By Caitlin Brezinski

Ringette gains popularity in P.A. area

Sep 29, 2014 | 6:48 AM

Ringette’s popularity is growing in the Prince Albert area, and a local organization gave girls not already participating in it an opportunity to try it out pressure free.

A free ringette session was held at Northern Regional Recreation Centre on Saturday in the R.M. of Buckland.

“It’s an opportunity for them to have fun on and off the ice. They make new friends, it’s all about teamwork. It’s really great for them to come out and try,” said Ashley Tomiak, president of Prince Albert Ringette.

She added that everyone’s starting at the same skill level, so no experience is required. “They don’t have to feel scared to come out and we start from the basics. If they can’t skate, we teach them how to do that, it’s great.”

Tomiak said ringette participation has gone up since last year, with 20 more girls so far. She is happy with the amount of support given to the league.

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“We have a lot of people helping out this year, a lot of parents, we’ve already been out fundraising and stuff like that so it’s been good,” she said.

She said the city had not had a ringette team for an eight-year stretch but as of three years ago, they started one up again and ringette has been making a comeback.

This is 10-year-old Shayla Preston’s second time participating in ringette. She said she has made quite a few friends since joining and plans to come out next year.

“I don’t really do a lot of activities in the winter so I thought this would be a good activity to do. I like how it’s competitive but not too competitive. I like that there’s not full body contact,” she said.

The ages of participants at the free session ranged from four to 13, but Tomiak said they do have adult team as well.

Registration for Prince Albert Ringette is open until the end of October and Tomiak encourages everybody to come try the sport.

“We’ve kept it very affordable this year … it’s only going to be once a week for an hour depending on the age group that you’re in and it’s a lot of fun.”

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