Our story · Since the 1990s

The HIHA story,
so far.

Hendersonville kids have played organized inline hockey since the 1990s: at a rink by the Indian Lake movie theater, at Sanders Ferry, at Veterans Park, and now under the roof at Volunteer Park at Arrowhead. Here is the story as far as we know it. Some of it is still missing, and you might be the one who can fill it in.

1990s to early 2000s

The early years

Sponsor names on the jerseys, results in the local paper, and games on bare asphalt before there were boards.

  1. The first season · year unknown

    Opening day at Indian Lake

    Newspaper clippings saved by a league family cover HIHA's first season. It opened on a Saturday, September 9, for players ages 6 to 17, with home games at the rink at Indian Lake Cinema. Teams played under their sponsors' names, including Little Caesar's, Superior Motors, Sofa Connection and Play It Again Sports, a name still on our sponsor list today.

    That fall the league also won its first road game, 16 to 2 at Jackson, Tennessee. Sign-ups for a second season were set for January.

    The clippings never print the year. Do you know it?

  2. By 1996-97

    A league with a president

    A June 2000 page of The Star News lists HIHA's presidents going back to the 1996-97 season, the earliest year we can confirm so far.

  3. Before 2000

    A slab of asphalt at Sanders Ferry

    One former player and coach remembers the rink at Sanders Ferry when it was just a slab of asphalt, before the boards went up.

    A member's memory. When did HIHA play at Sanders Ferry?

    A young player in a blue jersey and pads stands on fresh asphalt, with grass and an open trailer behind.
    The Sanders Ferry slab, before the boards. Photo shared by Taylor Redden

  4. About 1999

    Top finishes at the NHL Breakout

    At the NHL Breakout tournament at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Hendersonville teams took one first place and two second places. The city's Board of Mayor and Aldermen recognized the teams afterward.

    The year comes from the calendar dates in an undated clipping.

  5. June 2000

    Four champions in the paper

    The Star News ran photos of all four HIHA champions, one cup each for the 8 and under, 11 and under, 14 and under and 17 and under divisions. One of the four finals was decided in a shootout.

  6. About 2000

    A 14U team by the lake

    A team picture from the rink at Sanders Ferry, with the lake behind them.

    A member's memory. Know this team's name? Tell us.

    Ten players in orange and black jerseys and their coach pose by a lake, five kneeling in front.
    14U team at Sanders Ferry, about 2000. Photo shared by Taylor Redden

  7. July 2001

    Officially a nonprofit

    The IRS recognized HIHA as a tax-exempt nonprofit. HIHA is still a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) today.

2000s

Veterans Park

For years, HIHA's home was a set of outdoor rinks at the city's Veterans Park on Scotch Street.

  1. 2003

    Permanent boards

    Two $5,000 grants from The Memorial Foundation helped HIHA buy and install permanent dasher boards, player boxes and fencing on a new playing surface, and then pay off the boards.

    Still checking: were these the first boards at Veterans Park, and when did the league move there?

2010 to 2019

Two floods and a move

Veterans Park sat low, and twice the water won. Both times, volunteers helped bring the rinks back.

  1. May 2010

    The 2010 flood

    The historic May 2010 flood swamped Hendersonville's parks, including Veterans Park, and flooded out the hockey rinks. League families joined other volunteers to clean up and repair, and most park activities were running again that same year.

  2. 2016 to 2018

    Help from the Predators

    Grants from the Nashville Predators Foundation helped keep the old rinks going, including money toward replacing the rink surface.

    Still checking what these grants paid for, and when.

  3. February 2019

    The 2019 flood

    Another flood did more than $1 million in damage to the Veterans Park rinks and the Mary's Magical Place playground. Volunteers pieced together one playable rink in time to save the season, and HIHA spent its savings on repairs insurance would not cover and on replacing lost equipment.

  4. September 2019

    Time to move

    After the second flood, the city's insurer would not pay for another repair if the site flooded again. Hendersonville decided to move the rinks to Volunteer Park at Arrowhead.

2021 to today

Volunteer Park at Arrowhead

A new home with two covered rinks, and a stop for tournaments from across the region.

  1. 2021

    Building the new rinks

    Hendersonville broke ground on a $2.8 million complex with two rinks, each 85 by 200 feet, open on the sides with a roof overhead. It was described at the time as the first covered inline hockey complex of its kind in Middle Tennessee.

    White roof columns rise over red clay at the new rink site.
    The roof columns go up, 2021. HIHA photo
    New white boards around a fresh black asphalt rink under the finished roof.
    Boards up on fresh asphalt, before the tiles. HIHA photo

  2. December 2021

    First event

    The new rinks hosted their first reported event, the State Wars adult hockey tournament.

  3. March 2022

    Teams from across North America

    ECHO Hockey brought two tournaments to Hendersonville, with teams from across the United States and Canada.

  4. April 16, 2022

    Ribbon cutting

    The city officially opened the rinks with HIHA, Mayor Jamie Clary, city leaders and the Hendersonville Area Chamber of Commerce. HIHA youth games followed the ceremony.

  5. Today

    Home today

    The covered rinks host HIHA's spring and fall youth seasons, adult hockey, regional tournaments, and city programs from youth ball hockey to bike camps and Nerf nights.

    A finished rink with light blue tiles under the lit roof at night.
    Under the lights at Volunteer Park at Arrowhead. HIHA photo

Where we've played

Every home rink

Indian Lake CinemaFirst season

Home games at the rink by the movie theater, from early newspaper clippings.

Sanders FerryAround 2000

An asphalt slab that later got its boards, from a member's memory.

Veterans ParkUntil 2019

144 Scotch Street. Outdoor rinks, two floods.

Volunteer Park at ArrowheadSince 2021

1334 Drakes Creek Road. Two covered rinks.

Where these facts come from
  • Old newspaper clippings saved by a league family, including The Star News (Hendersonville) pages from November 1999 and June 2000. Many are undated, so those dates are our best reading and are marked.
  • IRS nonprofit records (tax-exempt status, July 2001).
  • Grant records of The Memorial Foundation (2003) and the Nashville Predators Foundation (2016 to 2021).
  • City of Hendersonville parks records and news coverage of the floods, the move and the new rinks, including Sumner County Source, City Lifestyle magazine and Athletic Business.
  • ECHO Hockey tournament records.
  • Photos and memories sent in by members.

Were you there?

Help us fill this in.

If you played, coached, refereed or volunteered with HIHA at any point, you know parts of this story we don't. Here is what we are missing most:

  • The year of the first season
  • When the league played at Sanders Ferry, and when it moved to Veterans Park
  • Who started the league and who built the first rinks
  • Photos of the 2010 and 2019 floods
  • Team photos, schedules and programs from any year
  • Names of past presidents and board members
Send photos or clippingscommunications@hihockey.com Share a memoryUse the contact form

A phone picture is fine. Tell us who is in it, about when and where it was taken, and that we may post it. We give credit, and anything fragile gets scanned and handed right back.