"The ringette community is my community" - The story of Les White

I would think that my journey into ringette was one that a number of other parents experienced. Growing up in Toronto, I had never heard of the sport. I played hockey and thought that it was the only sport on ice available. So when my eldest daughter Jordan was six years old, we spent $350 on hockey equipment and enrolled her in a learn-to-play hockey program. After one session she informed us that she hated it. That is not what you want to hear when you have spent that kind of money. That summer my wife came to watch me play baseball at the Richmond Green complex, and when she pulled into that complex she noticed a sign on the Ice Rink(Tom Graham) that said "Come try ringette" event. Experience that fastest game on ice for girls". Interesting. What is this sport called ringette and who cares if we get our daughter to actually use her new hockey equipment? We asked her if she wanted to try it and thankfully she said yes. We took her out and watched with curiosity as to what they were doing on the ice(my wife also grew up in Toronto and like me had never heard of the sport). After the event ended and Jordan came off the ice, we asked her if she liked it and she said she loved it. What a relief. We asked if she wanted to play and she said yes, and we immediately signed her up. She was entering Bunny. We would take her to the rink, and the joy on her face after each practice was amazing to see when she played in her first bunny tournament. Watching these little girls skating around the ice was so fantastic, trying to figure out how to pass, stab, shoot and not carry the ring over the blue line. For myself, I sat in the stands and tried to figure out what the rules of the game were. I was lucky enough to learn the game from parents who had some knowledge who were sitting next to us. As time went on Jordan went from Bunny to Novice to playing provincial at the Petite level. By then I had enrolled my middle daughter, Alana and youngest Rachel into the sport as well, and they also loved the game. We ended up moving from the Richmond Hill Association to Markham during Jordan's Tween season(Alana was now petite and Rachel was playing bunny) and by this time I had a full knowledge of the sport. One of Alana's current coaches approached me at the time and asked if I would like to help him coach the soon-to-be-formed Markham petite provincial A team, and I eagerly agreed. It was so much fun and a huge learning curve to figure out practice plans and strategies for the girls on the ice, but we managed to do it despite having only ten skaters with one of them pulled from hockey to form the team we ended up winning CORL at our age group and managed to get a bronze medal at provincials that year in West Ferris. From there the rest is history. I became the only constant coach on that team for the next six years with others coming and going depending on the level of their daughters. I was lucky enough to have had a core of 7 girls who kept with us from novice through the u19A years(no more novice, tween, junior or belle by this time). It culminated with winning a gold medal at provincials in Pickering at u19A. I then started the process again as I was asked to mentor a new u12a provincial team and eagerly agreed. That ended up being a great group of girls and parents, and I have stuck with that group. We are entering our last year of u19a as most of the girls from that first team are now second-year players. We have had a lot of success on and off the ice, and this team has actually won 1 gold, one silver and two bronze medals at provincials over our time together with us losing two years to COVID. I am also helping coach the Markham Open team and have been helping that team for a number of years as my middle daughter still plays and has numerous players on the team that I have coached over the years. I am also very proud that after Jordan retired from playing, she entered the coaching ranks and was the initial recipient of the Gerald Lamoureux Award for volunteer excellence in Markam. Over the years I have taken great pride in watching the young girls I started coaching mature into amazing young ladies. There is nothing better than when a player(whether past or present) sees me and lets me know how much I have affected them in their everyday life. It makes all of the time and effort I have spent over the last 13 years coaching well worth it. Plus I have made some amazing friends all over the province through the game(both parents and opposing coaches). My wife gets frustrated when we go to the arena as my time to leave the arena always ends up much longer than she hopes. I end up seeing and chatting with so many people I have gotten to know over those years as I try and make my way out(and I love that:). The ringette community is my community!!!!

 

 

Les White

Provincial coach in Markham and RH since 2010 and still going strong.