Over 550 Ringette athletes came to Lacombe for the Lacombe Edge Icebreaker tournament.
Louis Rellis, organizer, said the annual tournament is the largest fundraiser for the Lacombe Ringette Association and the funds help cover the extensive costs association with ice times and travel.
“It is run by parent volunteers and this year we were fortunate to have four parents volunteer to run the entire tournament,” Rellis said. “We had teams come from as far as Saskatchewan to participate and it is a major fundraiser for our association.
“It brings all of the families and the kids together.”
Lacombe Edge teams ran teams in the U6 division all the way up to U19, with meany of them excelling.
“Lacombe did awesome and they won gold in the U19, U16 and U14 divisions,” Rellis said. “Our U10-3 team won goal and our U10-1 and 2 teams won silver.
“We did phenomenal in our home tournament. Our U14 team won their first game of the season in their opener and then they came out and won gold in the finals. It was a great confidence boost for a lot of our girls.”
The multiple wins is indicative of solid coaching and parents throughout the association, according to Rellis.
“We get families in and they stay with us,” she said. “Our coaches are able to stay with us and we even have grandparents coaching who have coached for years. They are mentors to our incoming coaches and our junior coaches are fantastic.
“Our U19 girls coach our U14 teams and our U16 coaches are coaching our U12 teams. That speaks paramount to our parents who coached their own kids.”
She added the association is a family one that creates a ripple effect of volunteerism and community spirit.
The Lacombe Edge has ringette athletes from throughout central Alberta. Each of those teams have bottle drives throughout the year to help with costs.
“Those really help our teams. There are a lot of expenses for teams in terms of tournaments. Each team has two away tournaments and they run expensive,” she said.
Rellis added the tournament went awesome.
“We had great community involvement. We had community members donate items to our raffles and silent auctions. We also had baking items which sold out as well,” she said.
todd.vaughan@lacombeexpress.com
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