Here is an article about the team before they left for Korea from the South China Morning Post, Friday, May 6, 2005:
Headline: Fledgling HK team set sights on medal
By: Helen Wu
Hong Kong's first-ever inline skating hockey team are vying for a medal at the 11th Asian Roller Sports Championships starting on Tuesday in South Korea.
Along with four speed and artistic skaters from the SAR, the team of 10 are hoping to clinch a silver or bronze medal at the championship in Jeonju. They are expected to meet challenges from Taiwan, Iran and the two Asian hockey leaders, Japan and South Korea.
Inline hockey, a relatively new sport that originated in California, has similar rules to ice hockey - with five players in each team, including a goalkeeper, and the players wear roller-skates instead of ice skates.
Team captain Ashley Chow said inline hockey had been big in California for about a decade.
"People in California like roller-skating along the beaches and perhaps that's why they incorporated hockey with roller-skating," Chow said.
The Hong Kong team comprise players aged from 16 to early 40s.
Chow, who also acts as coach, said: "Inline hockey is such a new sport in Hong Kong. There aren't any real coaches around. I watched coaching videos, did research and observed how other teams play.
"It's impossible to compare us with the Japanese or Korean teams, who are full-time inline hockey players. What we hope to achieve this time is to let the older players lead the younger ones and help them grow with more experience and exposure," he said.
Born and raised in Toronto, Chow, 36, said he only started playing at 27.
"Every kid in Canada dreams of becoming an ice hockey player. But I just didn't have a chance because my parents found it too rough and expensive. They wanted to me to concentrate on studies instead," he said.
Oddly enough, his arrival in Hong Kong nine years ago enabled him to fulfil his dream.
"Back then nobody really played inline hockey but it was more suitable to play it here [compared to ice hockey]. So my friends and I just went out to play inline hockey in soccer pitches and playgrounds. But people just kept kicking us out - they even called the police sometimes," he said.
"Though I always loved ice hockey, I actually like inline hockey more because I am better at it."
Before a covered inline hockey rink was built at King's Park in 2001, which they use for practice, Chow said they had no choice but to play in an outdoor roller-hockey rink in Diamond Hill.
"You can imagine how hot we were playing in summer with our helmets and protective clothes."
