At the last AGM, Ron McFarlane was appointed as the Head Coach of the Regional All Star Team. Ron started right away, by putting together the rest of the Bench Staff. And they are Betty Ann Kerrigan from Forest, as Assistant Coach, Chuck Belanger from Chatham, as the Manager, and Fred Masters from Kitchener, as the Trainer. Please, lets give them the support they need. They will be looking for donations of Ice Time from the Region Associations, for Practice sessions or exhibition games. Please, contact Chuck Belanger at (519) 352-8045 or email creeklin@ciaccess.com. Or if you can’t donate ice time, a monetary donation towards ice time can also be made.

The Tryouts for the Belle AAA Team are well underway, with approximately 89 players registered at the start. The Bench Staff is quite enthusiastic about it, so I am confident that they will put a very competitive team together. After the 3^rd Tryout on Saturday, they peared it down to 30 Players. They have an exhibition game scheduled for Saturday, Sept 20^th at 5 pm in Lucan against the Southern Region RAT team.

This Team will be participating in 3 Challenge Cups and the Ontario Winter Games:

Challenge Cups: North Bay, Nov 7-9, 2003

Kingston, Feb 6-8, 2004

Ontario Winter Games: London, Mar 11-14, 2004

The World Championship Trophy, as far as I know, it will be in Ontario for the next 5 months. It will be touring through the Province, where associations can use it for promotional purposes. We can even invite some Team Canada players to come along with it. Jackie and Jenn Gaudet will be glad to attend any promotional function that an association wants to put together. So far, nobody has made reservations at the ORA office. Please, contact me if your association wants to set something up. We currently have it in our care and it can stay here, until it is called back by the office.

Our first meeting of the new season is Wednesday, September 17th at the Upper Optimist Hall in Stratford. We encourage at least one coach from each Team to attend this meeting.

I encourage associations that even have a strong B team to join our League and try the play at the A Level. Sometimes an association isn’t sure whether their team is A or B. If in doubt join the A League, the girls have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Just a reminder, that the aim of the League is to promote and develop the "A/AA" game of Ringette in Western Region as well as foster good sportsmanship and fair play.

Please, spread the word, give your coaches all the information they need. If there are any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact either Ginette or myself.

Ginette Kirkconnell Luc Lagrainge

159 Newbury Drive 94 Burnham Court

Kitchener, On Stratford, On

(519) 579-4163 (519) 273-0529

gandt@wrra.ca elite@wrra.ca