The Board of Directors of Girls Hockey Calgary has voted to formally express an interest to Hockey Alberta to join nine other draw zones within Alberta to create a Bantam AAA league for the 2009-2010 season. The league will consist of the 10 draw zones as established by Hockey Alberta in the Female Elite Hockey Development Model. (http://www.hockeyalberta.ca/UserFiles/File/Female%20ADM%20Elite%20Hockey%20Document-%202008.pdf) Each draw zone is required by February 20th to identify their intent to participate in the new league. After that date, it will be decided by the representatives of each draw zone if the league should be formed or deferred.
The Board of Directors of Girls Hockey Calgary has voted to have one team from Calgary participate in the league and the remaining Bantam A teams continue to participate in a four team league within the Hockey Calgary structure. The Board has placed one condition on our participation, that being the availability of ice for this team. Girls Hockey Calgary is currently searching for additional ice and if we can secure contracts for this ice we will proceed; otherwise we will delay our participation for a year. The Board unanimously agreed that we would not take ice from any other program to support this new initiative.
After Feb 20th the league structure and rules will be developed by the participating zones. I will update everyone shortly after the 20th.
Don O'Grady
President Girls Hockey Calgary
5 comments:
My Question to you is, Why is it so hard to find Ice time for the Girls. Is it a Boys VS Girls thing? I know ice is at a premium but why getting the bad ice times? We pay the same amount as the boys and even more.
Is Girls hockey not a very important part of hockey Calgary or Hockey Canada?
If the AAA Bantam doesn't happen, we are going to loose girls to boys hockey. I know already some girls that have made a decision to go back to Boys hockey for their final Bantam year.
Those are my thoughts and maybe you can comment on this..
Thanks for the effort...
There is more then enough ice to run a Bantam AAA girls hockey team in this city. The problem is how much ice is wasted. I have been an ice coordiantor for the past 15 seasons in Calgary and our Bantam teams averaged 8 full ice practices every month. It's about time that the feud between Hockey Calgary and Girls Hockey ended so that our girls can play at a higher level. I know of several girls that have become frustrated with the way this season has gone down and are looking at alternatives to playing next season rather then play Girls Hockey. This is too bad because generally they do a very good job at Girls Hockey. But its time to let these young girls develop into young hockey players.
I concur. Having 4 and if you are lucky 5 practices a month (most shared) at the Bantam A level is very disheartening. The teams are watered down in terms of the skill level and the top end girls are falling behind their provincial counterparts. The unbalanced teams, the lack of commitment from parts of the team (players and parents) and the lack of quality ice made for a frustrating year. Part of the problem is the lack of an ELITE program in Calgary. Hockey Calgary and GHC has in my mind, forgotten to include a balance between the Elite players and the rec players. So much focus is on the ‘FUN” (which is ok) but not enough on identifying and working to develop the players with advanced skills sets and the desire to play and commit (this is KEY) at a higher level. It seems the only way to advance as a top end player is to join a Spring team (and pay huge $$$) where the skill sets are more balanced among the team and the players and parents are committed to Elite development. For the fee’s we paid to GHC vs what other associations charge for Bantam and the ice (number per month and half vs full sheets) they received, I am concerned about the viable future of GHC in the model they currently operate in. I understand the ice issues within Calgary, but do believe a change in the way the program is run , the way teams are built (go to a geographical model similar to Quad hockey) and look for partner association with declining enrolment and available ice (eg PSA, 7-Clubs, and even Crowchild) to adopt/house teams again. (perhaps at the very least, this is the solution for finding ice for an AAA team. Have an association adopt the AAA team and provide the ice etc).
I am eagerly waiting for an update on the AAA program and hope GHC can provide details in terms of the selection process, ice allocation, coaching selection etc. As a suggestion, I think 2 AAA teams (north and south with rosters of 18-19 each) and a merge of the remaining A and B groups into 1 (say a 6 team league) would have been a more productive move. Basically create an Elite stream and a rec program in Calgary.
Those are my thoughts..
Mr. Ogrady,
Could we get a update on the Bantam AAA for next season please? We are looking at different options than Girls hockey if it doesn't come to be.
Thanks
I see that any critical comments on this blog are generally removed, which would be censorship and would basically negate the whole purpose of having a public forum. If you are going to remove comments that make you feel uncomfortable, or hard questions you do not want to answer then stop doing this. It seems to be a monumental waste of time when real serious issues are in front of GHC. The most serious of which is ice time. I see in this line of discussion that the bantam AAA is contingent upon getting enough ice. So basically what you are saying is that we are not getting enough ice right now at the bantam level, or really any level. Someone has to lead here and be strong enough to take on Hockey Calgary and their male focused sexist approach to our game and go right to the city DEMANDING equal access to city facilities, for equal ages of the sport. The city will not want to be seen as favoring boys over girls, which is exactly what is going on with Hockey Calgary. There is not enough ice in girls hockey at the moment at any level of our sport from the smallest kids to top level midget, and it is embarrassing that no one has the foresight, will, or the decency to fight for equality. It is not a lack of ice overall that is hurting Girls Hockey, but rather a severe imbalance between the male and female games. It is an access to facilities issue, that does not occur with other sports such as soccer, swimming, or gym based sports. If boys got preferential treatment and access to facilties in these other sports this would be front page news, but somehow in hockey we are relegated to second class status and everyone accepts it. What messages are we sending to our daughters? There is no greater issue than ice, and there should be no higher priority than fighting for equal access in all city and community facilities.
On this same point, why would you have a system where there is only one AAA Bantam team? Do you think that will stem the flow to boys or to for-profit programs? How can you have a system with one AAA Bantam team feeding three AAA Midget teams???? How are these other two teams of kids going to magically become AAA players at the midget level if they could not play at the Bantam level??? There should be three AAA Bantam teams to feed the three AAA Midget teams, or better more. Development is based on a pyramid where the point is at the top, not the bottom. How could this not have been a discussion point in formulating a plan to move forward? You don't need ice for one team you likely need ice for 5 and put them all in the AAA level. You also need to get ice for all levels of our sport, and you need to get the same kind of officiating in girls that exist in boys. Go see a boys game and you will see three officials at every level, and they are into the game and keep up for the most part. In girls there are two officials usually so old or fat that they cannot keep up, and the calls made in a two ref system are way more an terribly inconsistent as one may call more than the other etc..., so the girls never get a feel for what should be called. It is an embarrassment, as usually they are so far behind the play they cannot tell what is happening. Again ask what messages are you sending to these young ladies......you are telling them that a bantam or midget A girl is not as important as novice boys level 3, which is a terrible message to send.
We need some leadership here not a censored blog filled with self gratifying commentary.
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