Northside and District Minor Hockey Association
Female Coordinator Annual Report
By: Daryl Baxendale, Female Coordinator, NSDMH
June 1, 2015
The 2014-2015 season was a challenging year for female hockey in our association and Cape Breton overall:
- Low female registration levels in our association
- Regionalization controversies
- No female team in NSDMH
As Female Coordinator I represented NSDMH at a number of Female Coordinator meetings and conference calls regarding the future of female hockey in Cape Breton, and attended the HNS annual general meeting last month.
Registration:
A total of 35 females were registered in the association:
- IP/Novice – 10
- Atom – 6 (5 played Atom metro and 1 played Atom A)
- Peewee - 11 girls total. 3 played Peewee A, 1 played Peewee B, 7 played in the metro (mixed) loop
- Bantam – 5 total. 3 girls played Bantam Metro, 2 played Peewee Metro with approval of HNS regional director. (1 girl did not register in our association but registered directly in Glace Bay to play female Bantam AA.)
- Midget - 2- 1 girl played Midget C and 1 girl remained back to play Bantam Metro with approval of HNS regional director
Recruitment:
- The 2014-2015 season once again finds us in need for novice and atom-aged girls within the association if we are to see growth of the female program.
- The reduced registration fee for all first-time participants was carried forward into the 2014-2015 season.
- HNS have promised to get into the school systems to encourage joining hockey at an early grade level
- We are considering a number of recruitment options such as Esso Fun Days that will focus on female recruitment
Divisions:
Atom, Peewee, Bantam, Midget
As noted, there was no all-female team hosted by our association this year although we did have females playing at all levels.
Female Rep teams:
NSDMHA were originally selected to host a Peewee AA regional team this season, but as recruitment and identification camps were conducted, the numbers simply weren’t there to field a provincial team. Females that wanted to play on this team went on to play mixed hockey.
Update:
- Central Registry (not registration)
On June 15th the HNS central registry goes into effect.
- HNSFC concerned about the lack of growth in female hockey across the Province.
- A Central Registry was unanimously supported by all as a key component to effectively managing our female players across the Province.
- Enforce common rules such as registration dates across the Province.
- By implementing a central registration process and administrative structures, the players/parents will be better informed on what and where the opportunities are for them.
- This should, in turn, draw more female players to hockey as the current players become more excited about the opportunities (friends telling friends).
- With greater number of female players, there will be an increase in the number of female teams within the province, thus reducing the amount of travelling the current teams must do to play the number of games per season required.
- 6 Regional Zones
- Consolidation of players into six larger groupings, as opposed to small pockets of players dispersed throughout the existing 33 MHA’s in Nova Scotia.
- We are in the process of setting up the CB zone executive committee which has been mandated by HNS as 1 of 6 regional zones province wide. The executive will be comprised of the female coordinators of each association. This is still in process but moving quickly.
- Each Executive Committee will include 1 representative from each MHA (voting). This is expected to be the Female Coordinators from each MHA.
- An Executive Committee can have additional members, but they are non-voting. Only 1 vote per MHA.
Summary:
- We did not have a female team on the Northside last year, and the majority of the comments I heard back were that most girls wanted to play female this year or not at all. I believe we have an opportunity this coming year to field a team at the Bantam C level for sure…I can’t guarantee it but I see this being the Atom A and Peewee A team of a few years past. My hope would be that this would be an all-female team playing in a local loop with no travel…which is what most of you have been asking for. Given the past numbers I would hope that we could have 3 (or 4) female teams locally, with an option to play against boys metro teams or maybe CB West or Strait or Antigonish occasionally…we won’t be able to confirm how it looks until we get the registry numbers, so please go online and register.
- Females are also permitted to play on 2 teams so an option exists to play AA or A, and still play on a C team as well.
- I also want to strongly encourage the Atom and Peewee-aged girls to consider playing female this year…even if it means joining a team from another association (County) so that you can experience playing on an all-female team, it really is a great hockey experience and despite what some people still believe, the development is only limited to the coaching, the players skill and the players interest.
- For an update on the central registry initiative from HNS please follow the attached link:
- To view a slideshow from Stephen Murray HNSFC please follow the attached link:
Daryl Baxendale
Updated: 2015/6/23 0:51
