I REALLY APPRECIATE EVERYONES PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING SO FAR... I know that it has been a long and somewhat bumpy beginning with our VP resigning, expanding to an additional 3 new teams, all new jerseys, a few children dropping out, a million requests and confirming coaching staff but I hope that we have everything in line now for a great season. I want to thank all of those that have been behind the scenes helping so far as this can seem like it is a thankless and huge undertaking. Your work has not gone unnoticed and the hours that you have put in are appreciated. The best reward is the smiles on the faces of these little athletes. Coaches are all getting their information together, creating the rosters, confirming information, doing a bunch of homework for me, etc and will be sending out medical forms and player/parent pledge forms shortly... If you have not had a solid communication from your coach, it will happen right away. As soon as I have all coach and manager contact info, I will be sending most of my communication to you through the team managers so that I do not have as many emails being sent and can confirm that everyone is up to date. We will be having a skate-a-thon on Saturday November 9th during your regular ice time. I will send out the pledge forms to the coaches just so that if I get spammed, everyone will be aware. The kids can get sponsored for laps or a flat fee and we can see what we can raise for your team. Any money raised will stick with your team for a tournament, some apparel for the kids and coaches, team party, etc. I am just waiting on a confirmation on a picture night for us and I will forward that off as soon as I hear back. Listed below is a schedule for the next 2 weeks. I will send out a longer schedule once I get a few items confirmed. OMHA is struggling with ice until the new arena opens so schedules may be a bit slow for a few more weeks. We have grown so much as an association so we are just trying to make things work and we have 50 teams in addition to our 12 so it gets to be alot of work. A few things to address with parents... This is Timbits hockey - not the NHL... We are looking for a great season for these little all stars but we are focusing on the "FUN"damentals of sports. There is no forecheck or dzone coverage in the plans quite yet. Some of the coaches out there are nervous and are not the most experienced people as far as coaching this age group but are willing to put in the time, get police record checks, take the courses and commit to leaving work early to be ready for our practice times so please understand the huge commitment that they are making for your child as a volunteer. This program is all about getting the kids into hockey, loving the game, and making new friends. Basic principals and basic skills will be developed. There is so much for these children to absorb and understand and it become very overwhelming for some. I see every year there is always a few parents that stand at the gate and look on at the practice like their little child is in an incubation chamber so I know that this is hard on some parents as well. That being said, it is a great program that Tim Hortons has helped develop with support of players like Sydney Crosby so I am pretty sure that they have a good grasp on the game. I am a firm believer in the long term athlete development model and this is a quick synopsis of stage 2 of their development: During the FUNdamental stage (females 6-8, males 6-9), children should develop fundamental movement skills, including the ABCs of Agility, Balance, Coordination and Speed. Children should participate in a fun and challenging multi-sport environment. Early elementary school age children need to participate in a variety of well-structured activities that develop basic skills. However, activities and programs need to maintain a focus on fun, and formal competition should only be minimally introduced. Children should be exposed to a variety of sports and physical activities throughout the year, developing their interests and motivation while avoiding the danger of burnout through premature specialization.
2 Learning fundamental movement skills throughout this stage is a key to the overall development of physical literacy. The ABCs of Agility, Balance, Coordination and Speed are foundation blocks for developing fundamental movement skills. If anyone has any questions about this portion of our program, please contact me and we can discuss. This is the basis of our season plan and will be what we build our practice times around. There are going to be many changes to our program over past years that I would like to implement so I look forward to the opportunity to work with all of these great excited coaches. It gets to be really hectic at the rink. The Okotoks Arena staff are great and do everything that they can to make life a little easier for us. They will be assigning dressing rooms for our ice times so please take a look at the screens for your room assignments. We have 3 or 4 teams on the ice at a time and are given 2 dressing rooms so things get a little (A LOT) crazy. That can be up to 60 kids at once... If there are 2 teams assigned to a room and a single team to another, feel free to spread out a bit but please respect the assigned dressing rooms as there are teams that have to come in early for their ice times as they are on after us and things will get lost, shuffled, etc if we are not in the proper rooms. Also to help out a little, these little guys will always need some help but we do not need grandma, sisters, brothers, aunty, the neighbours kids and the guy from work to all be in the dressing rooms. The less people, the safer the room will be. Coaches are also always willing to help out, tie skates, etc so do not be afraid to ask. You will play hockey with these people for the next 12 or so years so why not start making things easier now. You know your player better than anyone else will. Please know that if you see something happening on the ice or even something off the ice that affects your child or could be improved for your child, do not hesitate to contact your coach and discuss it. That is what they are there for. If you are unhappy with someone or something, please address it within your team but if that is not working, please come and talk to me. I am here to make sure that you and your child have what you need to make this a special and fun year. Your child is my primary concern!!! Each week, we will need a parent to swing into tim hortons on Saturday morning bright and early to pick up timbits for the whole group. I will designate a team each week for this so if you can help out on your week, the kids and I will really appreciate it. Tim Hortons is an absolutely amazing sponsor of this program and they never stop giving back. Please support them whenever you can because without them, we would not have the wonderful program that we have. Jerseys have been supplied by tim hortons for us to use. Sleep in them, take them to school, wear them everywhere but make sure that they end up back in your bag for hockey and please take care of them as we need these jerseys to last the association for 3 years before we can get some new ones. Please be careful if using the dryer as it tends to eat them :) Bumpers-the bumpers and nets that are on the ice during our ice times will need to be pulled out and stacked back up (NEATLY :)). I will also assign a team to help out with this as it is on concrete and really is a difficult job for the coaches. Coaches will make sure that we start getting the bumpers off atleast 5 minutes before the end of the last ice session for the day so that we do not hold up the next zamboni flood. The rink staff are on a time crunch to get the rink ready for the next group so we cannot hold them up. If a parent or 2 from the designated team can help pull them off and stack them in the corner, the process goes pretty quick. When leaving the ice, it gets pretty crazy because some of the kids are scared of the zamboni, cannot find mom or dad in the stands and are just nervous at the end. It gets pretty congested coming off but if the teams heading out can just wait until everyone is off or until they get other
3 direction from their coach, it will be much safer especially at the bottom of the stairs where everyone is trying to get out as well. Player of the week- We will start our player of the week program as soon as I get pictures done. Each week, a little allstar will be selected as the player of the week. He or she will get a certificate and their picture will be posted on the board at the rink as well as one of the Tim Hortons Stores (I will confirm which one). If you wear your jersey into the store, you can check out your picture and show the staff at the store your certificate and they will give you your own box of timbits and a drink. What more can you ask for :). More information will be sent out before we get started. We will be hosting our own tournament here in town in March so I will need a few hard working, easy going people that want to help out to help with the planning and running of the tournament and the sooner we can get it all organized and planned out, the better. I will send more information on this as well and ask for some help. It is not a big undertaking at all - actually, it should be a lot of fun... Last thing for now... Communication and issues. If there is anything at all that is of a concern or if you have any questions, please use the proper process and contact your team first, then the director (me) and then OMHA. This process is put in place to save everyone time and stress. There are not many things that cannot be dealt with between the coaching staff and the director and please do not hide behind a keyboard. I am not here to label you or your child so I want you all to know that I am very approachable and will have your childs best interest as my first priority. We are all volunteers here so lets do what we can to make this process as easy as possible. I am always at the rink as I have 5 kids and 3 playing the game as well as helping out with other teams where I can but if you ever need to get ahold of me, please do not hesitate to call or email me ANYTIME. I look forward to a great season. Saturday October 26, 2013 7:00am-8:15am Black Hawks - Timbit Pick up :) Blues - Bumpers On Please 8:15am-9:30am Penguins Thrashers Stars Leafs 9:30am-10:45am Flyers - Bumpers Off Please Canucks Flames Red Wings
4 Tuesday October 29, 2013 4:30pm-5:30pm Thrashers - Bumpers On Please Canucks - Middle Ice Slot 5:30pm-6:30pm Red Wings - Bumpers Off Please Stars- Middle Ice Slot Blues Wednesday October 30, 2013 5:00pm-6:00pm Leafs - Bumpers On Please Flames- Middle Ice Slot Black Hawks 6:00pm-7:00pm - Bumpers Off Please Flyers- Middle Ice Slot Penguins Saturday November 2nd, 2013 7:00am-8:15am Red Wings Penguins - Timbit Pick up Stars Flames - Bumpers On Please 8:15am-9:30am Flyers Canucks 9:30am-10:45am Thrashers Leafs - Bumpers Off Please
5 Black Hawks Blues Tuesday November 5th, 2013 4:30pm-5:30pm Flames Stars - Bumpers On Please Leafs - Middle Ice Slot 5:30pm-6:30pm Thrashers - Bumpers Off Please Black Hawks - Middle Ice Slot Flyers Wednesday November 6th, 2013 5:00pm-6:00pm Penguins - Middle Ice Slot Red Wings - Bumpers on Please 6:00pm-7:00pm Canucks - Bumpers Off Please Blues - Middle Ice Slot See you at the rink!!! Thank You!! Nick Ruigrok OMHA Initiation Director