As the fifth season of the Pembina Ringette Association draws to a close, I have been reflecting back on our time as an association. In some ways, I cannot believe it has already been five years, and at the same time I cannot believe it has only been five years!
In the summer of 2012 I went to the Barrhead Agrena for minor hockey registration, chequebook in hand. I was there to register my oldest daughter, Tapanga, for her third season of hockey. There was no ringette in the area and Tapanga was a natural skater, so registering her in hockey two years prior was an automatic. She wanted to learn it, my family loves hockey and ringette, so there was really nothing to consider those first two seasons.
This time however, I was in for a surprise. “I don’t want to play hockey. I want to play ringette like you did, that’s what you did when you were little right?”
“Yes, I played ringette, but there is no ringette here.” I replied slowly.
“Oh, so can you drive me somewhere else to play?” She inquired with all the innocence and hopefulness of youth. I replied that I could not drive her to another town for ringette, the nearest city with a program was nearly an hour away. Travelling that far three times a week at her age was too much for her, and our family. With that, Tapanga decided she would not play anything until she was old enough for me to drive her somewhere to play ringette. After a bit of cajoling she agreed to let me register her for hockey, so she could continue to improve her skating and be able to keep up with the other girls when she finally joined ringette. All the while, a thought would not leave my mind.
Why can’t there be ringette here? Could we…? [Read more…]