Roller Hockey is a major grass-roots community success story
Register to play this summer, call Rich Reid at 855-5715 or George DeLaVergne at 855-5960
The League | Warm Welcome | History
By John M. Benson
July 17, 2007
Pawling Beekman Roller Hockey (PBRH) began its eleventh season when Supervisor Beth Coursen dropped the ball for the first face-off and the first game on June 25, 2007.
This summer league is a phenomenal local success story, in which parents, volunteers and local contractors have come together to initiate and sustain a program for young people in the community.
High school youngsters are amazingly good with the younger kids. While the teenagers have their own league in PBRH, they donate their time as referees, teachers and coaches for the younger players. These are top student athletes who are the heart of the varsity ice hockey team and other sports, and who lead the Honor Roll and participate in Peer Leadership at Pawling High School.
Over 200 girls and boys participate on the coed teams, from the tykes in the learn-to-skate program to the high school students. More than 100 families are involved, making this one of the most wide-spread service organizations in the Pawling community. Teams have traveled all over the country for national championship tournaments, as part of the NHL Breakout Program, with the bantam team winning the national championship in 2000 in Florida.
Parents gathered together to form the roller hockey league in 1996, and with permission from the Pawling Central School District, laid out a rink with 12-inch high barriers on the parking lot at the Pawling Elementary School.
By the summer of 2000, with the invaluable participation of Don Flood and Tom Brown, the host of parents, volunteers and businesses from the community had planned and constructed the highly professional facility on Dodge Road.
The property was offered to the league by the YMCA at the time of the construction, and the Town of Pawling has continued to grant permission to use the site since the town purchased what is now Lakeside Park from the YMCA.
Rich Reid and George DeLaVergne are the current co-presidents of the league. Ray Zulauf was the president of the organization at the time the rink was constructed. Jeff Allard was the first president, followed in succession by Ray Zulauf and Blake McGrath.
“Beth Coursen and the town have really stepped up for us this year,” Rich Reid said on opening day. “They have installed a phone up here and we didn’t really even ask them to. They have also gotten the water service going up here. So, we want to thank Beth Coursen and the Town of Pawling, and Melissa Smith, Dave Orser, Robyn Woolley and Betty Hayner of the Pawling Recreation Department, and Tyler Maile and the Pawling Highway Department.”
Speaking for the Board of Directors, Ginny Brown said, “It is important that Pawling Beekman Roller Hockey take this opportunity to thank the Town of Pawling for the use of the site, and also the coaches and assistant coaches who generously give their time, and the team moms and dads who help make things run smoothly. We also want to thank the parents who continue to be supportive of the kids, the league, and the goal to promote instruction and sportsmanship in a fun recreational environment.”
Martin Nelligan led the way this summer, as all of the parents and volunteers were up at the rink prior to opening day, replacing all of the braces and boards that form the outer surface of the rink. The rink and the property are being scrupulously maintained by these generous people, as they make sure the rink is safe and functional and beautiful for this season and many seasons into the future.
The generous sponsors of Pawling Beekman Roller Hockey:
Clove Excavators
Taylor Oil
Dutchess Autobody
Daniels Agency
Daniels & Porco, LLP
Elite Electric
Flik Independence School
G & S School
Heinchon’s Ice Cream
Kect Construction
McKinney & Doyle
Palmer Plumbing
Pawling Collision Center
Putnam Steel
R.F. Brill Excavating
Renny’s Store
Patrick Feery Foundation
Trinity Pawling School
Blue Line Sports
Putnam Radiator
Classic Paper Hanging and Painting
Westchester Modular Homes
World Gym
The Board of Directors and committee members include Blake McGrath, Lynn Delandes, Rich Reid, John Ligos, Ray Hochrein, Steve Nash, Bill Cody, Gerri Barker, Joyce Lazarchek, Ginny Browne, Jim Tobin, George DeLaVergne, Jim Robinson and Gabe Kaplan.
WARM WELCOME
The families, players and officials of Pawling Beekman Roller Hockey are one big family, united by the enjoyable but formidable task of founding and maintaining this grass-roots community effort.
They give a warm welcome to all new participants, both the players and their families, as has been demonstrated by a story line this summer with the entrance of a very special young boy.
Alex DeFabbia was brought to the league by his mother, Terry DeFabbia, on opening day of the current season. Residents of Pawling, they have been through some very difficult times recently, including a divorce and the death of their dear 21-year-old sister/daughter Jeri in an automobile accident in March of 2006.
Terry DeFabbia spoke of their experience in Pawling Beekman Roller Hockey this week, and asked that her story be told as an indication for her gratitude to the officials and families of the league.
Alex is extremely shy and has difficulty being around other kids and adults, being out of the house and dealing with other people. Terry tells the story of his enjoyment of roller hockey, the role played by Rich Reid, and the importance of the warm welcome she and Alex have received from all of the kids and families at Pawling Beekman Roller Hockey.
Roller hockey and Rich Reid are really a miracle for my son, Alex, and perhaps a turning point in his life. My daughter Jeri died in an auto accident a year ago, in March of 2006, at 21 years of age. She is the one who taught Alex how to rollerblade, and she was very close to Alex and played with him. Alex loves roller hockey and any sports. He is very good at basketball and he started karate, but he can’t get past being around other people and he pulls himself away and doesn’t want to go back. I don’t know what Rich’s secret is, and the other coaches at Pawling Beekman Roller Hockey, but they are just amazing. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for Alex, but so often, people just don’t know how to handle kids with special needs. I spoke with Rich before I brought Alex to Roller Hockey, and I told him everything that has happened. It gives a better picture of Alex, because Alex has gone through it right along with me.
We went in the day they opened, and Alex was kind of outgoing. Ordinarily, you can’t even get him to wear a helmet when he rides a bike. They went to put the helmet on him, and the rest of the equipment, and he told me that he didn’t want to do this. I told the coaches that if I was there, Alex would pull away, and I would rescue him as his mother, so I would go and sit in the car. The next thing I know, they have Alex around sitting on the bench with the rest of the kids. They couldn’t find a helmet to fit Alex, so one of the coaches went home to get a helmet that would fit Alex, and this is a kid they don’t even know. They got the helmet on him and they got the mouthpiece in his mouth and they got him out there, and it just gave me chills to see him out there. I could actually see my daughter there, Jeri, because she had taught him how to skate. It was a very emotional moment. He was with the little kids in the Learn-To-Skate, and when the time was up, he didn’t want to leave the rink.
Rich said, ‘Alex, you are great! You don’t need to be learning how to skate. You may need a couple of tips here and there, but you are really good!’ He gave Alex the confidence to get back out on the rink. Alex was out there for two hours, and he loved every minute of it.
These are people that Alex has never seen before, and there he is out there talking to Rich and the other coaches, and slipping the guys ‘five’ and slapping hands with them. This week, I was sick, so Rich drove all the way out to our home and picked him up to bring him to the game.
This is like a turning point for Alex. Alex has gone through a very bad time, and he has not had really positive influence by adults in this time. Rich and that whole team of guys are so positive, they are so caring. George DeLaVergne measured Alex for equipment, and he has ended up getting Alex a helmet that fits and all of the equipment from his Blue Line Sports Store, and he has been so caring toward Alex.
Rich is like an angel. His personality, the way he talks, it is not talking down, and it is a lot of praise that has made such a difference for Alex. If it weren’t for Rich, I don’t think Alex would have gone back. There should be more Rich’s out there, who care about the kid that is standing in the back. There was one time, when Alex was playing in the second game that Rich let him play. Alex was starting to get bored, and he came over to me and he said he wanted to get off the rink. And suddenly, Rich skated up and said, ‘Come on Alex, let me show you this thing!’ And they skated off together. Rich is very in tune. He saw when Alex was starting to get bored, and he started to work with Alex on a one-to-one basis, so all of a sudden, there was someone behind Alex.
Alex just turned nine years old, so he can be a great hockey player or whatever, if someone just takes the time and shows him how to play the game, because he really has the talent, but he doesn’t have anyone to show him how to play. Of course, it has to be someone he likes and trusts, and who he doesn’t feel is a phony. Rich is genuine, he is the real thing. I am so appreciative, because we have just started this for some fun for my son, and that he can kind of let go of what we have been through, and enjoy himself. Rich is making that possible, Rich and the other guys too, all of them have been so kind and been so good with Alex.
I found out about Roller Hockey through the Beekman Recreation paper. I called the number and talked to Rich and he encouraged me to bring Alex out to play roller hockey. We showed up on opening day, and they came up with equipment for him, and it has all been so good for Alex. This has truly been a turning point in life for Alex.
Rich and all of them, they are such great people. This could be his thing that really brings him out. Of course, roller hockey itself is an element, but it is the people who run it that are making it so wonderful, and if they don’t have that special ingredient, it is not what this is, and Alex wouldn’t be getting this benefit from it. I have seen Alex growing more from this experience, so I am just going to love to see where this takes him, because this is definitely a positive, and that is what Alex needs.
Rich’s sister Sally and all of the people all around the rink, they were all so sweet and caring toward Alex. I am glad they have let Alex and me in to play. I am very grateful to Rich and George and Sally, and to all of the people at roller hockey.
This could be the turning point for Alex, and that is what I am hoping for, and I think Rich Reid is just some kind of an angel.
Very much involved in Alex's positive experience in Roller Hockey are his coaches, head coach Dan Tompkins, who plays NCAA lacrosse at Elmira College, and Max Benko and Matt Hochrein, who both attend Canterbury School.
HISTORY
In 1996, Jeff Allard of Beekman suggested to local parents that they form the roller hockey league. Pawling residents picked up the idea and made it happen, including Shannon McKinney, Lenny Turner, Doug Lindsay, Dorothy Vanturini, Keith Clarkson, John Ligos of Brewster, Ray Zulauf, Tom Brown and many others who made it all happen in those first years.
“Jeff Allard, who lived in Beekman and was involved in ice hockey, came to us and suggested that we form a roller hockey league,” Keith Clarkson explained. “We got a bunch of guys together and went to work on it. We called what was then the National Inline Hockey Association, who later joined or was bought out by U.S.A. Hockey Inline, which is what it is today. We got in touch with them, found out what we had to do to get sanctioned. We filed the papers and formed the corporation and that got us officially started.
“To figure out the registration cost, we figured out what it was going to cost to buy the temporary board system, a set of nets, and the equipment we would need. We figured we would have about 150 kids in the first year, so we divided the cost by 150, and that gave us the registration fee for each player. We did have about 150 kids in the first year, which was a very good start for us.
“We got permission from the school district to set up the rink on the parking lot at the elementary school. We decided we didn’t want to conflict with Pawling Little League or youth soccer, so we made it a summer league. The summer of 1996 was our first season, and we started having meetings in January of 1996. We hit the ground running.”
Clarkson said that the league played at the elementary school until they had constructed the rink at what was then the YMCA Holiday Hills for the season of 2000.
The development and construction of the rink was a major undertaking, and it was accomplished by the volunteer work of several construction contractors who were involved with the league, and the many, many hours of work that were contributed by the parents of the players.
“Tom Brown was the one who coordinated that whole effort, of taking care of the permanent rink,” Clarkson said. “Tom got involved with us in our second year, and he became involved in a very big way. He volunteered to coordinate and be in charge of building the rink.
“The base of the rink is black top, and we had a company come in and put on the special coat. Mike Burdick took care of all the site work, the excavation and all of that. Don Flood’s company is Kect Construction, and he did the finish grade work and provided the material and did the paving work for the final surface. Pawling Fence set the posts for the fence. Tom Brown did all the structural work, built the boards and the bench areas. Pawling Fence came back in and put up the fence. We had a lot of part-time volunteers, the parents and coaches, and so it was really a major community effort, with the contractors and their contributions really making it happen for us.”
Tom Brown did coordinate and supervise the construction of the facility, and he remembers it all as a challenging but highly enjoyable process:
“Donald Flood donated all the equipment and a lot of the materials for the sub-base of the rink, and Palumbo Sand & Gravel also donated material. He left the equipment at the site. Mike Burdick operated the equipment and did all the excavation work, and I followed him around with the roller to compact the fill. Donald Flood donated the blacktopping material, the material that is the actual skating surface of the rink. Don and his company, Kect Construction, actually installed that blacktop surface, because we had to have the trained professionals do that.
“The sub-base was the fill that we used to build up the hillside. That used to be a hillside where the rink is sitting, and we needed something like 200 yards or more of fill. Flood donated all of that fill and the trucking time. He donated the roller that we used to keep compacting the fill as we built up that sub-base for the rink. It took us a couple of years before we were actually able to build the rink on the site.
“The fence posting that actually goes around and holds the rink up, Tony Boula of Pawling Fence actually donated all of that fencing and did the work of the installation.
“Shannon McKinney worked with the YMCA, negotiating the use of the property that the YMCA was donating to us to use at the site on Dodge Road on their Holiday Hills property. I believe he was on their board at that time, and his kids were playing roller hockey.
“Pepsi donated the scoreboard, and Shannon McKinney worked all of the negotiations with them. Rob Nelson supplied the steel that is actually holding up the scoreboard.
“The lights were donated by John Predham at Elite Electric, and J. P. White wired them up and installed them. At that point, we were able to play games in the evening during the week, and that freed up people’s weekends. The lights were installed about two years after we got the rink finished.
“Once the blacktop was installed, we all worked together and did the actual installation of the posts, the boards and the benches. Dan Tompkins was my number one helper as a parent, and I had my crew up there, and there were many parents who came and volunteered and worked on weekends to get the rink construction done.
“We started at the elementary school with the temporary boards that stood about twelve inches high to just keep the ball on the surface. It was extremely hot down there, and it was difficult even to watch the games. The school system allowed us to put a shed down there, and to use the parking lot for the rink. The first games were at 7:00 in the morning, so we all had to be there at 6:00 a.m. to get it all set up in time for the games.
“I believe it was Shannon McKinney who first suggested the YMCA property, and Ray Zulauf was the president when we did the construction of the rink. I believe it was also Shannon McKinney who got Donald Flood involved in the project.
“It is a great sport for the kids to get involved with. It is fun. It is a totally different game from ice hockey. It is great for developing passing skills. And with the roller blades, you can’t stop, so you have to learn how to guide yourself when you are staying in constant motion. The kids have a great time.
“We actually had a lot of fun throughout the whole process of doing it. From the conception to the end product, it was a great relief when it was finished, but it was also a lot of fun along the way. People used to stop by and bring us pizzas and sodas when we were working on the weekends up there. We had a lot of laughs together, and it was just a great time.”
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