Members of the Sundre Minor Hockey Association (SMHA) are reducing dynamite registration fees by more than 50 per cent, in an effort to recruit more kids to join the team in the fall.
There has been a slight decrease in registration numbers over the past couple of years, with about five less kids each year, according to SMHA president Dallas Rosevear.
“It's not a huge decrease. But it's significant enough that over four years, it would be 10 to 20 kids,” said Rosevear.
The dynamite level is for kids aged four to six and the registration fee is normally $250, but will be $100 for the upcoming season.
“As an association we're trying to improve the accessibility for kids who want to play…that haven't been able to play or are thinking of getting into it,” he said.
The SMHA has recently partnered with the Sundre Tim Hortons to offer the Timbits hockey program in town.
“I think the Timbits theme really kind of increases the fun atmosphere of the hockey for the young kids to get into,” he said. “The ultimate goal of Sundre minor hockey is to ensure that there is a fun atmosphere.”
There are also other programs available and members are looking into providing a “sports swap” system, where people could donate used equipment they've outgrown to others who need it.
“If somebody is thinking of playing hockey and they just can't afford it, the amount of extra equipment that people have is – we can get the equipment. There's so much of it out there,” he said.
He has not purchased one single item for his child who is in hockey, because he has had equipment handed down to him from friends and relatives, he said.
The idea is to have a shelf available at the arena with equipment for people to borrow while they're there.
“We'd like to have some kind of sport swap. If people wanted to come public skating and didn't have helmets and skates, they would just grab a pair, grab a helmet and go and skate,” he said. “We're going to work with the town on trying to come up with different ideas like that.”
He believes the decrease in registration numbers has to do with the amount of other sports available to kids in Sundre.
“I think there's just more options out there for sports now,” he said. “Back when I was growing up there was hockey, there was baseball. Now you have soccer, football, lacrosse, gymnastics, all these different things.”
He also believes parents may not want to travel for out-of-town games. But the dynamite team doesn't travel more than one hour outside of Sundre, he said. The dynamite team practises twice a week and plays one game every weekend.
“It's a pretty relaxed level of hockey. And then after that, you can decide if you want to get into a little bit more competitive hockey and do more travelling,” he said, adding the novice team travels up to two hours for games.
“Once you get into the higher levels then you can be travelling quite a ways, but that's typically because you're wanting to.”
He encourages people to play hockey because of the “life skills” it develops.
“The person that hockey creates is the type of people we want in our community,” he said. “Sport gives you a direction in life. It gives you a purpose, it builds respect for friends, teammates, opponents. We really try to drive that home with the kids.”
There have been quite a few successful hockey players from Sundre, he added.
This season, six players made the AA Peewee Cochrane Timberwolves team and one player made the AA Bantam Timberwolves team. Two of those players went on to play in the Alberta Winter Games for peewee zone 4 and they both won bronze medals.
Another Sundre player was named to the South Central Alberta all-star team and another player made the midget AA team in Lacombe.
“That just shows the talent that's coming out of Sundre for the minor hockey. There are a lot of high calibre kids.”
