January 10, 1988 Sn ee eS ne te ne Ew rene OME COMMENTS ABOUT CLASSIFIED. January 10, 1988 You Said It. ’ as Ss atisfied!" “tT Sold It!" “Excellent Results!" Found What We Wanted!" You know exactly what you're looking for... and the search is serious with you. That's when you can depend upon Castlegar News Classified Advertising to be your most reliable source of useful, timely information. No matter the purpose of the search a full or part-time job, a better car or a home of your own, whatever the reason, Castlegar News Action Ads are easily available with fresh offerings of interest. Playing an active part in the lives of people, both those searching and those offering, is what Castlegar News Classified is all about. aN) , Castlégar News 365-2212 - HOCKEY DECLINE . . . John Loo, president of the Castlegar and District Minor Hockey Association, says there are a number of reasons for minor PARENTS SPEAK OUT Hockey's By BRENDAN NAGLE Staff Writer Parents play the major role in deciding what their youngster will do to pass the time’in his early years. In Castlegar, there are plenty of team sports to keep a child busy: Baseball, soccer, swimming and, of course, hockey. Hockey is not for every youngster, or every parent, but on the flip side there are more than 200 kids playing minor hockey in Castlegar. “I had no concern about sending my child into minor hockey,” says Betty Harshenin, whose son Brian plays for the Castlegar Pee Wee Rep team. “He was interested at six years of age so we put him into minor hockey.” Harshenin says she was aware of the time and money she and her husband would have to spend to get her son started, but he wanted to play. After watching Brian's play progress over the seasons, she was glad her son took up the sport. “I enjoy watching him,” Harshenin said. “It's exciting to see them (the team) work together on the ice.” She added that Brian is getting to know new kids every year who share the same exuberance for the game and makes friends with many of the other players from teams around the area. it Parents of players registered in the Castlegar minor hockey program are urged to spend time doing volunteer hockey’s decline, but the main reason was a change in age grouping. CasHewaPhote by Brendan Nogle pros, cons work for the league. Some may be asked to keep score at a game or even coach a team. Harshenin keeps the statistics for the Pee Wee Reps, but says it isn't a bother at all. “T enjoy it,” she said. “We (she and her husband) had * no problems with volunteering our time for the league.” Dennis Krahn, however, has decided not to have eight-year-old son, Jordan, play-minor hockey. Krahn said the main reason for not signing Jordan up with a minor hockey team was his son's lack of interest. Krahn said he wasn’t going to push Jordan into playing if he didn’t really want to play. He also said there were other significant factors in not registering Jordan in minor hockey. “There's a lot of time involved and I'm busy working at two jobs,” Krahn said, adding: “The cost of outfitting my kid with equipment was too high.” And Krahn said the expense of keeping Jordan in equipment through his advancing years would grow as his youngster progressed. “If the child gets on a rep team, weekends are spent going to tournaments and spending even more money on travel and better equipment.” Krahn says not having Jordan play hockey doesn’t mean he won't play sports. “You just steer him to another sport,” he said. “Hockey's loss is baseball's gain.” Minor Hockey Week The Castlegar and District Minor Hockey Associa tion will be very busy next week as about 200 players from out of town will converge on Castlegar to take part in the Minor Hockey Week Friendship Tournament. Starting Friday, Castlegar will highlight minor hockey’s competitive spirit in a three-day tourney pitting Castlegar’s minor hockey teams — from Novice to Midget against teams from Spokane, Nelson, Trail and Rossland. “It promises to be an exciting tournament,” said tournament chairman Graham Read. “There will be 27 games played over three days at both arenas.” Eleven teams will be coming from Spokane, including four Novice teams, one Novice Rep team, one Pee Wee team, one Pee Wee Rep team, two Atom teams, one Atom Rep team and one Bantam squad. Trail will send one Midget Rep team, Rossland will send one Bantam Rep team and Nelson will be repre- éented by two Atom teams. Read said Castlegar will have 15 teams representing all divisions. The tournament starts Friday at Pioneer Arena with the Castlegar Junior Novice teams squaring off against each other. The opening ceremonies are Saturday at 10 a.m, at the Community Complex. “The calibre increases as the tournament pro- gresses,” Read said. But he said the tournament is not based on winning, as much as it is based on participation and sportsmanship. There is only one trophy to be won at this tourna- ment: the John Stevens Memorial Trophy. “A guy could lose all the games and win the trophy,” Graham said. “The trophy goes to the team who shows the most sportsmanlike conduct over the weekend.” Read said he hopes to generate some interést in minor hockey with this tournament. Including the Castlegar charges, there will be about 400 players taking part. o minor hockey? By BRENDAN NAGLE Staff Writer Where have all the Castlegar minor hockey players gone? For an area steeped in a rich hockey tradition which includes NHLers like Steve Bozek and Gordie Walker, to name just two, the Castlegar and District Minor Hockey Association has become increasingly thin on players. Over the last seven years the number of kids playing miner hockey in Castlegar has been cut in half. In 1981, there were over 450 registered players from the ages of four through 18 playing hockey in Castlegar. Today, there are just 232. While Castlegar's minor hockey program is still the largest in the West Kootenay, Association president John Loo is concerned about the decline in the number of players. Loo says there are a number of reasons why the Association's player lists have been so decimated. “The main reason for the decline in players was due to-the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association changing the age groupings in minor hockey,” Loo said. , The CAHA is the governing body for all minor and amateur hockey associations in the country. In the 1985-86 hockey season the CAHA juggled the age groups for the separate divisions within minor hockey associa- tions across Canada. Before the changes, minor associations had a set format of divisions which were assembled according to age. Four to eight year olds played in the novice division; the Atom division consisted of players ages nine and 10; Pee Wees were 11 and 12; Bantams were 13-14; Midget players were 15-16 and Juveniles 17-18. The CAHA changes were implemented to develop players sooner by raising the age requirements for each of the divisions by one year, except at the entrance level of four-year-olds. “What they did was move some smaller kids up with bigger kids and the smaller kids were intimidated,” Loo said. “The registration across Canada in the Midget division alone dropped by almost 50 per cent (after the format change),” he added. Loo also estimated the other divisions dropped by 20 to 30 per cent. The Juvenile ranks disappeared altogether in Castlegar as the older players looked for greater competition and headed for the Junior Rebels. Loo admitted that while the CAHA changes had the most direct effect on Castlegar minor hockey in the shortest period of time, there were other contributing factors that saw fewer kids registering for hockey. Aa T NS AA e — FEMALE COACH . . . Head coach Fern Allam, assistant coach Gus Young and some of thé mem- “The price of hockey equipment has risen sharply over the last few years,” he said. “The average cost of equipping an 11-year-old ranges from $200 to $300. For a 15-year-old the price could be as high as $500." Loo said that yhoungsters aged 12-17 grow so fast a lot of parents can't justify buying equipment for their kids every two years at those prices, so they keep their kids out of hockey. He was quick to add that the registration fee this season is the same as last year. Parents signing up their child for the first season pay only $35. After the first season the registration fees are $90 for Novice; $100 for Atom and $110 for Pee Wee Bantam and Midget Registration fees pay for most of the ice time for a season, officials, and league insurance. Transporting players to and from games and practices is the responsibility of the parents. As well, the registration fee does not cover the entire cost of ice time for a season, so parents are asked te.help with fund-rais ing events like Pronamicstettie tea god dances to support the cost of ice time. These are other factors Loo said, that contribute to the problem of fewer minor hockey players in Castlegar He said lack of enthusiasm by some players’ parents is putting an extremely heavy load on Association organizers and executive, who are all volunteers. “Parents’ support is extremely critical for the survival of minor hockey,” Loo said. “The support of parents who have kids in the Association isn't at as high a level as it could be t6 improve it. Some of the Association executive and officers — including coaches and managers — put in between 12 and 35 hours a week working for the Association.” Despite all the problems, Loo said things were looking up. This season the player registrations increased by 16. He said the Association has streamlined its operations and focused on solid hockey skills and having fun, as opposed to emphasizing winning. “Some parents put pressure on the players to wit and the players didn't like the pressure so they quit,” he said. “The model is now to learn the skill and have fun instead of win at all costs like it was a few years ago.” All the coaches, managers and executive were given detailed job descriptions and attended seminars on how to make hockey easily accessible. A manual was prepared outlining the procedure of running the Association with the emphasis on involvement and fun. “We want the coaches to develop the basic skills of the player and make sure hockey is fun,” Loo stressed. bers of the Castlegar Atom House Team No. 2 take break during practice session. CosNewsPhote by Brenden Nagi Coach learns to skate The head coach of the Castlegar Atom House team No. 2 is a hockey coach with a difference. She's Fern Allam, and she is just learning how to skate. Allam, who is also treasurer for the Castlegar and District Minor Hockey Association, started coaching this year and didn't skate until taking it up just recently. “I'm taking pointers from the kids,” Allam joked. “I'm black and blue all over right now.” She got her head coaching duties of the 10 and 11 year olds when the former coach was moved to another team. She was assistant coach ‘at the time and was the only person with her B.C. Amateur Hockey Association coaching ticket for levels one and two. She said that skating was not a mandatory BCAHA prerequisite for accepting the coaching chores, but it was @ necessity. “After standing on the ice for an hour in your boots during practice, your feet tend to get very cold,” she said, adding: “It’s really hard to coach from the boards.” Allam says the kids are helping her with her skating and watching her every move. “The kids are very careful with me,” she said. “They watch me and if I get going too fast or can't stop they're there to lend a hand.” She said she hopes to have her skating skills worked out soon, so she can concentrate more on coaching the kids, instead of the kids coaching her. “They're a great bunch,” she said. “I'll be happy when I can keep up with them.”