Ringette in Ottawa, a brief history

By: Betty Shields, as told to Ringette Canada

 

“Alta Vista Ringette was started in 1973 by two women, Lorraine Coker and Donna O’Connor. Until 1975, it had been played on outdoor rinks, but had just been approved for three hours of indoor ice at Walkley Arena. There were three divisions with less than 100 players.  

The first year, figure skates were still allowed, but by 1976 hockey-style skates were required. Bauer came out with a Ringette skate shortly thereafter. My sister, who was a convenor, approached us to sponsor sweaters for a new sport for girls that my niece was playing.  She said they were looking for players and wanted to know if my daughter, Nanci (now Laroche) and my young sister-in-law, wanted to play. Both girls lived in different parts of Ottawa, and we were told that wasn’t a problem because it was the only association in Ottawa.

There were three associations in the Eastern Region. Gloucester comprised 5 areas like Alta Vista and was already very strong.  Metcalfe also had a team. What we lacked in size, we made up in determination. Although called Alta Vista, the players were primarily from what would have been referred to as South Ottawa in the Ottawa sports community. This area was very big in sports providing us with a roadmap of where we wanted Ringette to go.  Very early, we emphasized skill development, hosted a player camp, and encouraged the girls to stay for public skating. We joined the Gloucester league and learned how to smile and grit your teeth at the same time as we lost many games. We later joined with Metcalfe in one division to create a competitive team.  

Gloucester was extremely successful with three divisions going to Nationals, but they lacked competition, so we formed a league with their three teams and two of ours.  Our gritted teeth smiles had a workout, but we began to be competitive at tournaments. I am proud to say we produced some very good players.

We had success with skill development, but we couldn’t seem to grow.  We would get 20 new players and lose 15 to high school sports or other activities. We did a study, and this led to the decision to change names  to the City of Ottawa Ringette Association, (CORA) in the early 80’s.  Pam Hough was the first President, but she moved, and the building of CORA was put in the capable hands of Dr. des Groseilliers and Michael Jordan, a Vice Principal at Gloucester High school.

I was “volunteered” to be the Score/timekeeper and spent most of my first year doing that. I fell in love with the game right away.  I am often asked what I liked best, and three things remain to this day.  It was a team sport in which passing across the blue lines forced players to pass; it was fun even if you weren’t a superstar; and there was no body contact.  Perhaps there was a fourth- it was for girls and women! We soon started adult teams in both Ottawa and Metcalfe and I quickly proved that you didn’t need to be a superstar to enjoy the sport!

As we grew, so too did ringette around us. My first elected position in Alta Vista was Treasurer (1976) and the same year I became the Eastern region representative for Player Development with Ringette Ontario. The next year, I was local President and was elected provincial Director of Player Development and the following year Vice President of Ringette Ontario.

We were promoting everywhere we could. I got involved in what we called Outreach clinics, later Let’s Play Ringette, and now Come Try Ringette.  Together with my daughter and other players and a young referee, we did clinics in West Carleton, Arnprior, Westmeath, Goulburn, Casselman and Rockland to name the ones I remember best. We put flyers in every rink we saw. We setup displays in shopping centres and played fun games against the media.

I continued to do that until I became Ringette Canada President, in 1983. I had moved to the national level as Vice President in 1981.

Some of the clinics were initiated by local volunteers and others, such as Arnprior and Carp were new arenas.  The successful ones were the ones that already had community involvement. Ringette Canada produced a handbook called Let’s Play Ringette which was a guide to setting up an association, forming teams and running practices.

We did a program on the canal during Winterlude called Winter Experience throughout the 80’s.   This attracted a lot of attention and was a lot of fun. It was open to everyone and any age and attracted a lot of girls and boys.

We took every opportunity to promote Ringette.

Ringette had rapid growth until the 1990’s. I still can’t believe that by 1986, we had formed the International Ringette Federation, and I was President. I wish we had had social media and the instant communications available that we have today when there was such an interest in our sport. Faxing was expensive and International mail too slow.

Videos had to be converted for use in Europe. 

The first World Championships were held in Gloucester in 1990.  There was a good burst of International interest with Russia attending in Finland 1992 and USA 1994. Finland had the same attitude towards skill development and quickly became strong.  Ringette USA suffered a setback when it didn’t get included in Minnesota school sports program which was how sport in the USA developed.

My dream is still to see Ringette in the Olympics.  We had serious consideration in the late 80’s but didn’t meet the criteria which is a high bar for a winter team sport played only by women and girls with one of the requirements being that it was played on three continents. India recently formed an association, and my immediate thought was we now have three continents!

When I look at the National level and the local programs, I can feel the excitement and accomplishments: the National Ringette League (NRL), the University programs, the renaming of the divisions, high level coaching and referees. and the emphasis on attracting new players of every age and every skill level. The Eastern region is strong, and the amalgamated city of Ottawa is booming.

I am encouraged by the success of the PWHL and the WBNA in the USA.  My hope is that this will open doors for all women’s sports with Ringette the first in line for some much-deserved recognition. It is a fast-exciting sport, and I am confident it could hold its own with the others. It might be dominant in only two countries but that is how the others began. 

CORA will be the perfect host for the Canadian Ringette Championships and knows how to run an event. Ottawa has many talented sports people and exceptionally skilled players.”

Special thanks to Linda Lugg and Kari Stachon for providing these photos!