Group works to restore roller hockey rink, hopes to grow membership

The paint on the roller hockey rink near Coy Burnett Stadium may be peeling, but youngsters and parents are hard at work rehabilitating the facility built in the mid-1990s.

According to David Shea, a board member, Tehachapi Mountain Roller Hockey evolved from a traveling team called the Falcons. The organization has nearly 70 youth registered and hopes to grow.

Current board members include President Kayla Booker, Vice President Kelsey Warner, Treasurer John Bilotta, Secretary Lisa Fitch and Registrar David Shea.

With a season running from May through August, TMRH involves boys and girls from ages 4 through 18.

The group is also focused on making improvements to the rink and on May 7 met with some of the volunteers responsible for creating the rink — Mike and Lynette Davies and Phil Smith.

BACKGROUND

Prior to 1994, an old tennis court nestled in between the parking area for Coy Burnett Stadium and the school campus on the corner of Snyder Avenue and Tehachapi Boulevard hadn’t seen much action in years.

Built when the campus was Tehachapi High School and occasionally used for dances, by 1994 the tennis court was an unused part of what was still called Jacobsen Junior High School. That’s when a group of parents got together to develop a top-notch rink for youngsters to use while enjoying a relatively new sport — in-line hockey.

At an informal meeting with TMRH parents, Mike Davies shared a folder full of newspaper articles documenting the tremendous community effort resulting in the rink. Lynette Davies recalled helping her husband keep track of donations and expenditures for the nonprofit organization. And Smith provided more background on the work required to transform the old tennis court into an official size hockey rink.

Originally, Mike Davies said, young in-line hockey players used the adjacent parking lot with foam structures borrowed from Tehachapi Valley Recreation and Park District to outline the playing area. But after negotiating a lease with Tehachapi Unified School District, volunteers began to build the new rink.

More than $60,000 in cash and in-kind donations went to build the rink — in addition to volunteer labor. Smith said both local cement companies donated material and crews from Halpin Concrete and Eaton Concrete Construction got together to pour concrete at each end of the old tennis court before it was covered with a special polyurethane coating. When finished, the rink was the same size as the Bakersfield Civic Center and Boston Garden rinks.

Many other businesses, civic groups and individuals also contributed, Mike Davies said. He was treasurer, Smith was vice president, Kevin Mello was president and Harry Borlina was secretary of the board governing what was then called Tehachapi Mountain In-Line Hockey Association.

By the spring of 1996, hockey players of all ages kept it lively playing what was called the fastest growing sport in the country — skating and shooting with ever-increasing skill and sometimes traveling out of town for competitions.

But by 2003, the original players had grown up and with no strong group to take on leadership, the organization disbanded and the beloved rink went silent for about a decade.

The Davieses and Smith said they are pleased to see a renewed effort to improve the facility and keep it available for youngsters. Although the new group mostly has relied on parent contributions to fund improvements, Mike Davies encouraged members to reach out to local clubs and businesses for help.

“People in this town are always so giving — especially for children,” he said.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about Tehachapi Mountain Roller Hockey, send email to tmrhfalcons@gmail.com.