Sundre Fun Team Rec Hockey and Sundre Daycare have for the second year in a row teamed up for the annual tournament that offers players a chance to enjoy a casual, no pressure competition.
“There are no winners in Fun Team tournaments,” said Heidi Werdal, vice-president of Sundre Fun Team Rec Hockey, adding this year’s Feb. 1 - 3 event went well.
“It’s just a chance to play additional games in a tournament environment.”
The group operates under the FunTeam Alberta umbrella, which according to the official website is a non-profit organization that helps people participate in less competitive and low cost sports. The Sundre group has been involved in putting on the annual event for more than 10 years, said president Shawn MacNeil.
“It’s just another more affordable option for kids,” MacNeil said, adding there is also less of a time commitment involved than with minor hockey.
“It gives families a different option if they don’t want to go the minor hockey route but want their kids playing hockey.”
While the tournament has in past years typically seen as many as 15 teams, he said that number was down a bit this year, with 11 squads coming to play at the Sundre Arena. They came from Cremona and Didsbury as well as Sundre.
“This year, we didn’t have enough registrations for a tier 5 team,” he said, adding there were four teams from both Sundre and Didsbury as well as three more from Cremona.
Although too late for new registrations this season, MacNeil said Sundre Fun Team Rec Hockey usually has a table set up during the annual back-to-school barbecue, as well as a social media page that provides updates and contact information. The group is always looking for new volunteers as well as players, he added.
The president of three years also coaches and said he enjoys the opportunity to work with the kids while helping out in the community.
“There’s a lot of legwork beforehand,” he said about planning for the annual fun hockey tournament.
“But it’s worth it in the end when you see the kids.”
Sundre Daycare covers the cost of renting the ice at the arena and runs the raffle and 50-50 draws to raise funds for their association, he said.
“All of the proceeds go to the daycare and then they sponsor our ice bill.”
Chantel Sommerfeld, a former president of Sundre Daycare who sits on both of the organizations’ boards, currently serving as the rec hockey’s treasurer, said the groups first partnered up on the tournament in 2018.
“We did this last year and it was quite a success. So we decided to keep going,” Sommerfeld said.
The combined total raised between the 50-50 and raffle sales, which featured items that were all donated by area businesses, was about $3,400, she said.
Alberta Gaming Liquor Cannabis has decided that fun team organizations are not eligible to hold 50-50 draws and raffles, she said.
But “that’s part of the atmosphere of a sporting event,” she added.
So Sundre Daycare stepped in to help out with the fundraising effort. The organization pays for the ice rental fee as well as the cost of referees from its own bank account, which amounts to roughly $2,000, and the funds generated from the raffle and 50-50 support the group’s operational expenses, she said.
“The community really supports us with our raffle table upstairs. They really came together,” said MacNeil.
