It’s not common to meet someone who turned their favourite childhood activity into a career. Scott Hill is one of those people.
Inspired by his life long love of hockey, Scott’s on a mission to bring back play one rink at a time. We caught up with him between games at Vancouver’s PlayOn! at the Coquitlam Centre to talk about what motivates him and whether the Stanley Cup will ever return to Canada.
So where did you get the idea for PlayOn!?
Well there are two angles to the story. The first story is when I finished my MBA and really wanted to work in professional sports and couldn’t find a job. I was 25 years old, applied to 30 NHL teams and at the time none of them were hiring. I was committed to doing something in the sport of hockey, because it’s always been my passion. The second part is that I’ve always loved playing road hockey. I used to play with my brothers in Kingsville, Ontario – our little hometown of 5000 people. In my university days, I was always known as the hockey guy. I was the president of the hockey club and used to organize ice hockey tournaments.
After I graduated I just saw an opportunity to start a road hockey tournament. I recognized that there are actually more road hockey players than there were ice hockey players in Canada. So I put a business plan together and pitched the NHL on it. It was a bit of a process but eventually I got their support and mobilized this concept for a national grassroots sports festival built on street hockey. It’s been 12 years and every day has been a grind. But long and short, I was just a super passionate hockey guy who wanted to make a difference in the hockey world. I saw an opportunity, was naïve enough to think I could do it, and that’s about it.
The event describes the importance of “taking back the street” – what is it about PlayOn! that keeps the list of participants and number of events growing year over year?
The slogan “taking back the streets” is really a push to encourage people to play again. When we started this in 2002, there was a lot of negative publicity and press, particularly in Toronto, about a bylaw that didn’t let kids play on the streets. The same thing happened in Halifax. So we built off some of that momentum and the slogan became our way to push back on the policy-makers of the nation to say that kids should be allowed to use streets to play their favourite sports, just as they do all over the world. In South America, they’re playing soccer. In the U.S., they’re playing basketball. I lived in Taiwan for a bit and it was baseball there. In Canada, we play hockey. We’re just reminding the kids that it’s okay to play and we’re providing an opportunity to do just that in an organized way.
Why are so many professional players hanging around your events?
Well I think it’s because they just really love to play. For example, last week in Kelowna, we had Curtis Lazar participate. He’s a Memorial Cup Champion, captain of the Memorial Cup winning team, current Ottawa senator, and Captain of Team Canada of the World Junior Champions. He just put together his own team and was super down to earth. We don’t want to aggrandize anyone’s celebrity here; everyone is just a road hockey player. And most NHL players got their start the same way as everyone else – they just started playing on the street.
Tell us about the Redwood Cup. Where did the name come from?
The Redwood Cup was our attempt to create a championship trophy that was really something that any Canadian could win. We designed it so that it would be the same size as the Stanley Cup so when a team wins they can actually physically hold it over their heads with their hands up. It’s named after the street I grew up on – Redwood Road. It’s a tribute to my parents and my brothers and it’s really built a following. People don’t play because they want to win money or prizes, they play because they want to win that cup.
Do you think that PlayOn is inherently Canadian? Any plans for expansion?
I do think there is something unique about road hockey and Canada. While it could work in some US centers, the hockey night in Canada brand is something specific to Canada, so that wouldn’t work. But we don't lack opportunity to expand within the country. We have 18 more cities in Canada that have requested the rights to host this event. I think more so, we’re looking at expanding it to other sports – street soccer, street basketball.
What sort of advice can you give someone looking at starting their own business to fulfilling their dreams?
Well you certainly need some business acumen if you want to try to start a business. You need to understand your market and put a plan together. Once you get passed that, really, it’s all about believing in yourself and never giving up. You hear these clichés all the time, about how many naysayers there’ll be and they really are all over the place. But if you really believe you can achieve something, and are not willing to listen to those who say that you can’t do it, then eventually you’ll succeed. I love being an entrepreneur. But what I love most about PlayOn! is that it matters to so many Canadians on such an intimate level. And that’s worth protecting. Even now in our 12th year, we still face challenges. We have partnerships that come and go, and we have to learn to work through that.
So how do you find the right partner?
Well, a great partnership provides an opportunity for us to use corporate resources to lift the program. When you look at a great product like Scion, it’s a bit of a niche market, caters to a young audience, cars are fun to drive, reasonably affordable, and they’re still building awareness in a lot of the country. So what we deliver to our partners, in addition to a young male demographic that spans all of Canada, is loyalty and love. If Scion can come out, bring a few of their hottest cars and set up next to our feature rink, and provide our demographic an opportunity to test drive them all weekend long? That’s a great fit, it makes the PlayOn! an awesome experience.
I guess it helps that we can fit two large hockey bags in the trunk of a tC! So what does the future look like for PlayOn! and Scott Hill?
Well, that’s a question that I struggle with every day. Once you’ve achieved what you’ve dreamed of achieving. We have to decide how long I want to continue with this. I may exit it at some point, because I feel like I’ve done as much as I could do. But for now, it’s business as usual. This is our final event of the year and the next step is the Redwood Cup in Lethbridge and we’re going to put on a good show. After that, we’ll meet with our partners and start talking about 2016 and beyond.
So, since we’re talking hockey, do you think we’ll ever see a Canadian team win a Stanley Cup again?
Well it may be a while for us Leaf fans to celebrate, but Calgary and Edmonton sure had some good drafts and made some good trades the other day. But the future’s bright, especially in Edmonton with the new arena. So there’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to win a cup again soon. But I’m speaking about Canadian teams generally. Ha!
