Celebrating 50 years of ringette in Canada

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/11/2013 (4343 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Most sports fans know that a Canadian, Dr. James Naismith, invented the game of basketball. But how many realize that a Canadian invented ringette?

Sam Jacks, the director of parks and recreation in North Bay, Ont., wanted to develop an on-ice game for girls and women. During the winter of 1963-64, basic rules were introduced and the first ringette game was played in Espanola by a high school girls hockey team.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary, Ringette Canada took a roadshow across the country, and the final stop was Nov. 9 at the MTS Iceplex. The displays included one of its Hall of Fame, which includes Manitobans Herb Abrahams, Deb Marek and Leon Morrisette.
Abrahams officiated when the first Canadian ringette championships were played at the Keewatin Arena in 1979. Marek was a top goalie and later a coach and Morrisette, a coaching instructor, also headed the provincial association.

In the fall of 1969, Felicite Warner and Iris Callis formed Manitoba’s first ringette team in Wildwood for girls aged 10 to 12. In 1970, Wildwood participated in a three-team league with Victoria and Westridge community clubs. The sport caught on and two winters later 22 teams were playing in a Winnipeg Parks Branch ladies league. The Manitoba Ringette Association (MRA) was formed in 1972 with Barry Mattern as president. Quebec and Nova Scotia joined Ontario and Manitoba in developing a national association and Ringette Canada was founded in November 1974.

Darlene Muron remembers her introduction to ringette. Her daughter wanted to play at CUAC Community Club so, despite knowing nothing about the game, she was recruited to coach. That led to ringette becoming an important part of her life as she spent 10 years as a volunteer followed by 16 as the MRA executive director. Now retired and living in Matlock, she misses the people involved in the sport. She mentioned that Mattern introduced  ringette to Europe when he took a team from the North End to Finland in 1979. The sport later was demonstrated by Manitoba teams in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

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November is a month when many national sports organizations hold annual meetings and hand out awards.

On Nov. 9 in Vancouver, Keith McLennan was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame for his accomplishments as a field lacrosse player. Arguably Manitoba’s greatest box and field player of the past half century, McLennan earned all-star honours 13 times while playing in 23 Canadian championships.

At the Softball Canada annual meeting in Yellowknife on Nov. 16, Haylee O’Neill from Oakville was honoured as the coach of the year. The Softball Manitoba coaching co-ordinator coached the provincial girls team to the silver medal at the Canada Summer Games.
Sharon Trevana of West St. Paul was recognized with a Silver Pin Award for 10 or more years service to Synchro Canada (the national governing body of synchronized swimming) and Karen Land from Winnipeg honoured for 25 years as a national official at the annual Synchro Canada convention in Halifax, which was held Nov 1-3.

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com