News

I met with the presidents of Richmond Hill and Markham to come up with a trial policy for this year for the U16AA team (an extension on what we did last year).

It is likely that we will only be able to contribute a minority number of players this year to the U16AA team (same with Markham) – Richmond Hill has 23 players that played u16A, u16AA and u14AA coming to the tryouts.  It was clear even by choosing some of the best players from all 3 associations last year that we were outgunned by more mature associations that are also combining their regions (and have been for many years) – Guelph, elora, burlinton, Niagara etc…  - not to mention London and all their surrounding teams.

We have come to the agreement that there is likely only the skillset to have 1 AA team between the 3 associations at each of the u14, u16 and u19 levels.

Newmarket had already determined we would not be holding tryouts for AA in any level.

I was successful in negotiating on our associations behalf a “trial year” that enables a fair selection of the coach and the players at the U16 level this year.  The details are below – we will have equal representation from Newmarket on both the player and coaching committee as well as 2 unbiased southern region reps to provide an uneven 5 people to enable a majority vote and evaluations on players.   

 Representatives from Markham, Newmarket and Richmond Hill met March 26 to review the situation for U16AA teams in the area. These notes of the discussion have been approved by the presidents of those associations.

General Discussion on Objectives:

- there was wide agreement that it is important to offer all ringette players in the area a chance to play the level of ringette that they are best suited to. Doing so helps keep players challenged and rewarded and keeps them in the game

- Southern Region needs to improve the competitiveness of its AA teams, and this in part depends on finding a better balance in the number of AA teams relative to the number of players 

- the small numbers in ringette mean that associations often need players from outside their association to form a competitive AA team, and that players often have to move among associations. This can have a negative impact on the associations losing players, but at the same time, having an optimum balance of teams helps all associations in an area by improving the quality of options available to the players.

U16AA

- a review of the number of players at the U16 provincial level for next season among the three associations indicates that there are enough players to form 1 U16AA team

- while it is not certain until the team is chosen, the numbers suggest the greatest number of players would likely be from Richmond Hill

- Markham has hosted U16AA the last two years and would like to keep it, but the number of Markham players at that level next year is smaller than Richmond Hill

- there was discussion of the differences between a joint York Region team and a team based in one of the three associations

- it was observed that when one association hosts, players and parents not from that association may have concerns about the potential for bias in the selection process. This concern is lessened if a transparent selection process is in place.

Agreement

Ultimately, the following agreement was reached:

- there will be one U16AA team among the three associations, with one set of tryouts for that team

- the team and tryouts will be in Richmond Hill

- Coach selection - there will be an open call for U16AA head coach (candidates accepted from any association). This will be advertised on all three association websites and the SRRA website. Deadline will be April 10.

•  coach selection will be done by a committee that is made up of one rep from each of the three associations plus two independents
•  the committee will interview all candidates, check coaching references, and review the candidate's coaching evaluations from previous seasons

-Team Selection - at tryouts, player evaluations will be done by a committee of 5, again including one rep from each association and 2 independents familiar with the AA level of play. It is assumed the head coach would be one of these evaluators.

•  the evaluation committee will rank the players quantitatively based on demonstrated technical skills
•  the top 8 ranked players will make the team, unless the evaluators agree to drop a player based on a justification made by the coach (the evaluators to decide by simple majority)
•  after the top 8, the roster decisions are at the coach's discretion

- all three associations are open to the idea of the team playing and practicing on ice from any of the 3 associations, to help maintain a high profile for AA ringette in the area, and to provide the team with access to more resources

- these arrangements are considered by the associations to be a pilot project at U16AA for the 2013-14 season only, and the arrangement will be reviewed prior to next season

There was a thorough and frank discussion on all these issues. It was evident to me that all parties were thinking beyond their own borders, about how best to develop the sport in the area, acknowledging practical realities and trying to be fair to one another. In the end, it seems everyone gave up something of their own interest to get something that should work well for all.

I commend the three associations for their collaborative and constructive approach.

John Voss

Elite Development Co-ordinator

Southern Region