JMS is 10 years old!
by barbaragarn
Hard to believe this winter marks a decade of JMS! I started the program towards the end of 2003–I began booking ice so I could skate with other beginners and at least have a chance to touch the puck.
The first JMS game was at Brooklyn Park and the website was based off my Comcast e-mail, designed with an $8 program from the bargain bin at Office Depot. As I got more e-mails, I invited more and more people, who responded to the message to sign up. I added the new folks to the roster and uploaded the page anew every night.
A few years later, I made two big changes around the same time: separating by skill level and asking trusted JMSers to run the games when I couldn’t be there–the first JMS Captains. We had moved from collecting cash in the locker room to punch cards.
The website was still Office Depot bargain bin crummy and I had a few offers to take a run at it with varying degrees of success. In 2007, I approached Andy Baird about updating the website. Andy just took the website and ran with it, creating things I never knew JMS needed but then realized we could never do without. I can’t even imagine where JMS would be without Andy’s hard work, ideas and partnership.
We’ve refined things in the ensuing years, tweaking everything from how players get assessed to how captains get rosters and make level changes. Time sure flies. Dan Ginter has been helping us with social marketing (that’s him making all the posts on the Facebook page!) and Eric Jorgensen has come on as the third admin. Andy and I didn’t realize we were stuck in a rut until Eric joined in, a very welcome third voice who pushed us to try new things–like the JMS Hockey Clubs!
Eric also took on the revision of the JMS logo–the new design is a bold shout-out to old-school hockey, celebrating our roots in the State of Hockey. You’ll see a lot more of the new JMS logo as we update across our platforms.
We’ll also start offering JMS products with the new logo, first of which are black and white jerseys (currently unprinted and waiting in some Rubbermaid tubs under my stairs). We hope to hold some fun contests and surprise giveaways with our new logo items to help get them out into the skating population.
We are so happy to be here, and to be ten years old this winter. Thank you for being a part of JMS and with us for what the future brings!
JMS Hockey Blog 