The Chestermere Lions Club has donated $500 to the Chestermere Regional Recreation Centre to jump start the girl’s ringette drop-in program which began April 10.
The new ringette drop-in program is being held on Tuesdays at the Rec Centre for girls aged six and up.
The program will run from April 9 to June 24, with different age groups will be held at different times of the day.
The opportunity this presents to young girls is important for their future and development in the sport.
Tara Hofer, a figure skater and resident of Langdon, thinks the program is important for young girls because it isn’t just boys who play sports.
According to the Women’s Sports Foundation website by the age of 14 girls are dropping out of sports at twice the rate of boys due to lack of access.
“Girls have 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high school sports than boys have,” said the website.
The website said lack of physical education in schools and limited opportunities to play sports in both high school and college means that girls have to look elsewhere for sports, which may not always exist or may cost more money.
“Often there is an additional lack of access to adequate playing facilities near their homes that makes it more difficult for girls to engage in sports.”
Hofer said that the ringette program in Chestermere is helpful for girls because that means they won’t have to drive all the way to Calgary to participate in a sport.
“A lot of girls wouldn’t be able to play the sport they love if they had to go all the way to Calgary for it,” she said.
For the ringette program, ages six to nine will be held from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, ages 10 to 13 will be held from 7 pm to 8 pm, ages 14 and up will be held from 8 pm to 9 pm at the rec centre on Tuesdays.
The drop in session will be $5 at the door, and it will be cash only.
To find out about any cancellations look at the Chestermere Recreation Centre’s website.
The Chestermere Recreation Centre is able to put on the girl’s ringette program with help of the Chestermere Lion’s Club.
The Lion’s Club is apart of an international club with more than 46,000 clubs in 200 countries.
They meet twice a month on the second and fourth Wednesday in the Chestermere Recreation Centre.
