#WeAreRingette
If you are reading this, something tells us a few things about you. First, you are a part of the ringette community; whether it be as an athlete, coach, parent or even a fan, you are someone who has never heard about ringette but has somehow fallen upon our page (which we believe things happen for a reason) OR you are someone who has heard about ringette but is looking for that little extra push to start playing. Whatever the reason is, this is your sign to keep reading.
Ringette is a community. Ringette is a family. Ringette is more than what meets the eye. Ringette is what it is because of you; THE PEOPLE! From the athletes to the coaches to the officials and even the parents, the sport is what it is because of you.
Now that we have that established let’s walk down memory lane. In 1963, Sam Jacks invented what we know today as “ringette.” Within a year, Jacks introduced the sport to multiple people, before the original rules were experimented with within several Northern Ontario communities. For example, an Espanola high school women’s hockey team plays the first ringette game. Not too long after that, the first set of rules for ringette was composed, but the most exciting was forming our first sports community association, which was right here in Ontario (Sudbury & North Bay). This move helped make Ontario the first ringette provincial sport governing body for the sport, and this all happened in less than ten years.
Fast forward to now, Ringette Ontario has grown from one community association to 60+ associations, more than 9,500 registered players, 2,600 coaches, 500 referees and countless volunteers. Yes, the growth is impressive, but as a sport as a whole, as a sport governing body, team, a player, etc., we still have so much more work to help break down the barriers we face.
So that brings us to this blog post. You may have seen a marketing campaign going around; “#ThisIsRingette.” This was to showcase everything our sport has to offer as a whole, but now in 2022, we want to pivot. We want to showcase our sport, and to do that; we need to show people the faces behind our sport, the passion behind our sport, the history behind our sport, the pathways in our sports, etc.
Pivoting to this new concept will allow us to grow our sport in a way we never thought was possible. It will enable us to build a strong community. It will allow us to break down those barriers, and in the end, it will allow us to tell the stories of the talent we have among us.
Welcome to #WeAreRingette/ #IAmRingette!!
If you have a story or know about someone that has one & you believe it fits in perfectly with our missions and vision of #WeAreRingette, please reach out to Cassie at cassie@ringetteontario.com.
Let’s showcase why RINGETTE is THE sport to play!
