Rimutaka Inline Hockey Club (Inc) competing under the name "Rimutaka Renegades" was established in Upper Hutt in 1998 and was incorporated as a non-profit sports organisation shortly thereafter. We are proud to be a full member of the New Zealand Inline Hockey Association.

Rimutaka Renegades operate in the Upper Hutt Roller Skating Rink on Goodshed Road, Upper Hutt. Our teams also enjoy a once a month training session at the very large rink in Levin. We have teams (2011) in every junior and senior grade, ranging in age from Under-10s to Senior Men and Women. Our youngest registered player has just turned 7 and our oldest registered player is over 50. Both males and females are welcome to join and play in our Club. Our members, either players or volunteers, come from as far away as Wellington, Kapiti and Masterton and all places in between. In this respect, we could be considered a regional club. Renegades teams have regular training sessions every week, with times allocated to the different age groups all year round except for a 4 to 6 week break over Christmas and into January.

Our teams compete in the Regional League, playing against other clubs in the Lower North Island Region. The main competitive season goes from April through to October. The Lower North Island Region's member clubs come from Wellington, the Hutt Valley, Wanganui, Napier, Palmerston North and many areas on the Kapiti Coast. Additionally, we are affiliated with Sport Wellington, both directly and through our Region.

We welcome interested newcomers to come along to our training sessions to either watch or join in. No experience is necessary as our coaches provide training.

Rimutaka Renegades was originally formed in 1998. A committee was created by parents whose children were interested in playing Inline hockey informally at the Upper Hutt Roller Skating Club. Players from small Wellington Clubs, which had either closed down or lost their facilities, joined this group. The Rimutaka Inline Hockey Club was formed with only 15 players of various ages. The Club was totally separate from the Skating Club but continued to share with them the old factory rink at Lane Street. At first players just played amongst themselves. In 1998 the Club became incorporated and that year entered its first age group team (under 16's) into the Lower North Island Regional League.

Inline hockey is a relatively new sport to New Zealand but it is rapidly becoming more popular, at least in our area. This growth is certainly evidenced by the increase in our membership numbers. From 2003 to 2010, our numbers have tripled!!

The Club has come a long way from small beginnings. We still share facilities with the Upper Hutt Skating Club at more modern premises in Goodshed Road. We now have a recently resurfaced floor, an electronic scoreboard and new improved lighting. Building renovations are being planned to include changing rooms and storage for the Club's equipment. We have just completed negotiations with Hutt City to expand our Junior program in one of their largest indoor facilities. We are also working with Upper Hutt City Council and a Steering Committee to design and build a new, multi-sport facility.

The Club now has close to 110 members of which 95 are players. We hope that more growth is in our future.

All teams have their own Manager and Coach with our more experienced Senior players coaching the younger age group teams. We support players to attend training programs to become certified NZIHA referees and Coaches. We host and coordinate training camps for player development purposes. Our Club is also well supported by parents of the players who have learned how to score and timekeep at games; to manage teams; and to volunteer for our Management Committee. From small beginnings the Club has progressed a long way in a relatively short period of time with dedicated players, coaches, managers, game officials and volunteers.

As a relatively new club, we are very proud of the achievements made to date. All our age grade teams have proved to be competitive against other teams in the Lower North Island Region, as we strive for more success at a national level - in 2009 we had a wonderful national tournament, claiming 2 Golds and 2 Bronze. We have had numerous successes with Club players being selected for Regional teams. Some of our players have progressed beyond the Regional level to membership on National teams representing New Zealand internationally. A small number of our players have tried Ice Hockey with some success. 2 are currently playing in North America and another is playing in Germany.

We have recently started an outreach programme involving "Show and Tell" sessions at local primary schools to promote the game and our Club. In February 2009 these presentations were made at 12 of the 13 primary schools in Upper Hutt, helping our Club grow by another group of new players entering our U10s and U12s programs. We are now working with Sport Wellington to expand this program into schools in the Lower Hutt area and to work with and train primary school teachers in the basic movement skills needed to play our game.

Local newspapers as well as the The Dominion Post are starting to regularly report in their sports sections on Rimutaka Renegades activities and achievements .

We believe that Rimutaka Renegades will continue to go from strength to strength with the strategies and the coaching support we now have in place. Our goals and objectives clearly state Rimutaka Renegades future aspirations for growth and success in Inline Hockey: "To establish the Rimutaka Inline Hockey Club, quantitatively and qualitatively, as the pre-eminent Inline Hockey Club in New Zealand"