Name: Springbank Minor Hockey Association
Contact: Kim Beloglowka, President
E-mail: smha@springbank.ab.ca
Description:
Dear SMHA Members,
Hello and welcome to another year of hockey in Springbank. It is hard to believe that it was just a short time ago we were packing up the hockey gear for the summer. Some of you may not have even had any time away from the rink at all! Our teams of volunteers have been working hard over the past few months to ensure we are ready for the upcoming 2010-2011 season. Our goal, as it has always been, is to provide a great experience for Springbank youth playing hockey. The mandate of having FUN is our first priority, in addition to providing a safe, positive, and developmental environment for our players.
We have several new members on our executive for 2010-2011. This would include me as your new president. My first responsibility to our membership is to ensure we are fully staffed with the right people in the right roles. Our continued focus on fiscal responsibility will ensure we keep our costs on budget, as outlined within our SMHA by-laws. As most of you are aware, I am happy to report that we have been able maintain our 2010-2011 registration fees, with no increase in fees.
Our 2010-2011 programs are well underway with several new initiatives taking place. One of these initiatives, that I am really excited to discuss, is our dry land agreement with Alook Training. On top on the regularly scheduled access to the dry pad, this year each team, from Atom through to Midget, will receive, as part of the registration, a session with Alook training. Alook's program will focus on the requirements of today’s minor hockey player. I encourage you all to attend these sessions. As a parent I am looking forward to some of the insights that this exciting new program has to offer. We are also very close to finalizing a new training program for our goalies, our program last year was a tremendous success and we are looking to make it even better!
Our new Player Development Coordinator, Matt Finlay, will be working hard to ensure that our players get the most out of the season. We will again be running skill sessions with more focus on development of our players. Matt’s professional background, along with his passion for sport, is a tremendous asset to SMHA. I encourage you to make these a priority once they are scheduled.
Mark Connors has stepped in as our new Coach Mentor. Mark, along with Darren Toews, will continue to develop this very import program. Our team of coaches is extremely fortunate to have this strong support system. SMHA will continue to focus on the development of our coaches to ensure we are offering the best in training and development.
Have you seen our website lately? We continue to work on improving our communication to our members. This season, we posted our evaluation, conditioning, and specialty camps schedule the earliest ever! Check it out!
Our Registrar anticipates that we will have over 1000 players in SMHA this season. This will make SMHA the largest hockey association within Hockey Calgary. Ice availability remains a challenge and our team is working diligently to obtain as much ice as possible. This includes an application to Hockey Calgary for ice allocation for the upcoming season. You can expect many shared ice practices along with early starts on weekends. This is the only way we can maintain our ice per player ratio.
Hockey Calgary has also launched some new programs, one of them being the “Respect in Sports for Parents”
“This 1 hour online program is designed to reinforce a parents role in a child’s activities, encouraging positive sport behaviors, and empowers parents to ensure the safety of their children, encourage positive and effective communication, and to enhance a child's fun and camaraderie of the activity.”
Hockey Calgary and SMHA will require active participation by one parent of each family in the Respect in Sport program. It only takes an hour to complete and I believe you find the course as beneficial as I found it. Here is the link to get you started http://hockeycalgary.ca/ris.php
It is required that each participant complete this course by October 15, 2010, prior to the start of the season.
In closing, we are just a few short weeks away from hitting the ice. Your age group coordinators will be contacting you shortly to advise you of where to be, when to be there and where you’re going next. Please check our website as it is changing daily. You can answer most of your questions with the information posted to this site. Running a hockey program with over 1000 players is a daunting task, the hours our volunteers put in are extraordinary and I want to thank them in advance for their continued dedication. We are blessed to have such a strong group and that is why, in my opinion, SMHA wins “BEST IN CLASS”.
Jason Martin
President- SMHA
User Group? - Yes
For details on user groups click here
