Ringette, a victim of its own success, looking for more players to start the season

by Stephen Dafoe

In the spring of 2014, Morinville residents Andre and Lisa Houle held a Come Try Ringette Event at the Ray McDonald Sports Center. In its inaugural season, the 10 to 13 players the Houle family hoped for turned into 20 players. In its second season, that number grew larger, and the third season, which wrapped up with an invitational tournament last March saw 23 players on the ice for weekly practices.

But well into the 2018-2019 registration season and the program has only nine players signed up and may be in danger of not running.

Houle said some of the older players who have worked through the program have moved on to play more competitively for teams in St. Albert and Westlock.

That has left ringette in Morinville with a need for players to join, particularly the older players.

“Ringette is a fantastic team sport that can foster team skills, individual work ethic, and accountability,” Houle said. “It is different than hockey and has basketball element.”

Houle said ringette was invented in Canada and is played by both boys and girls.

“It is a fast skating, possession game that can be enjoyed from ages of 4 to 100,” he said. “We absolutely love the game and our daughter has fallen in love with it as well.”

The program is open to players aged 4 and up. Ringette takes place every Saturday from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Cost of the program is $260 per participant for the season, which runs until March.

For more information call Andre Houle at 780-887-6847.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

3 Comments

Comments are closed.