The St. Albert Ringette Association is experiencing modest growth in its membership this year.
An increase of 13 registrants has raised the number of teams to 30 throughout the age-group divisions, ranging from the U6 introduction program to the over-18 open category.
“The sport is growing and the whole goal and the idea of the association is to grow the sport,” said president Glen Dennis. “We’re certainly in touch and in line with Ringette Alberta and Ringette Canada’s goals in order to do that so it’s very encouraging when we have our registrations up and the team counts up.”
Dennis credits the association’s Come Try Ringette events for raising the membership totals.
“I believe it has been very successful in bringing some new players in the last few years and again this year,” he said. “My goal is to get the younger ones hooked and then they continue up through the various divisions throughout ringette.”
Dennis described St. Albert as a very strong ringette community that is reflected in the association’s many initiatives dedicated to the development of the athletes and the sport.
“We’re a very vibrant organization, which is a credit to the countless hours of volunteer work by our executive, coaches, team staff, parents and players.”
Plans are also in the works for the association to apply to Ringette Alberta to host a provincial tournament. The deadline for applications is Tuesday.
“It’s dependent upon the ice time and the availability due to the other events that are going on but we are certainly reviewing the prospects of hosting some of the various divisions in provincials this year,” Dennis said.
Dennis is satisfied with the amount of ice time the association has been allocated in St. Albert this year.
“We have what’s needed at this point so we’re doing OK with it. Obviously we would like to have some more ice times,” he said.
“The more practice the teams can get in and the players too, the better it is, but we’re also dependent on the other user groups as to how many are out there and what they require for available ice as well,” he added. “We attempt to get some of the other communities [outside of St. Albert] involved as well. We do what we can and so far we’re doing well.”
This is Dennis’ first full season as president after taking over the reins from Glenn Stadnyk, a long-time St. Albert ringette booster.
“Glenn is a wealth of knowledge. He is unbelievable when it comes to the sport. He has been terrific. He has stayed on as our past president, which is very good. Last year I served as vice president with him, so it’s been a bit of a transition and learning curve but it’s exciting,” Dennis said.
“I know I can’t fill his shoes, but I can only hope we continue to advance the sport and promote it the way Glenn has.”
