More Memes from Meg

I like Meg.  She asks good questions.  From time to time I will answer them here (in my ringette voice).

1.  How are you doing?

Excited/nervous/tired/envigorated/confident – other than that, not much.  With the national team going and preparations for WRC well under way there is a lot going on and there are a lot emotions/thoughts/concepts that go along with that.

 2.  How did you spend summer vacation?

Vacation?  We had our first conference style AGM, hosted in lovely Miramichi, NB.  Then we had our first meeting for the new Board of Directors, in historic Quebec City.  Then we had our first joint committees meeting in rustic Cantley, Quebec and finally had our friends from Team Canada in Canada’s Capital, Ottawa, for a national team camp.  Whew.  In between time, we launched Come Try Ringette, got ready for the WRC (sold almost 2K tix already – and no one is thinking ringette quite yet!) signed on for partnerships with our friends at DR and Powertek, and continued work on LTAD.

3.  What you WISH you had been doing all summer?

Sure we wish we had been counting our extra funding from Sport Canada, or maybe sending a delegation to help launch Ringette Australia (someday!) but all around it was a pretty good summer!

IT Help

Thanks to Darren for the link, there is a cool program called MatchIT.ca that links up IT professionals with non-profits that could use some help from a pro.  Since IT does not appears to be shrinking as a thing for us to worry about, this looks like it is worth checking out.

Sault St Marie

The Soo did a great job in getting some specialized sports and activity funding from the City of the Soo.  Well done.  They are making a video, and I trust they will post it on You Tube for us all to enjoy.

Good Sport = Good Results

Our friends over at True Sport would echo this sentiment whole-heartedly.  At Freakonomics, they are talking about a French study that showed that sport led to the riots in the suburbs of Paris a few years back. 

The contrary arguement, and the better one, is that bad sport led to bad outcomes.  Conversely, good sport, leads to good outcomes like teamwork, discipline, and good citizenship.

We all know that ringette is more on the good sport side than the bad sport side.  How can we get even further on the good side?

 Update question – Could more ringette have helped in the banlieues of Paris?  Can it help when there are disagreements in Canada?  

Update Update  – An intrepid reader asks “what is good sport?”.  Good question.  Good sport is sport where the development of the person is greater than the development of the athlete which in turn is greater than the development of the team.  The sport in the banliues of Paris was known as more of throwing out a soccer ball and letting boys play until someone scored or until someone bled.  Terrible sport. 

Women in Coaching

Women in Coaching a tough topic.  We want more women to coach, but we don’t want to tell men that they are not welcome either.  It turns out that this problem has become nearly an epidemic in the NCAA too.  There are a lot of problems, but few obvious solutions on this one.  We have to keep working on this and keep making sure that women have every chance and every empowerment to coach our sport from bunnies to the national team.

Meme from Meg

Meg Fowler is good at starting memes.  I will try answer them as best I can, on behalf of the ringette part of me.  Here is the first one:

 1. Tell me a crazy anecdote from your childhood that will make me laugh out loud.
We used to wear figure skates and the goalkeepers used to pink sticks.  Also, we wore track suits when we played that made us look like the 1972 German olympic team. Yikes.

2. Tell me where you would be today if you could be anywhere doing anything with anyone… and money’s no object!
Starting out the training process for Team Canada at the 2010 Olympics.  It is a long ways off still, but we can keep dreaming our Olympic dream.  It won’t be in 2010, or 2014 or probably for a while after that, but it can happen if we keep on growing.

3. If there was a song that describes your life right now, what is it? If you can find a video of it on YouTube, include that!
This One:

4. What annoying habit should they send you to rehab for?
Telling people that we are shrinking when really we have been growing for over 5 straight years.

5. What do you wish you were eating right this moment?
Team Finland’s lunch!

Put your ringette responses to these questions in the comments or on your own blog.

Ringette on the Island

Ringette is making a comeback in BC’s capital!  Victoria ringette is coming back and it is great to see them again!

Starting a new ringette association a whole lot of work and it goes to show how dedicated our community is.  They have done a lot of the groundwork and they are now seeing some of the fruits of their labours.  Does anyone have any advice for our friends in Victoria?  Who out there has started an association successfully?

Ringuette Quebec AGM

I always expect a gracious and helpful welcome when I travel to see a provincial ringette group.  I am always surprised that every time their warm welcome and enthusiasm for our sport exceeds my expectations.

My meeting this weekend with Ringuette Quebec was no exception.  From a new association in Sept Isles to the established groups like St. Laurent, they were excited to see me and to hear the message from Ringette Canada.  And like always, they were friendly, fun and passionate about ringette.  It is never a wasted weekend to spend time with friendly people, working on their passion!  It was also great to be able to present the Ringette Canada strategic plan (Ringette Quebec AGM Slides) to such a keen group.

Thanks to Louise, Florent and the rest of the Ringuette Quebec crew. 

Merci a vous tous, c’etait certainement de <<fun>> et il etait interressant a tout temps!

Wish Me Luck

Tonight I am in a hotel in Lac Beauport, Quebec.  I am getting ready for presentations to the Ringuette Quebec AGM in the morning.

Did I mention these presentations would be made in French?

French in grades 1-9 are really helpful right now.  Not helpful enough to calm the nerves mind you.  Souhaitez-moi la chance svp.