Season Overview

What to Expect in a Central Alberta AA Ringette Season

Thank you for your interest in the Central Alberta AA Ringette Club. Athletes in our program develop incredible on-ice skills to compete at the highest level of ringette play, and become leaders in our community. Our association has a legacy of team success at the provincial and national level, with athletes going on to be members of the National Ringette League, competing in the Canada Winter Games, and representing their country at the World Ringette Championships. We are immensely grateful for the athletes and coaches who continue to promote and give back to the sport of ringette.

The collective achievements of the Central Alberta AA Ringette Club are made possible through several factors including:

The selection of athletes who possess above average technical skills, who are intensely competitive and highly committed to the game of ringette and their team, who engage in additional development opportunities, who demonstrate discipline and who always give maximum effort.
Team staff who work to excel in coaching, adopt an athlete-centred philosophy, and who uphold Safe Sport principles.
Families who invest time to support their athlete, the team and the association.
All participants (athletes, families, team staff, board members) upholding the Core Values of the Central Alberta AA Ringette Club.

While on the whole the experience of being a member of the Central Alberta AA Ringette Club is positive, we also receive feedback that more information needs to be provided to potential tryout registrants to make an informed decision about joining our association. We have assembled the following information for questions we receive frequently. If you have additional questions please direct them to: president.centralalbertasting@gmail.com

Dedication to Ringette and Time Commitment

Respecting LTAD (long term athlete development) principles we do not ask that athletes exclusively play ringette. However, we do expect ringette to be the primary sport commitment during regular and postseason play. We fully understand that time commitment conflicts can occur and if they do we please ask that all players and families discuss any absences in advance with the Head Coach.

Season Duration

Teams are formed by late August and begin practicing the following week. The regular season ends with the provincial championships which are held in late February or early March.

Teams qualifying for postseason play (Western Canadian Ringette Championships for U14AA, or Canadian Ringette Championships for U16AA and U19AA) will continue to practice and play exhibition games leading up to those events. Your athlete will need to be available throughout this time period. Dates for these events for the 2023-2024 season are:

WCRCs: 2024-25 TBA

CRCs: April held in Ottawa

Team Time Commitment

While there will be variation related to scheduling, expect the following:

Ice time: 3-4 sessions per week, including practices and games. Practice ice around Central Alberta and could include the communities of Red Deer, Lacombe, Blackfalds, Penhold, Eckville and Clive. Other communities that have ice availability will be looked into as well. The Central Alberta AA Ringette Club will do its best to schedule consistent ice times for each team throughout the season.

September ice varies as it is part of Summer time ice bookings

Dryland training: 1 session per week
Team social events: variable
Tournaments: Expect 4-7 tournaments per season (excluding WCRCs/CRCs). Most ringette tournaments begin play on a Friday morning and are completed by Sunday afternoon. While the majority of tournaments will be located in Alberta, teams are likely to attend 1-3 out of province tournaments.

Volunteering Commitment

The Central Alberta AA Ringette Club is entirely led by volunteers and every team is expected to assign volunteers to events. Volunteer opportunities are determined at the AGM which is held in late September/early October and corresponding board meeting.

In addition, each family will be required to contribute to their team, taking on a role such as coach, manager, trainer, treasurer, tournament coordinator, food coordinator, social coordinator, jersey parent, social media, game recording, or minor officials assignment as examples. Everyone needs to actively contribute to the success of the team.

League Play and Travel

Central Alberta AA Ringette Club teams compete as follows:

U14AA - plays in the U14AA Division of the Black Gold League. The team will also have exhibition games to the South against Calgary and Zone 2.

U16AA - plays in the U16AA Division of the Black Gold League. The team will also have exhibition games to the South against Calgary and Zone 2.

U19AA - plays in the U19AA Division of the Black Gold League, playing across the province

Financial Costs

Developing athletes to play successfully at the AA level of play is a financial investment, requiring cost coverage for ice, dryland training, development sessions such as nutrition and mental fitness training, and travel for competition. We also have mandatory apparel that you will have to purchase.

The cost of a season varies based on a number of factors including ice allocation from Central Alberta Communities, and team-level decisions such as the number of exhibition games your coaches decide to organize, the number of and location of tournaments played in, social events, team-level apparel etc.

The following amounts to budget are estimated using historical data and information provided by families from the 2022-2023 season.

Typical team costs can range for the items below. The Central Alberta AA Ringette Club will collect an initial $1200 registration fee from each individual in the first 2 weeks of the season which is primarily directed to pay initial ice bills and session 1 tournament fees (which we pay for on a team’s behalf prior to team formation).

Teams can then decide if they will fundraise or have cash calls to pay for the remaining costs. Expect a cash call or early season fundraising opportunity for team funds to be required within the first month of the season to kick start the team budget. Cash calls can occur on a regular basis thereafter if not all funds will be acquired through fundraising.

Expenses that the Central Alberta AA Ringette Club will collect from teams (using registration fees and additional invoicing throughout the season)	Expenses paid directly by the teams
Ice bill	Dryland training and Development sessions (Nutrition, Mental Fitness)
Referee fees - minus exhibition games	Team photos
Provincial fee	Tournament registration fees
Coaching certifications and development	Tournament travel (team bus, flights for non-parent coaches
Equipment replacement fund	Tournament accommodations (shared player rooms U16/U19, rooms for non-parent coaches)
Player Development	Social events
	Team apparel

Individual level costs will be paid by families:

Mandatory apparel (game pants, hoodie, equipment bag)
Optional apparel (practice jerseys, dry-fit shirts, crewnecks, vest, backpack)
Personal equipment and maintenance
Hotel accommodations for parents/families, car and/or air travel
Food contributions for team meals
Time off work to accompany the athlete during tournaments

Post-Season play is an additional cost not factored into the above estimates. Practice ice, exhibition games, travel arrangements are estimated at approximately $20,000 per team depending on the location of WCRCs/CRCs. WCRCs will require 4-6 days away and CRCs 8-10 days away.

Team vs. Club Fundraising

Central Alberta AA Ringette Club Athletes (or parents as applicable) must participate on any individual team or association fundraising efforts. Team fundraising is at the discretion of the Head Coach, subject to board approval in certain cases:

Examples of team fundraising:

Bottle drives
Raffle draws or baskets (e.g. liquor)
Pub nights
Games (e.g. Wine Survivor)
Sponsorship

The Central Alberta AA Ringette Club undertakes general club fundraising that all participants must volunteer for a certain number of times. Examples include: