Info from "Play Like A Girl" on SHA decision

Please read the following from the Play Like A Girl Facebook post. Although there focus in this post is on Regina players, the same can be said for players across the province. They make a lot of great points! At Play Like a Girl we are deeply concerned about a recent decision by the Saskatchewan Hockey Association and how it will most likely cause the decline of female hockey. A recent decision by the SHA WILL REMOVE ALL RURAL GIRLS FROM PLAYING in the Hockey Regina Female league. This restriction is being put in place starting in 2018 despite opposition from the Female Hockey league in Regina as well as the vast majority of coaches, parents and players involved in female hockey. This new restriction will require all girls who live out side of Regina to join rural leagues if they want to continue playing hockey. SHA has provided numbers stating that the rural zones have enough girls to support female hockey outside of the city. Unfortunately even though the numbers look good on paper there are many factors not taken into account when tallying these numbers. 1.) Numbers provided by SHA do not take into consideration that not all the girls will continue to play hockey if they are forced out of Hockey Regina. Even though the numbers look good on paper, the bottom line is – there are not enough girls (at this time) to support rural female hockey. Many girls will switch to co-ed or worse, quit. 2.) With the low rural numbers, rural zones will not be able to sustain more than one team – this means there will be no tiered teams for females. This will have players of all skill levels on one team. Everyone from the rookie who can barely skate to the girls who have the skills to play AAA hockey. No one benefits or develops from this situation. Lower skilled girls will struggle to keep up and rarely if ever touch the puck – hardly an opportunity to develop confidence and love for a sport. Higher end athletes suffer as well – they do not have the support on the ice or the similarly skilled players to push or challenge them to excel. 3.) No league would ever consider mixing players from AAA male division with those from a C division to make a team. Recreational players can simply not keep up with the elite level of AAA players – it is extremely questionable why SHA would find this acceptable with the females when they would never consider it for the male divisions. 4.) Elite level girls will not chose to play on balanced teams - balanced teams do not provide any opportunity to further develop their skills. Their options, if they wish to continue to excel, is to either switch to co-ed or quit. Many girls in the league have already stated that they do not wish to play co-ed and this will likely result in losing many talented female hockey players. 5.) If enough girls quit due to the balanced teams, this will eliminate the option of the rural zones even supporting ONE team. This will allow the remaining girls 2 options, 1.)travel to the next available female league or quit. Travel would consist of many girls traveling an hour and a half or more upwards of 3 times a week to the next available female league. It is hard to understand why this would be even considered having the opportunity for these girls to play in Regina with the current league. 6.) Although creating female rural leagues is a great idea, IF there were enough girls to support it, the bottom line is, there are not enough girls yet. Female hockey is still in it’s infancy in Regina and although Hockey Regina has done wonders boosting he program and developing growth of the female athletes, it is still in it’s growing stages. These young girls need the opportunity to play with similarly skilled players, they need the female role models and female competition. 7.) Without the same opportunities as their male counterparts it is not only unlikely for girls hockey to grow but even more likely for it to decline drastically. With girls being up to 6 times more likely to quit sports due to societal pressures and social stigma, having the opportunity to play girls hockey at all levels is paramount in keeping girls on the ice. Being forced to play co-ed, or drive hours upon hours to play is not fair. It is mystifying why SHA or HRI would impose a ruling knowing the devastating impact it will have on female hockey. With the work of the many wonderful coaches of the Hockey Regina Female league, there is no doubt that female hockey will continue to grow. As it grows it will be possible in the future for the rural zones to support female hockey and that will be a wonderful thing to see. Unfortunately, right now, there are simply not enough girls. At Play Like a Girl our goal is to encourage females of all ages to conquer the social stigmas and stay active in sports. We hope everyone will see how this decision is detrimental to so many female athletes. We are hoping SHA and HRI will consider rescinding this decision or at least consider postponing it until a more suitable time. We would ask you to share this post and take a moment to contact SHA and HRI to express your concern about this ruling. Give them your feedback and any suggestions you may have. They need to know that girls in hockey are just as important as the boys and that we really need to Keep the Girls on the Ice. HRI can be reached at President@hockeyregina.ca bwatson@hockeyregina.ca Or by calling 949-2577 ext 224 SHA general manager can be reached at kellym@sha.sk.ca Thank you for helping to support females in sport.