Novice C!

Kamryn is officially a Novice C hockey player.

Never thought that would happen.

I'm pretty certain she is the only girl on the team (we only ever came across one other girl during tryouts; although we heard rumors of two others). We'll find out when the team gets together for the first time on Saturday. We were unsure of whether she would be able to play Novice given her level of experience (nil while many of her teammates will have been playing for 2 to 4 years!) so even though C is the most junior level in Novice it’s a coup for her. And she belongs there; there is no doubt whatsoever about her ability. Novice is for kids born in 2001/2002 so she's playing with/competing against kids who in some cases will be 9 in January!

Her two little friends (both boys) from school were red-shirted (not unusual and what we thought Kamryn might be headed for) and are playing with the Initiation Program (normally for 5/6 year olds) because they just couldn't skate well enough to play Novice. So kudos to Kamryn for her hard work and enthusiasm. For being able to skate forwards and backwards in full hockey gear. For being able to stop without completely losing control and ending up on her knees. For being able to take a hit (yes she took a hard one; it was an accident) and shake it off. For being able to stay on her feet and even occasionally take a swipe at the puck. Kudos for being a girl in a sport that is still (big surprise to me) COMPLETELY dominated by boys. Don't let all that women's Olympic hockey team stuff fool you (it fooled me); this isn't soccer where girl's match boys pretty evenly in participation.

I did discover - too late - that there is a girl's association BUT in order to have enough girls to fill out the teams it covers three times the area covered by the boy's association. It is more expensive and would have meant driving all over the world for practices and games. By playing with the boys association Kamryn's practices will be just down the road from our house and her games (as a house league player) shouldn't be too much of a haul. Better still she will be a better hockey player. Next year we will ask her if she wants to switch and play with the girls but I don't think she will mind playing with the boys at all (so far she doesn't). She really isn't that kind of a girl - never has been.

Last weekend we went out and got her pink laces for her hockey skates. It makes it easier to tell which player she is -- since none of the boys have pink laces -- and it makes her happy. She was quite disappointed that no one on her team asked her "if she was a girl or just a boy who liked pink." Just writing that makes my heart hurt a little because she's not here so I can't give her a little proud-mommy hug.

Also, last weekend I took the Trainer Level I class and passed (a blind, deaf monkey with a limp and a semi-functional left hand could have passed which is a little scary. There was so little first aid training it was stunning; they leave that to the Level II class I guess.) so I'm a "qualified" trainer. I have a little yellow cardboard card that I filled out myself to prove it. Oh and I have a little badge too... somewhere. I volunteered to be the back-up trainer for Sam's team because I didn't know what his schedule would be like and Kamryn has piano on Saturday mornings (just to make things interesting) which I'm committed to attending with her. I think I've volunteered to be the primary trainer for Kamryn's team (although I told them I would be most comfortable sharing the job with someone with more (read: any) hockey experience). Kamryn liked the idea of another "girl" on the bench with her. We'll see how this all plays out - no pun intended.

This really has taken over our lives - or at least our weekends. Scary considering Sam isn't even technically a "player;" he's just in the Initiation program. This Saturday, for instance, Kamryn has practice at 7:30 am at a rink not far from our house. She'll come off the ice at 8:20. Sam has a practice starting at 9:00 am at a rink not far from our house but in the opposite direction from the first rink. Luckily there are a few Tim Horton's in between. Because this weekend is Thanksgiving, there is mercifully no game on Sunday but games will start next weekend. We also, as I mentioned, have piano lessons on Saturday mornings AND soccer (for Sam) Saturday afternoons. We didn't plan it this way, this is just the bizarre way things panned out. It’s a lot of "family time" though which is definitely nice.

Kamryn is most excited about getting a team sweater. Figures. lol