Girls Hockey Calgary

Impact on Boundary Review on GHC

2009-04-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

I have received a question regarding the impact of Hockey's Calgary review and subsequent proposal on the realignment of hockey associations within Calgary. While the boundaries of GHC are not impacted by the proposal as our athletes are drawn from all communities within Hockey Calgary, there are however questions on how it will impact the availability of ice for GHC and how will it impact those hockey associations who have hosted our novice or atom teams in the past.

As associations have grown over the last five years our ability to secure host associations has been increasingly difficult and as an outcome of this proposal more associations will grow including Crowchild, McKnight, Westwood and Lake Bonavista who have all been great host associations in the past for GHC. Will these associations be willing to continue to sponsor female teams is not clear as they themselves are not totally clear on their enrollments for 2009-2010. This is not uncommon as we normally don’t receive commitment from Host Associations until late in the summer when enrollment numbers have firmed up.

Before we get overly concerned, it is important to understand that the guiding principle of the boundary review is to ensure equitable ice for all players including the female stream therefore any change will ensure GHC has access to ice. I have attended all the boundary review meetings and I can assure you the members of committee support Girls Hockey. The GHC board members are working diligently to ensure we have access to ice for GHC for next year and years to come. We are currently talking to both Crowchild Hockey Association and East Calgary Twin Arenas to identity opportunities to secure additional ice for GHC in those parts of the city. We are also talking to Hockey Calgary regarding access to ice for all our teams and Hockey Calgary is committed to the female game and will ensure we have the ice necessary ice to support both our community and elite programs.

Over the next number of weeks, we will continue to work with both Hockey Associations and arena facility operators to firm up our plans for next year and communicate the information to our membership at our Annual General Meeting.

Another Update on Bantam AAA

2009-03-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

While progress has been slow we have been steadily moving forward on the creation of the Bantam AAA League. Hockey Alberta has officially received expressions of intent from the following communities.

a. Edmonton

b. Lloydminster

c. Grande Prairie

d. Spruce Grove

e. Sherwood Park

f. St. Albert

g. Red Deer

h. Calgary

i. Lethbridge

j. Okotoks

Last Wednesday Hockey Calgary's Board of Directors approved our participation which opens the door for further talks. The next meeting of the interested associations will be this Wednesday where the league structure and time line will be discussed. In addition GHC continues to have discussions with Hockey Calgary and other Associations with the objective of securing the appropriate amount of local ice to support our participation. I will keep you updated on our progress over the next month as we should have some firm details to share.

Bullying, Harassment & Abuse

2009-02-16T14:37:00.001-08:00

Girls Hockey Calgary like all hockey associations in Canada strongly opposes all forms of bullying and is committed to stamping out Bullying, Harassment and Abuse. This is a Zero Tolerance item and will result in immediate suspension. As a parent it is important that we understand the signs of bullying, harassment and abuse and take time to talk to our daughters so they may understand their rights and responsibilities. I have taken an excerpt from the Hockey Canada Parents Guide and also provided the link to the document. I hope you find this information helpful.

When is my child unsafe?
Young people are unsafe when someone uses his or her power or position to harm them either emotionally, physically and/or sexually.

These types of violence can be bullying, harassment or abuse. It can happen between peers, between younger and older youth or between adults and youth.

BULLYING

What is bullying?

Bullying is intentionally hurting someone in order to insult, humiliate, degrade or exclude him or her. Basically it is "mean" behaviour. It involves three groups of people: the bullies, the bullied and the bystanders.

Hurtful actions may be:

Physical (used most often by boys)

• hitting

• shoving

• kicking

• spitting on

• grabbing

• beating others up

• damaging or stealing another person's property

Verbal
• name-calling
• humiliating
• degrading behaviours
• may happen over the phone
• hurtful teasing
• threatening someone
• in notes or in person
• through text messaging or chat rooms

Relational (used most often by girls)

• making others look foolish

• excluding peers

• spreading gossip or rumours

• this may happen in person, over the phone, through text messaging, or over the computer

Cyber-Bullying (includes the use of email, cell phones, text messages and internet sites)

• Pretend they are other people online to trick others

• Send threatening or harassing emails

• Spread lies and rumors about the people they are victimizing

• Trick people into revealing personal information

• Send or forward mean text messages

• Post pictures of people without their consent

What is the role of the person who is the bystander?

People who are bystanders or witnesses play a role in the bullying world. Their reaction or lack of reaction often influences the outcome of the interaction:

• a passive response give the person who is bullying a theatre to cause hurt and a sense of reinforcement as there is no opposition.

• a supportive response gives the person who bullies positive attention, alignment, power and social status. The person who is the bystander may also increase their own social status.

• a negative response supports the person being bullied and may stop the bullying; it may also put the person who is the bystander at risk to become the next victim.

Parents Guide to Speak Out!

Update on Fair Play.

2009-02-15T16:00:00.001-08:00

I recently received a question asking for clarification of how to address a situation where players don't attend practices but are able to attend all games. This is a challenging question to answer as each situation has unique circumstances that must be taken into consideration. I do know for certain that Hockey Calgary and Girls Hockey are both strong supports of Fair Play! Hockey Calgary has numerous pages within the rule book explaining Fair Play including Fair Play codes for players, parents, coaches, spectators and league administrators. Under player discipline they address the question regarding missed practices. The rule states; " Coaches should use discretion to sit a player for the first period, or portion thereof, of a game in the event a player has developed a habit of missing practices within a set reasonable limit or arriving late for games. The requirements to sit a player should be documented and if repeated occurrences are considered necessary, the reasons should be reported to league administrators." Girls Hockey rules state that; "Head Coaches are permitted to bench an athlete member for misconduct, unsportsmanlike behaviour, and abuse to any official, unexplained absences or any other conduct that is deemed to be detrimental to the well being of the team and/or organization. Benching may be done for any portion of a game, to a maximum of two periods. " The Girls Hockey rule covers a much larger concern regarding the safety of all participants and while it includes the unexplained absences it doesn't address the specific issue regarding practices vs. games. Based on the feedback we have received clarification of this rule should be considered for the 2009-2010 season.

At the start of each season, the Board of Directors of Girls Hockey Calgary asks the coaches to have a team meeting with their players and parents and establish the team rules that include the expectations regarding attendance and participation at practice and they should explain the consequences for missing a practice. GHC does not demand our athletes to play only hockey and refrain from all other sports or extracurricular activities, however we do ask the parents and players to recognize they are playing a team sport and their attendance and participation in practices is an important part of being a member of a team. The team rules should be signed by all participants, both players and parents and submitted to the Girls Hockey office for review. The rules cannot be harsher than the rules set out by Hockey Calgary or Girls Hockey and they must be applied to all member of the team fairly. In my experience where we run into trouble is when the issue is not addressed in the team meeting, the expectations are for total dedication to hockey or when the rules appear to be arbitrarily applied.

In summary, coaches can sit a player for all or a portion of the first period (not the third and not overtime) when the team rules are broken.

Hope this helps.

Don O'Grady
President Girls Hockey Calgary

Update on AAA Bantam

2009-02-15T13:31:00.001-08:00

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 20^th 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 20^th the league structure and rules will be developed by the participating zones. I will update everyone shortly after the 20^th.

Don O'Grady
President Girls Hockey Calgary

Midget Nationals (ESSO Cup)

2009-02-15T11:41:00.001-08:00

The first ever Female Midget Nationals will be held in Calgary from April 19^th to April 25^th and one of our three Girls Hockey Calgary teams will be participating as the Host team. The Calgary representative is determined by the team that advances the furthest in the provincial playoffs and the Calgary Bruins and Calgary Flyers meet in the second round of the playoff starting this weekend with the winner of the 5 game series becoming the Calgary Host team at the Nationals. Unfortunately our third team the Calgary Chaos lost out in the first round and have been eliminated from the competition. Come cheer on our girls and get a sneak preview of the exciting hockey that will be played at the Nationals with teams from Ontario, the Maritimes, Prairies and Pacific regions. The playoff series between the Bruins and the Flyers begins this weekend at Max Bell arena. For details on game times and locations visit www.ammfhl-hockey.ca. Reminder; we are still in need of volunteers, both players and parents to help at the Midget Nationals. Wouldn't it be fun to be part of history!!!

Volunteering

2009-02-15T10:18:00.001-08:00

Calgary is known throughout North America as a city of volunteers; Calgarians reaching out and supporting the community, making it a better place for all residents. Girls Hockey Calgary (GHC) has been the benefactor of this volunteer spirit for many years and through the hard work and dedication of these volunteers we have grown to the largest female hockey association in Western Canada. Thanks to the parents and non parents volunteering as coaches, managers, coordinators and board members we have been able to provide a program that is envied by cities throughout the west. However, I am seeing a trend that if not addressed may jeopardize our ability to continue to be successful in the future. The number of volunteers at GHC is growing dangerously low. Over the past three years the Board of Directors have responded to the feedback from parents and players and implemented an organizational structure that has intentionally minimized the impact parents and coaches have on which team and level their daughter is placed. Creating this needed transparency and removing any actual or perceived favouritism has dramatically reduced the number of complaints and concerns raised by our membership; however it has also created a situation where parents find it difficult to understand how they can give back to the Girls Hockey Association.

We have 600+ athletes playing at our association and I believe we have 1200+ parents and grandparents who attend our games regularly cheering on their daughters and granddaughters. I am asking each family to look at how they can volunteer even a few hours to help. GHC has a number of events remaining this year and we need your help to ensure their success. Volunteering at the Provincial Championships, the Midget Women's Nationals and the Spring Banquet are great events that bring our teams together to celebrate female hockey. Look for how you can give back to the association that doesn't directly impact your daughter or her team but builds a strong association that your daughter will benefit from in the future. Calgary has grown to a large and busy city and the residents of Calgary have very busy lives. Having you and your daughter take a few hours and volunteer together at an event is a great way to help our young athletes learn the responsibilities of belonging to a community.

Please call the office (403) 278-9223 or email ghockey@allstream.net

Thank you

Don O'Grady

President Girls Hockey Calgary

Questions about Fair Play

2008-12-06T12:29:00.000-08:00

At this time of year I begin to receive questions regarding Fair Play and Girls Hockey's rules regarding Fair Play. GHC is an avid supporter of Fair Play as defined by Hockey Calgary and I thought it would be a good time to review that policy and its application.

Hockey Calgary Fair Play Code Policy

The fair play codes are a set of guidelines for players, coaches, parents, officials, spectators and league organizers set out to promote positive hockey experiences. Fair play is important from a developmental perspective as well as from a risk management perspective. For the most part the fair play codes are clear. However, for coaches there is a provision, which states, “I will ensure that all players get equal instruction, support and playing time.” The use of the term “equal” is generally understood. However, there is a tendency among a small minority to misinterpret the term “equal” with “earned” or “fair” which allows for entirely different interpretations of the intentions of the fair play codes. Some individuals will acknowledge that the fair play codes apply and then claim you can shorten the bench in the last five minutes of a game, in a tight situation or in playoffs. Allowing variances in the interpretation of fair play only increases a broader degree of confusion for the rules of minor hockey. Fair play is intended to allow all players an equal opportunity to develop their skills in Hockey. Development occurs in both practice and game situations. Within the game itself, there are different situations where each player should be afforded the opportunity to develop his or her skills, whether it is power play, penalty kill, playoffs or tournaments. The following policy respecting ice time is intended to ensure a consistent application of the fair play codes throughout the Hockey Calgary network with an emphasis to ensure all players are provided equal opportunity to develop his or her hockey skills in every game situation.
The head coach is responsible for allocating more or less playing time to individual athlete members in any particular game but should ensure that over two to three games the playing time per athlete member is relatively equal. This includes all games and practices, home or away, exhibition, regular season, playoff or tournament.

The following policies should be reviewed and followed by all coaches;

Goalies; A regular rotation for goalies should be strived for throughout the hockey season that will result in an equal number of games played by each team goalie. The rotation is subject to changes in the event of injuries or sickness. A one game rotation of goalies should occur during all playoff, Minor Hockey Week, exhibition and Tournament Play.

Players; A regular rotation of players should be strived for at their playing position throughout a game including power play and penalty killing, noting that the game includes the last five minutes and overtime. Each team should designate playing positions; defense, left wing, right wing, centre and no team should have a disproportionate number of designated forwards for a game (i.e. if there are five left wingers and three right wingers, one of the left wingers should become a right winger). If there are ten forwards and five defensemen, then one of the forwards should play defense. For those coaches wishing to utilize a special teams unit for either power play or penalty killing, those coaches, as a tool for themselves, should establish a listing (Special Teams Log) of their designated units for each five game (or shorter) rotation. The listing will show each player receiving equal participation on those designated units. It is recommended that the listings be kept by the coach for the duration of the season. Coaches choosing not to maintain a Special Teams Log should not utilize a separate power play or penalty killing unit for games. The power plays or penalty killing lines should simply be the next line in the regular rotation.

I suggest parents should have a discussion with the coach to ensure everyone is on the same page before a misinterpretation can result in problems. Questions should be directed to your division coordinator.

Female Bantam AAA League

2008-11-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

Hockey Alberta (HA) has approved the creation of a AAA Bantam Female Hockey League in Alberta. HA will not be running the league and is looking for interested associations to step forward and create and administer the league. At last summers HA annual general meeting there was a meeting of a few associations and it was agreed that the 2009-2010 would the be earliest possible start date.

The Alberta Major Bantam Female Hockey League would be a great opportunity for the higher skilled girls to play at a very competitive level and develop their skills as players and young ladies.

I would like to hear from our membership on the interest within GHC to enter into the league. We currently have 5 Bantam A teams and 5 Bantam B teams and if we were to place two or three teams into the AAA Bantam league the remaining teams would be moved into the A and B Midget divisions of the Rocky Mountain Female Hockey League. That is assuming Cochrane, Okotoks and Airdrie would have Bantam A and B teams available. Costs of playing on a team in the AAA league will be similar to our AAA Midget program in the AMMFHL which has a registration fee of $2600 plus additional team fees and fund raising that can amount to another $2000. Fees could be reduced if the number of games were reduced.

Some of the questions we will need to answer before we can determine if we should join include;

How much travel would we want to undertake? Do we want our 13 - 14 year old daughters on the bus to Grande Prairie? Maybe two divisions one in the north and one in the south with very limited interlock would be an option.
Do we have additional ice for the longer games and additional practices?
Will the creation of a AAA league damage A hockey in the smaller communities? Drawing girls away from their local A teams will reduce the numbers and will they find replacements?

Please post your comments here or send your comments to my attention at don.ogrady@shaw.ca

Everyone had a fantastic time at our 3rd Annual Ice Breaker Social and Auction at Shanks

2008-11-22T11:37:00.000-08:00

The Girls Hockey Calgary 3rd Annual Ice Breaker Social and Auction at Shanks was a record smashing success. Teams raised over $37,000 dollars to cover the costs of team events, jackets and tournaments. Based on all the fun and excitement everyone was having outbidding each other on all the fabulous items, the social aspect of the evening was also very successful. Kerri and Patty will be getting the cheques to the teams over the next few weeks. Special thanks to Moe Lambert & Bev Boehm along with their team of volunteers for making this another successful event!

Scotiabank Girls HockeyFest

2008-11-16T15:12:00.001-08:00

Want to skate at the Saddledome and receive instruction from Cassie Campbell one of Canada`s premier Olympic gold medal winning hockey players.

Date: Sunday, December 7^th

Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm – 1^st Session Registration

12:00 – 3:00 pm – Novice and Atom Divisions

2:00 – 3:00 pm – 2^nd Session Registration

3:00 – 4:00 pm – Motivational Speech and Q&A with Cassie Campbell – All Participants

4:00 – 7:00pm – Peewee and Bantam Divisions

Location: Pengrowth Saddledome

Participants: Girls between the ages of 7 and 14 – Maximum 300 participants

Cost: FREE

For information and registration go to Scotiabank Girls HockeyFest

Atom 4 on 4 Festival

2008-11-16T14:39:00.000-08:00

On Nov 8th eleven of our Atom girls participated in Atom 4-on-4 Festival held at the Village Square Leisure Centre. The aim of the Atom 4-on-4 Hockey Festival is to play hockey in its purist form, shinny style hockey to have fun and develop skills. Our girls played 3 cross-ice games and had lots of fun and received very colourful jerseys for their efforts.

Four GHC Grads lead Colgate University

2008-11-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

Four Girls Hockey Calgary (GHC) grads lead Colgate University Raiders in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division 1 play. Co-Captains Erin Brown (GHC grad 2005) and Sam Hunt (GHC grad 2005) are joined by Nicole McDonald (GHC grad 2006) and Jacquie Colborne (GHC grad 2007). The four former GHC Bruins are playing key roles in the Raiders success this year. For more information on the Raiders and to follow the success of our Calgary girls click on www.gocolgateraiders.com.

Rules for a Successful Season

2008-11-16T14:01:00.001-08:00

Coaches, as the season kicks off I thought I should take a moment and answer the most commonly asked question we receive from Coaches.

Q. How do I manage an all female dressing room?

A. Simply follow these rules;

1. Players should not be left unsupervised in the dressing room. At least two mothers should be present in the dressing room at all times.

2. Never have an adult alone with players in the dressing room. At least two adults should be present at all times.

3. Players should be dressed 15 minutes prior to the start of the game to allow the coaching staff time to prepare the team for the game. Both female and male coaching staff should be present for the pregame talk.

4. Players needing help with their skates should take them into the hall and get their parent to tie the skates.

5. Male Coaches or Fathers should not enter the dressing room until all players have changed into their equipment.

6. Players who arrive late should wait until after the coach’s talk and the team leaves for the ice before getting dressed.

7. After the game players should not begin changing until after the coaches have finished their post game chat and left the dressing room. Two mothers should be present in the dressing room when the players are changing.

Please make sure you communicate these rules to your coaching staff, parents and players.

Welcome

2008-11-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

Welcome; As President of Girls Hockey Calgary (GHC) I have decided to start a blog to provide regular updates to our membership and provide the opportunity for comments on topics that impact GHC. This is my first posting and I plan to update the blog regularly throughout the 2008-2009 season.

The season began with lots of excitement evaluations and selection camps began in early Sept and our Midget AAA's had their first game on Sept 19th, the remaining teams started their season in Oct. We continue to be the largest association in Western Canada with Six hundred and fifteen athletes playing on 37 teams.

This year we kicked off an exciting new initiative. The Rocky Mountain Female Hockey League was created to provide teams in Calgary and surrounding communities an opportunity to compete in larger divisions. We have 5 teams from Calgary participating in the Atom division, 4 teams in the Peewee B division and 3 teams in the Peewee A division. As you can imagine the creation of a new league with teams from five cities comes with a number of challenges and I appreciate everyone's support and patience as we take this significant step to growing female hockey in Southern Alberta.

This year also brought about some significant changes at Hockey Calgary that impacted the start of hockey for all associations throughout Calgary. Hockey Calgary converted from a manual scheduling process to a new computer software. As with most new software program it had its share of bugs which unfortunately caused significant delays in releasing the seeding round schedules to associations and central zone. The association and central zone were all then challenged to schedule practices and referees for the first weekend of play. With many a late night and hard work by the volunteers at Hockey Calgary I believe they have moved past these initial problems and we will see a much smoother scheduling of the second half.

Stay tuned for my next post.