FRHSD marks arrival of new varsity sport

Dec. 1 was a milestone date for many student-athletes, coaches and parents who are part of the Freehold Regional High School District.

On that date Howell High School became the first team from the FRHSD to play an interscholastic varsity ice hockey game. The Rebels lost to Brick Memorial High School, but that is not the point.

The game was the culmination of an effort by a group of parents who formed the Regional Ice Hockey Association and lobbied FRHSD administrators for several years to sanction ice hockey as an official interscholastic sport.

More that 50 years after the high school district was formed by eight western Monmouth County communities, ice hockey joins the roster of sports that includes football, soccer, baseball, softball, golf, tennis, basketball, swimming, wrestling, cross country, track and field, volleyball, gymnastics, field hockey and lacrosse.

The FRHSD is fielding an ice hockey team at five of its six schools. Teams were formed at the schools where there was enough interest to do so. Those schools are Freehold, Freehold Township, Howell, Manalapan and Marlboro.

On Dec. 2 at the Wall Sports Arena in Wall Township, the teams from Freehold, Freehold Township, Manalapan and Marlboro high schools made their debut, and it was quite a successful coming out party.

For one thing, the rosters of the five FRHSD squads are full. Apparently, as the parents had claimed during their appearances before the district's Board of Education, there was enough interest to properly field several teams.

The games on Dec. 2, all played at the Wall Sports Arena, which matched Manalapan against John F. Kennedy High School of Iselin, Howell vs. Marlboro and Freehold vs. Freehold Township, were well attended by parents and students. That was good to see.

Finally, the quality of play by the FRHSD teams was good and it was enthusiastic.

For the upperclassmen on each hockey team this was a dream fulfilled— having the opportunity to represent their school in an official interscholastic sporting event.

The costs to run the program are being borne by the players' parents who have gone out and solicited sponsors to help put these teams on the ice. It is our hope the sponsorships will remain in place through difficult economic times and that perhaps, one day, the high school district will be able to fund ice hockey the same way it pays for other sports.

It is understood that ice hockey has costs that are not associated with many other sports: specifically, costly equipment and the cost of ice time for practices and games at private ice rinks.

For now, though, all involved with this enterprise can support coaches Dave Grippo at Manalapan, Bill Daley at Howell, Wayne Anderson at Marlboro, Mike Celano at Freehold Township, and Brian Simpson at Freehold as they mold their "official" — that sure sounds good to the players and parents — FRHSD ice hockey teams into winning squads.