Girls hockey in Lac St Louis: The Changes explained

Girls from Boys Hockey Moving to Girls Hockey

On June 5, 2010 Hockey Quebec assembled all the regional directors of girls hockey in the province and spent the day examining the pros and cons of girls hockey. Also invited were a selection of outside parties that had an interest in the development of girls hockey, CEGEP and university coaches.

The discussions that flowed from this get together covered all areas of the game, from providing access to the game to the development of girl referees and coaches, to single letter to double letter girls programs.

All the points were recorded and these points were used to establish a development plan for 2011-2013. That development plan was presented to the regional girls hockey directors on June 4th 2011.


With the development plan in place, a task list established with timelines and stated objectives, the leadership of the girls hockey program in Lac St Louis asked the Board of Directors to pass a resolution to move all girls from boys hockey to girls hockey with the exception of girls who could play at the highest level ( Atom “BB”, Peewee “AA”, Bantam “AA”, or Midget “AA”/ Midget Espoir).

Lac St Louis, in adopting this approach, were the second region in Quebec to pass a resolution of this nature. Richelieu passed a similar resolution in April of 2011.

The net result is that of the 393 girls who played boys hockey in 2010-2011, based on their level and category , there would only be 9 girls playing boys hockey.

The Development Plan 2011-2013

One of the features of the plan was the definition of hockey in terms of the services provided.

In boys hockey, you have Inititation, Recreation, Competition and Excellence.

Girls hockey has the same. Intitiation is covering the youngest age group, Pre Novice, Novice and Atom; Recreation covers the single letter programs offered from Atom to Junior, the competition level in girls hockey is limited in definition to Peewee AA and Bantam AA and Midget AA is part of the excellence program along with CEGEP hockey, U18, U22 and Canadian National programs.

A new addition to the development plan is that Hockey Quebec has started U14 and U16 development teams . These teams have been designed to identify the talent of the girl hockey players under 16 years of age; to introduce girls under 16 to the excellence program and high performance training; to develop these prospects and by so doing increasing the quality of the play in girls hockey in Quebec, instill good working habits for the U18 team by developing these habits earlier, follow and prepare these girls for the U18 program.

These two programs have been established in a direct response to the success Alberta had in the Canada Games. Alberta won gold in the Canada Games this past February by training and preparing their girls from the age of 12 to the time they reached Canada Games at 16 or 17 years old.

The first week of July, 66 girls from across the province were invited to participate in the first U16 camp. Of those 66 girls, 10 girls were from Lac St Louis. As a result of the camp, three girls were promoted to the U18 camp of which 2 of the three were from Lac St Louis, Samantha Rhainds and Julia Yetman.

So, to review Intitation program covers the first five years of development, establishing a base of skill.

Recreation is available the entire life of a minor hockey player from Atom through to the end of Junior hockey.

At the competition level, we have four years to teach girls how to compete in the girls game, and provide the tools to succeed in the excellence program. And, we have to have a delivery system that standardizes the teaching of the levels across the province.

To the average reader this may sound like we are developing a hockey program to yield high end players. Well, in some respects we are. Hockey Quebec is very proud of the fact that Quebec represents such a large portion of the Olympic gold medal winning rosters.

And, they know that this just doesn’t happen without a development plan to prepare and develop all the girls to yield the top end.

To that end, there are certain requirements that are necessary. Girls need to have proper level coaching, need sufficient practice ice to develop and they need to adhere to an off ice training regime that will help them develop the strength, agility, mobility and conditioning to compete at the highest level.

And, this is true from MAGH through to the Excellence levels…

LTAD

In 2007, all the Olympic participating sports and nations adopted the Long Term Athletic Development program in sports that were long term athletic development in nature. As you know, gymnasts can win Olympic gold medals at 14 years old, hockey players take a longer time to develop…

So dry land training has been adopted at the double letter level as a necessary requirement to all teams’ programs.

And, as this new season approaches, certain standards will be established for single letter teams as well.

A standardized single letter program that provides a combination of ice and dry land training is the key to continuing the development of girls in this fantastic sport.

Myth Busted

Many girls, until this year, have elected to play recreational hockey with the boys instead of “AA” hockey with the girls in the belief that their development will be better with the boys.

That is decidedly not true if you are preparing your daughter to play in the excellence program at the age of midget and beyond.

Recreational boys hockey is recreation hockey. The coaching at that level holds a recreation coaching certification and does not run the same kind of program that a competition program would provide. The commitment to practice ice is much lower, perhaps as much as a third of a competition program.

The “AA” coaching staffs are required to have completed a minimum of Competition 1 coaching certification and that coaching certification is designed to prepare coaches to run a competition level program…it teaches practice preparation, ice utilization, progressive skill development in a competition environment.

If you are looking to develop your daughter as a hockey player to enter the excellence level, you cannot expect to substitute a competition level of development with a recreation program and expect to yield the same results, because the results will not be the same…100%! The programs are designed for different purposes.

Balance between Boys and Girls

One of the points that was most loudly discussed at the June 2010 assembly and noted in the development plan was the access to ice for the girls program versus the access the boys program has.

We have organizations within Lac St Louis that provide less ice to their single letter girls programs because they have less members on their team. A team of girls that is made up of 11 members , in the minds of these organizational leaders, should not have the same access to ice as a boy team that has 15 members.

Well, I don’t know if I agree with that statement. But we know, across the province that this is in practice. There are organizations that do not practice ice scheduling like that and wouldn’t you know, those are the organizations that yield the more successful girls programs in terms of yielding girls to the three “AA’ programs, and in terms of wins and losses at the single letter programs and going further to regional championship appearances and championships.

In moving the girls who play recreational hockey, to have them join the girls program will do a number of positive things for the program. First, it will remove this obstacle in accessing ice in organizations that evaluate team membership as the criteria for distributing ice. Second, it will provide a deeper talent pool in which to develop girls …in effect narrowing the talent gap and making the coaching process a less challenging undertaking and further enhance the attractiveness of coaching girls hockey. Thirdly, it will give more girls the opportunity to enjoy the girl game, their tournaments, their events that are more slanted towards girls than boys…better instead of being the lone girl on a team.

Team Canada Players Played Boys Hockey

The agreement always surfaces that the ladies that win Olympic gold medals for Canada played boys hockey and that’s what developed them to be strong enough players to represent Canada and win those medals. That statement is true but its dated!

Catherine Ward, a Lac St Louis product who won gold with the 2010 women’s Olympic team in Vancouver, played girls hockey all the way through her development and it did not stall her development. Not only did she play in Lac St Louis, she went on to be a star at Dawson College, won National Championships with the McGill Martlets and this past season played at Boston University while completing her international Master’s degree which included a 12 week stay in China. Yes, Catherine is an exceptional person… but isn’t that the role model that we want our children to follow?

Rebecca Johnson, a team mate of Catherine’s on the 2010 gold medal winning Olympic team, played her hockey growing up for the Sudbury Lady wolves and when not playing for the Canadian National team, you can find Rebecca playing for the Cornell Big Red.

While the Caroline Ouellettes, Sarah Vaillancouts and Kim St Pierres did play boys hockey and it was instrumental in their development, girls hockey was not as developed as it is today. There was no “AA” league for the girls to play in at the time. There was no National team for them to aspire to either! Remember, Kim and Caroline, these are our pioneers! They were on the first Olympic team, 1998 in Nagano… they made the National program what it is today

Today, with the opportunities available for girls in hockey, the return of high level players to the coaching and instructional positions, the mentoring that is provided by these former stars of college and international levels, the development of girls in girls hockey cannot be beat!

There are very few things in hockey that were taught in the late 1970s and 1980s that we continue to follow today. The game has changed! And, the same is especially true in girls hockey.