There’s a first time for everything.
And for girls who have never skated, or done so with a ringette stick in their hand, the chance to do that is coming up Sept. 9 at the Come Try Ringette camp.
The Pembina Ringette Association is hosting the free one-hour camp at the Rotary Spirit Centre from 11 a.m. to noon this Saturday for kids ages four to 16 who want to try out the sport.
All you need to bring is a pair of skates, gloves and a certified helmet.
Sign ups are done at cometryringette.ca, but no one will be turned away the day of.
“Ringette Alberta comes out and helps host these Come Try It events and this is a great opportunity to introduce girls to the game,” said Lori Borduzak, Pembina Ringette Association vice president and Special Events director.
“Ringette is one of the fastest games on ice — it’s unique from that of hockey — and what they’ve done is try to promote it.”
With only an hour, representatives from Ringette Alberta, Come Try Ringette and Pembina Ringette volunteers will be running the girls through various on-ice drills and fun games.
Some of those will be skating around pylons with the ring and shooting on net. One of the association’s players will be dressed in goalie gear, and a few of the association’s coaches will be encouraging the girls on the ice.
“The biggest thing with ringette I find is keeping the girls engaged and having fun and building skills,” Borduzak said.
“I think the emphasis is on getting them out there, skating, getting the stick in the ring just to see what that’s like. Many of the girls that have registered have fair to none skating experience and no ringette experience.”
Currently there are eight registered and the camp is looking to add more this week.
Come Try Ringette offers the camp to local ringette associations across Canada.
This is the third time Pembina Ringette has brought the event here in the past five years, alternating between Westlock and Barrhead.
“It’ll be a fun opportunity for them to throw on the Pembina Ringette jersey and have some fun shooting around and trying the ring out and seeing what it’s about,” Borduzak added.
Pembina Ringette is already accepting players for the upcoming season and so far has 61 registered.
The association offers U7 Active Start for kids as young as four to get comfortable using the equipment and playing with the ring and stick, to teams up to U16. Registration can be done at pembinaringette.ca.
