Today the Manager of the Mineola Civic Center told us that we could not play hockey at the tennis courts but rather on the street/parking lot. Below is a message sent to the Mineola Civic Center via they’re online message sender. The message describes what happened and what needs to happen about Mineola Hockey at the Civic Center’s Tennis Courts.

Message:

Hello, I would like to direct this message to the manager of the Mineola Civic Center. I could be wrong about that and I’m sorry if I am. Anyway, about one and a half years ago, my friend David and I had a bet to see who was the better hockey player, we spent over $100 on equipment such as wood/plastic hockey sticks, PVC pipe goals, and plastic hockey balls. We had a competition between himself, his cousin, and I to see who could win. We completed that competition about a year ago. This year, our senior year of high school, we took a few more kids out to play hockey. One day we had enough for a two-on-two game. A few weeks later, more and more came to play. Soon after that we had enough for three-on-three, four-on-four and so forth. Everyone that has played so far has enjoyed and always asked when we were playing next. We now have over 15 solid players that are out there all the time, and we expect that to grow inside and outside of the park. Especially after this ye ars Key Club at Mineola High School is having a indoor hockey game at the high school. Hockey in Mineola is simply catching on. However, on Tuesday November 3rd, 2009, quickly after the people continued to show up and strong apeal to kids of every sport, we were told that we were no longer allowed to use the tennis courts as our area to play. This stunned us because we could not see a reason as to why we were not allowed to play. We understand that the tennis courts are for Tennis and it is posted so, but there has to be some leniency here. We were told to play in the street next to the tennis courts towards the exit onto Ivey St (FM 1254), which is usually closed. However, there is no way to stop a ball because there are no fences (like the tennis courts). Also, many cars are parked there often. We don’t want to pay for damage any more than anyone else does. We do understand that rules are rules, but we would like to discuss any ways possible to have hockey in Mineo la. We just want to get out and have fun. If we can have soccer, tennis, basketball, football, golf, playgrounds, etc, why shouldn’t we be able to enjoy a simple concrete hockey court for ourselves. It could even be doubled as a new basketball set up. We just want to play somehwhere with concrete, light, and a chained fence and so far the tennis court meets our needs. If there is anyway for us to continue to use the tennis courts (such as protective tape/film/etc on the sticks to prevent scraping on the concrete in place at the tennis courts) or having our own slab in a different place of the park, we will do anything to have our hockey at the Mineola Civic Center.