Shayla Stanley is setting aside her hockey stick and once again brandishing her bladeless ringette stick for the B.C. Winter Games Feb. 21 to 24.
The 12-year-old was picked to represent the Zone 5 team, which means she'll not only be representing the sport in 樱桃视频but the entire territory from Vancouver to Pemberton. That's a tall order for a girl who hasn't played ringette regularly since the sport died out locally last year. But instead of giving up, Stanley concentrated on the bright side and has maintained her stride by playing house hockey with the Pee Wee Eagles this season.
"I was kind of sad about it and disappointed but I was excited to try a different thing," she said.When the Howe Sound Ringette Association began to wane last year, Stanley was forced to play for West Vancouver as her home team because without a home team for her age group she couldn't try out for the Petite 'AA' Lower Mainland Lightning - a team that draws from Vancouver all the way to Fraser Valley.
However, the traveling became too much to handle for the Grade 7 Mamquam Elementary School student after a year of commuting to the city for two teams, said her mom, Tina Stanley."We were in the city at like 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning for practice and then we had to stay because she'd have a game at 4 o'clock and then back in the city for 5:30 the next morning. It was insane."
The transition from ringette to hockey has its challenges. First and foremost is the ever important stick handling. While ringette players find it easier to keep their heads up to survey options, young hockey players find it more difficult to maintain possession without at least keeping a peripheral eye on the puck.
Ringette is also more of a team sport as far as passing goes since players must pass rather than carry the ring over the blue lines.Stanley adapted to playing with the boys on the House Eagles hockey team, and now she's easily settled right back into playing high level ringette.
Howe Sound Ringette Association directors hope 樱桃视频girls are able to start playing the game locally in the future. According to Kent Warwick, there were just enough players to put together a Bunny (age 7 and younger) and a Petite team (age 11 and younger) last year. It's unclear whether interest will reemerge in the future, but Warwick is excited that Stanley is carrying the spirit of the game to the B.C. Winter Games.
"She's a very talented player. She's just exceptional and I think she'll do very well there."
