While coaching her son’s minor hockey team in the Battlefords Minor Hockey Association for the last two years, Mandy Lehman noticed many young girls were moving away from the sport.
“I found that a lot of girls were just losing interest in the game,” Lehman said. “They love to play but the dynamics of the game just doesn’t really support young females.
“We have local midget and bantam teams, but there’s nothing in the lower divisions.”
As a result, Lehman has put together a Female Hockey Program through the BMHA, which is designed to get younger girls playing with each other.
“I want the girls here to have the same experiences that I had when I was younger,” Lehman said. “I played right up through high school and now I work as a yoga instructor for the Battlefords North Stars, so hockey has pretty much surrounded my whole life.
“After coming back home following a decade or so away, coaching the girls on my son’s team really lit a fire in me to support them more as they take part in the sport.”
The first on-ice session took place at the Civic Centre Friday with 29 skaters in the initiation, novice, atom and pee wee programs all taking part.
“I turned out to be a really great turnout as we also had players from Edam, Glaslyn and Medstead come out with us,” Lehman said.
“It was a 90-minute practice and we focused on a lot on skating, along with other drills. Everyone was divided among their similar age groups and they all came together at the end for some friendly games, which turned out to be a lot of fun.”
While the program is still in its early stages, Lehman says the feedback has been positive, so far.
“So many parents have said they were waiting for something like this to come around,” Lehman said. “There was a real need for this here.”
On-ice and dry-land training sessions are planned throughout the next two months, with plans currently in the works to have some of the players take part in the March Ice tournament in Saskatoon in March to wrap up the season.
For more information on the program, contact Lehman via e-mail at [email protected].
