Following our AGM on 8th June we are providing a brief summary of points that will have impact on IHI and our members over the next year.

Clubs Contribution to Development

This structure is coming into effect and is designed to encourage ALL clubs to contribute to the development of inline hockey in Ireland. 

Clubs are assessed and awarded points on a range of development aspects (Administration, Promotion and Participation). Clubs will require 1000 points to be a recognised IHI club and can buy points off IHI for €0.50 per point.

The max fee will be capped at €250 in Year 1 and moving forward any club in Year 1 of existence.

Full details of this model were sent to all clubs a number of months ago. If any clubs have any questions about this please get in contact urgently.

Registration will begin in the coming days with clubs receiving individual spreadsheets partly filled based on IHI facts.

With this we are updating the Rsportz system to give club officials greater ease to managing club members.

Company Limited by Guarantee

Work is in progress on becoming a CLG to meet Sport Ireland requirements. We do however require 3 trustees/directors that are ideally persons not on the currrent Exexutive Committee and have professional skills/qualifications. With this we are expecting some extra costs in year for legal and accountancy fees.

If anyone would be interested in being one of the Trustees please get in touch for more information. It is also hoped we can keep costs to a minimum via using our memberships skills and contacts. Higher costs = higher registration fees.

2020 Playoffs

Following the success of our playoffs this year we are planning to make 2020 playoffs bigger and better. With that we require some extra volunteers to form an events team and take this event to the next level. If interested in helping in anyway please get in touch.

National Programmes

We have slightly altered our Executive Committee make-up; replacing the Senior Development Officer and Junior Development Officer with National Programme Coordinator and League Coordinator to create better workflows and succession plans.

Ladies. As already announced plans are underway to take the Ladies Programme to full international level and make their international debut at the 2020 World Championships in Colombia. Details regarding staff and tryouts will be announced soon.

Junior Men (U18 & U16). Will continue with the strong base built the last 2 years and with international competitions in 2020.  Moving forward this level won’t have open trials; instead players invited to camps based on domestic performance, etc. Idea is to make greater use of time and resources.

Juniors (U14). Will continue with the strong work in 2018-19 season and grow the programme to involved more young players from more clubs. Details re 2019-20 dates and events will be announced in due course.

Men. Will continue with the good work to date and following the World Roller Games will turn its attention to the 2020 World Championships in Colombia.  Moving forward this level won’t have open trials; instead players invited to camps based on domestic performance, etc. Idea is to make greater use of time and resources.

Openings for other National Programme roles will follow later in the summer.

Leagues

As already touched on the leagues will be overseen by a League Coordinator who will require help from various League Managers. If you would like to help with this please get in contact.

We will look for our senior leagues to continue to stabilise with 6-8 teams in each division. There is potential for changes to 2 aspects; league winner in LG1 & LG2 being automatically promoted and the fringe rule being updated to meet current needs. 
Team managers need to be more proactive with any fixture issues rather than leaving it to hours before puck-drop! There were fewer forfeits this season, however most occurred with very little notice to opponents.

There will be an addition of a ladies only team in League 2 with links to the girls ice team; Sirens. Female players playing with this team will still able to play with ‘home’ club as normal, exact ruling on where preference lies will be out closer to season start based on player numbers on team. If interested in being apart of this team please email sarah.barrett@inlinehockeyireland.org

Our junior leagues will follow the same age cut-offs as previous years, with U12, U14 and U18. There is a discussion regarding adding an U16 division with clubs being invited to give their thoughts on this.
Additionally there is discussion about altering the format for U12 and U14 to ensure players play in a greater number of competitive games, to aid the development of all players; again clubs will be consulted in due course. We will also be looking at ensuring teams play 3+ games in a day at this level to make the travel more worthwhile for rink time.