Moose Jaw Minor Hockey, the Moose Jaw Transition House, and Moose Jaw Events Centre are partnering to offer girls aged 4 to 12 a free try at hockey on Sunday, September 24, promising an atmosphere of acceptance, inclusion, confidence, and bravery.
The event is the brainchild of Jocelyn MacLeod, who for years has been helping to organize events focussed on building up young women. She is a founding member of the Tru-Unity Girls Leadership program, for example, which holds an annual event celebrating the UN's International Day of the Girl Child. She is also involved in Moose Jaw Minor Hockey, and has been looking for a way to recruit more girls to the sport.
"The idea for this started back in April, when one of the board directors [of Moose Jaw Minor Hockey], Kailey Anuik, were chatting about ways to grow the female program of hockey in Moose Jaw," MacLeod explained. "And we based it off of one of the coolest things we learned in our Keeping Girls in Sport training, which is about supporting girls hockey coaches in retaining girls in sport as they grow older."
The training emphasized the social/cultural differences of sports team culture between girls and boys, MacLeod explained. When boys come to sport, they expect to put in effort, followed by performance, followed by acceptance and inclusion in the team. For girls, it's the opposite, and creating a welcoming team culture has to come first so that girls feel safe to put in effort, followed by performance.
"That's why a lot of the times at hockey camps, you'll just see this attitude of 'get on the ice, let's go' without any build-up," MacLeod continued. "So, we were talking about having a free session for girls to come and try hockey, but we wanted to build that culture of acceptance first, and that ties into the work that I've done over the past few years with the Transition House, and Medavie Emergency Services, where we work together in running these girl groups to build up girls' confidence and bravery to try new things."
Naturally, Jenn Angus, executive director of the Moose Jaw Transition House, was happy to help with the event, and Moose Jaw Minor Hockey donated the ice time.
The program will run Sunday, Sep. 24. Registration is required by Sep. 20.
Each session starts with a 45-minute parent briefing covering things like registration, practice schedules, equipment needs, and any other questions parents have. The briefing also provides time to get the girls into their hockey gear.
Tammy McCleary, an outreach worker at Transition House, will start the on-ice portions with a presentation on creating positive culture in sport.
The program runs at the following times in the afternoon:
- Ages 9-12
- 1:15 to 2:15 off-ice
- 2:45 to 3:30 on-ice
- Ages 6-8
- 2:15 to 3 off-ice
- 3:30 to 4:15 on-ice
- Ages 4-5
- 3:30 to 3:45 off-ice
- 4:15 to 4:45 on-ice
Each child needs a minimum of skates, helmet, gloves, and a stick. MacLeod recommends contacting the Moose Jaw Sports Equipment Vault to find that equipment. The Sports Equipment Vault is a free service with figurative tons of donated gear.
Contact the Sports Equipment Vault through the City of Moose Jaw app or at 306-694-4447 to book an appointment.
MacLeod noted that they have received interested inquiries from girls who have played before and want to come out. She said they're welcome under one condition: Because the sessions are targeted at totally new players, experienced girls who want to attend have to bring a friend who has never played before.
"Of course, we do want to increase registration for Moose Jaw Minor Hockey," MacLeod added. "But there's definitely those other goals in there of encouraging and teaching girls to support one another, whether that's in hockey or baseball, or at school, in their social circles. We always want to see girls looking out for each other and learning to build cultures of acceptance and confidence and bravery."
Register online at https://forms.gle/AwSJpGMEYTQS8HQLA. Email hockeyherwaygirlsfirstskate@gmail.com for more information.
In response to some providers blocking access to Canadian news on their platforms, our website, MooseJawToday.com will continue to be your source for hyper-local Moose Jaw news. Bookmark MooseJawToday.com and sign up for our free online newsletter to read the latest local developments.
