her own heart in front of a board of adults, surrounded by adults and some of their hockey peers. Something few kids feel the need to do. Something they decided to do all on their own, because they cared that much.
After many hockey community members, both New Hanover residents and nonresidents, had the opportunity to speak, the recreation committee recommended the hockey rink stay.
The room erupted in cheers and relief washed over our group.
Inspiring Future Leaders
Later that week, the Township manager reached out to compliment the girls as being inspiring young future leaders. Soon, we received a letter inviting our “Change Agents” back to present ideas for improving the hockey dek. The township would like to make it safer and knows they need to consider both short-term and long-term improvements.
Natalie and Lilly returned to the New Hanover Township Municipal Building for a meeting on Wednesday, January 24, 2024 to present their ideas before the township manager and two members of the Board. This meeting went very well and the girls made it to the next round where they would present before the full Board of Supervisors on Thursday, March 7, 2024.
Next Steps for the New Hanover Hockey Dek
The meeting on Thursday, March 7 went very well. Natalie and Lilly shared their presentation, which included a movie trailer that they created themselves to illustrate their love of bringing people together to play hockey at the park along with some needed repairs on the dek.
Their presentation also included specific solutions to the rink’s wear and tear, and a proposal to reinvent the space with proper hockey boards and dek tiles.
The girls also outlined a clear description of how they can be creative with funding possibilities such as fundraisers (like their newly launched t-shirt fundraiser), grants, and sponsorships. (They are actively seeking sponsors for the hockey rink Right Now!)
The energy in the meeting room was warm and positive as the supervisors listened attentively and later complimented the girls on their presentation and public speaking manners.
At this meeting on March 7th, the New Hanover Township Board of Supervisors committed to some immediate quick fixes for safety at the hockey dek, including repairing the cracks on the asphalt, replacing the dasher boards so that the ball no longer escapes, and fixing the gate so that it no longer swings into the rink.
The board also granted the girls the green light to begin creating partnerships with sponsors to find creative financial solutions to make their community hockey dreams come true. Lilly and Natalie will attend the next Board of Supervisors meeting on April 4, 2024 at 6:30 p.m., which will allow for a vote on the hockey dek recommendations they proposed at the March 7th meeting.
Save the Love – Seeking Sponsors
If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for your interest. The girls would be delighted to hear from anyone who wishes to help their community hockey dreams come true! Please email our team directly at PickUpSticksHockey@gmail.com. Natalie and Lilly are looking for sponsors.
They also launched their first t-shirt fundraiser, which is running presently in March 2024. Big thanks to Lucky Squirrel for hosting it!
Anyway, this post came out longer than most, but this entire experience has been so special. Each piece of it fell so beautifully into place, leading to the very next one. So it feels important to include the entire story!
If you’d like to see more, be sure to check out the Media appearances page on our site!
We would all like to thank each person who’s had a hand in this and crossed paths with us as all the pieces come together and as the stars align for a reason. Thank you!
