Ringette Sports-Etudes program launched

BY MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

A new ringette Sports-Etudes program will enable West Island players to develop their skills in a supervised, well-coached setting, its organizers said. “How it really started was I was talking to a friend, and we talked about how great it would be if that sort of option was available for girls in the West Island, and we set out to make it a reality,” said Pointe Claire resident and co-founder Sharon Tait, who will oversee the program.

Tait, a longtime ringette player and coach, met with John Rennie High School Sports-Etudes co-ordinator Russ Kelly and the two ironed out the details then set to putting the program in place.

The result?

A program that will run in two local elementary schools — Sherwood Forest and Greendale — as well as at John Rennie and Ecole sécondaire des Sources in Dollard des Ormeaux. Participants will get three hours of ringette instruction every day, with an hour of on-ice instruction as well as theory, nutrition, physiology and off-ice conditioning programs tossed in for good measure. “It’s a big break for parents,” Tait said. “The kids get all this during school hours and parents don’t have to do a bunch of running around to get the kids to activities.”

With a sterling on-ice coaching staff in place consisting of Carolyn Bogusz, Kim Poirier, Claudia Jetté and elementary co-ordinator Kim Dyer, participants will be able to draw on a wealth of experience and knowledge.

Sixteen John Rennie students have signed on, as well as four more from EDS. The program attracted more than two dozen prospective elementary participants to an open house in Dorval last weekend.

Another open house is slated for Sunday afternoon.

Sports-Etudes participants must maintain a 75-per-cent overall average and must keep an average above 80 per cent in English, French and math courses to keep their spot in the program. “We have a few ideas about what we’re going to be teaching, but we’re going to be looking at aspects of proper stretching and strength training, injury prevention and that sort of thing. We’ll be doing some cross-training, we’ll bring in referees to talk about the rules, and so on. It’s going to be a great resource for the ringette community,” Dyer said.

It’s a community that is small, but rabid. “The coaches are all people that love ringette and want to see it improve and develop in the region and help further the sport along,” she said.

Program administrator Debbie Frail — the mother of three young ringette players — said there has been “phenomenal” interest from parents in the program. “Both elementary schools we approached offer, or will be offering, the sports concentration programs, and they wanted to get more girls into the classroom, because right now, there are mostly boys in those programs,” she said, adding the point of the program is to get kids interested in sports at an early age.

The program will host an open house Sunday at 2 p.m. at Westwood Arena, 750 Thorncrest Ave., Dorval. For more information on the Sports-Etudes ringette program, call Frail at 514-697-6551.