Ringette all about having fun and making friends: More girls playing
sport than before

The Daily Press (Timmins)
Tue 14 Jun 2005
Colin McGarrigle

After being involved in ringette in many different aspects for the past
16 years, Kara-Laina Ikola has never seen the sport as popular as it is
now.

"Ringette is really big in Timmins and it's growing," said Ikola. "I
think it's because we focus more on fun and those who have played it
just love it. The numbers just keep going up," said Ikola on the local
interest in the sport.

Ikola added that the Timmins Ringette Association has seen the number of players in the league grow and attributes that to the non-competitve
nature of the sport.

"We have seen girls who left to play hockey for one year and then they
came back because they loved and missed the sport," explained Ikola.

Even though ringette players wear the same equipment as hockey players, contact is not appreciated as part of the sport.

"Hockey is so serious," said Ikola. "Ringette is just for fun."

And it's not just in Timmins where the sport is growing, but all over
Canada. For the first time ever, a trial National Ringette League (NRL)
was formed last year, which Ikola was a part of, playing forward for a
Cambridge Open AA team.

"It was an awesome opportunity. I got to travel quite a bit and meet
lots of people," said Ikola.

The NRL is hoping to expand to 20 teams this year after the success of
last season and hopes to increase the number of games held in a season.

While Ikola will not be playing in the NRL next year, she is passing on
her skills to local youth during the 2005 Northeast Ringette School, to
be held from Aug. 15 to 19 at the McIntyre Arena and Schumacher Public
School.

"Last year went really well. We had 79 girls attend the school and we
are always hoping to expand that number," said Ikola.

Students will mix their days between learning necessary skills and
having fun at the school, said Ikola.

"They will have two hours of ice time, a 45-minute classroom session
where they'll learn about some strategies and rules, and then they'll
get to play some other sport, like volleyball or basketball, just so
they can have some fun," said Ikola.

She added that there is no other ringette school in the North, which was part of the reason why she formed the school three years ago.

reprinted with permission