A LETTER TO THE NHL COMMISSIONER

October 15, 2008

Dear Commissioner Bettman,

I hope you'll find our plea for diversifying our Colorado hockey community of interest.

HOCKEY WITHOUT BOUNDARIES
Helping us bridge the gap between our communities.

I am writing to you (NHL) as an appeal for help toward developing a program much like the NHL's Diversity Program that will bring hockey to our minority and less financially fortunate communities. We at the Colorado High School Inline Hockey League (a division of the American Scholastic Inline Hockey Championship, Inc.) want to create a “diversity movement” and are committed toward playing a more significant role in bringing this great sport to youth throughout our Denver Metro area and the surrounding communities along the Front Range .

We currently manage successful scholastic programs that to date has brought together over 1200 members for our middle school and high school scholastic hockey program. As part of our efforts, we include programs that promote physical fitness, scholarships, as well as a strong philosophy of sportsmanship and community unity.

As an Afro-Latino member of our Denver community, I must admit that growing up within the inner-city streets of New York City ; hockey was not at the forefront of my school sports radar. However, I recall in 1972 watching a group of Puerto Rican teenagers competing on the sidewalks of our neighborhood “Projects” in what we call today “inline hockey”. Sporting quad metal skates, hockey sticks and a pink Spaldingrubber ball, with trash cans for goals, I witnessed some of the most competitive hockey I have ever experienced.

For a long time (specifically within the last eight years of managing the Colorado High School Inline Hockey League), I've contemplated the potential future of inline hockey and ice hockey without the diversity that we now come to see within the baseball, football, soccer, and basketball communities. I've often imagined how much the sport of hockey can be enriched with the inclusion of minority athletes from the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian communities to name a few.

Currently, our programs are all-inclusive to all athletes including girls. And, some of our most talented athletes are of minority descent. We are extremely proud of our current progress and efforts to grow and improve diversity within our programs. However, we are limited to budget restraints and unfortunately, fall short of the skills necessary to attract sponsors, and the support of our local Elite league franchises such as the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, semi-pro Colorado Eagles and Colorado Rage.

We would like solicit your help, toward playing a more significant role while coming together to create a program such as yours to spread the word of our efforts to expose the (affordable) sport of inline hockey to those Denver communities where we are certain the interests for our sport would be enthusiastically welcomed. We currently provide very comprehensive performance training opportunities and hockey camp program to our members, but unfortunately our lack of financial resources prohibit us from providing a no, to low-cost approach that would be favorable to the communities we want to attract.

We would like to create what we call “Diversity Matters - A bridge between communities” movement, that would include clinics and camps for underprivileged youth, as well as an additional program called the “Diplomacy Games” that would bring some of current middle school and high school teams together for exhibition hockey games, exposing the fun and passion we have for the sport of inline hockey. Unfortunately, our biggest obstacles are the financial requirements necessary to bring such a program to these communities.

We feel that such a program is much needed and necessary to improve not only the participation numbers of the sport, but to improve the image of image of the hockey community, that it not a sport just for certain geographical communities or the economically endowed. Inline hockey has an enormous opportunity to bring more attention to the NHL, its local franchises and collegiate ice hockey within an affordable range for most of us to participate. Unfortunately, very little to no attention is paid to the over 10,000 (club registered and unregistered) inline hockey participants in Colorado alone.

Please tell us if there any are plans for a program such as yours of “Diversity in Hockey” will ever make its way to the Denver Metro area, and how my organization can play a significant role. We would need your help with acquiring sponsorships and support to encourage more participation and commitment to our efforts to improve our sport of inline hockey in Colorado .

Respectfully,

Eddie Delgado
Colorado High School Inline Hockey League
edelgado@chsihl.com
www.chsihl.com