Northside and District Minor Hockey Association
Female Coordinator Annual Report
By: Daryl Baxendale, Female Coordinator, NSDMH April 2016
The 2015-2016 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 numerous Cape Breton Female Hockey Association meetings and conference calls regarding the future and best interests of female hockey in Cape Breton.
Registration:
A total of 28 females were registered in the association:
- IP/Novice – 11
- Atom – 4 (3 played Atom metro and 1 played Atom A)
- Peewee - 3 (all played in the metro (mixed) loop
- Bantam – 7 (1 girl played Bantam AA, 1 girl played Bantam A, 5 girls played metro). 3 girls registered with NSDMHA but transferred out to play female Bantam AA and Bantam A hockey in Glace Bay, 1 girl registered directly to GBMH.
- Midget - 3- playing Midget metro
Recruitment:
- The 2015-2016 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 2015-2016 season.
Divisions:
Novice, Atom, Peewee, Bantam, Midget
As noted, there was no all-female team hosted by our association this year although we did have females playing hockey at all levels.
Northside Female Rep teams: None
Update:
- 1. Central Registry (not registration)
On June 15th 2015 the HNS central registry went into effect. The registry will be open again for next year in the coming weeks to enable the committee to gauge interest in female hockey for the upcoming year.
- 2. 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 was implemented in 2015.
- The CB zone executive committee (as mandated by HNS in 2015) has been established as 1 of 6 regional zones province wide. The Executive Committee is comprised of the female coordinators from each of the 7 associations and members-at-large as interest demands. The committee may have additional members, but they are non-voting. Only 1 vote per MHA. This group has been very active for the past year, meeting on a regular basis.
- The focus of this committee is firstly, the promotion of female hockey on the island in general, trying to make sure that any female that wants to play on a female team has one to play on, setting host associations for any female rep teams, and providing input on the female coach selection process.
- This past season Glace Bay hosted 3 female rep teams (Midget A, Bantam AA and Bantam A) and Cape Breton County hosted Peewee A. It is possible that the same could be repeated next year with the additional chance that Glace Bay could be hosting all 4 female teams but this still is to be determined.
Summary:
- Of the 28 females registered with NSDMHA 11 were in the Novice/IP division. (Additionally 4 girls transferred out of NSDMHA to play female rep hockey)
- Of the 17 remaining females, 5 played on “boys” or minor council rep teams and 12 played in the metro loop.
- Once again, I want to strongly encourage the Atom and Peewee-aged girls to consider playing female next 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.
Daryl Baxendale
