It's time to round-up some friends, lace-up your skates, and hit the ice for a cause.
KidSport Bonnyville is hosting their first outdoor hockey tournament on Saturday, Jan. 26 at the new Apergy Community Rink located next to the Bonnyville and District Centennial Centre.
Chairperson for KidSport Bonnyville Brad Ollen noted the organization is excited to be putting on the first outdoor hockey tournament at the rink.
"Hopefully the weather isn't too crazy and cooperates. It should be an exciting event, and we should be able to raise a little money for KidSport Bonnyville so we can continue to support low-income families to put their kids into local sports," Ollen said.
Each team that registers will play three games comprising of two 20-minute periods. The event will have recreational rules, including no slap shots or body-checking. Women are encouraged to participate. Their goals will be worth two points, while men's are worth one each.
Spots are limited ahead of the Friday, Jan. 18 deadline.
"It's limited to eight teams, so we want people to register and do it early," Ollen stressed, adding all the proceeds will be going towards KidSport Bonnyville.
"What we do is we raise funds for low-income families in our community to pay their sports registration fee," explained Victoria Bird, a member of the local KidSport board of directors. "What families can do is they can apply for the grant and we grant them the funds and pay the registration fee directly to the sports association."
According to Ollen, KidSport has assisted over 300 youth in the last three years, and the number is always climbing.
"The demand for funding in our area just continues to rise... With that comes an increased demand on KidSport Bonnyville for more money, and we're 100 per cent volunteer-driven. All the money that we raise is just local money, we don't get grants from any provincial or federal foundations or anything like that," he explained.
This makes community support even more crucial for the KidSport organization.
Bird said, "We want to give every child the opportunity to play a sport, or to get involved and be active, start that healthy, active lifestyle from a very young age. It's amazing what sport can do for an individual throughout their life, and we really want to make sure that the opportunity is there for every child who wants it."
So far, they've received positive feedback about the event, and Bird and Ollen are encouraging interested groups to sign up sooner rather than later.
For more information, or to register your team, call or email Bird at 780-201-3950 [email protected] or Ollen at 780-201-2627 [email protected].
