A letter from GVDMH President Dave Jordan...
Welcome back Twisters!
We’re back! It’s mid October and although it’s always hard to see the nice weather in the rear view mirror, I take pride in seeing the community centre come back to life. I’ve been at the rink and have seen a lot of familiar faces, and some new ones too. For those of you from last year - welcome back, and for our new Twisters, we’re happy you’re here.
The organization is holding strong. Although we had an unprecedented number of kids leave town, our registration is actually up from last year. As usual, the younger age groups are the lifeblood of our organization… but in a change from recent history, we have some returning players at the PeeWee and Atom levels. This proves that the grass isn’t always greener in other towns. There are always struggles in Minor Hockey, and I’m yet to discover an association (including ours) that is free from criticism or doubt from its members.
I can promise you one thing though.
We want to provide the absolute best hockey experience for your kids, because they’re our kids too. We want to provide the best coaching, the best ice times and the most fun. And we want to give you the best value for your dollar. We want to keep small town hockey alive and we will continue the long-standing tradition of hockey in this town as long as we possibly can.
Speaking of tradition… Hockey Day in Grand Valley returns this year on December 2nd. The day will feature each of our teams back to back to back. It was a great success and fundraiser for the association last year and we are expanding Hockey day to celebrate some of the people who came before us. Grand Valley has a long history of both senior and junior hockey, and we’re not going to forget about it. The conclusion of Hockey Day will feature an alumni game of former Tornado and Harvesters players who once (and still do) call the valley home. We hope to see lots of Twister jerseys in the stands to cheer all the old guys on.
On a more serious note, I just want to let our parents know that when it comes to players wanting to leave to other centres, we as an organization do our best to provide our members with accurate information as to their “right of choice” centres. We are simply conveying the information we are given by OUR area representative. We in no way want to dictate where players can go, and really… why would we? If you’re leaving town it makes no difference to us where you go. We simply try to provide you with the most accurate information we have been given. And we wish all of our players, current and former, the very best in all of their hockey experiences.
Our skills nights kicked off on Monday, and I was very happy to see all the kids out there working hard, I know I was sore for a couple days afterwards… We once again are doing our best to keep cost down by providing optional skill sessions at no additional cost to our members. And a big thanks again to all of our volunteers that allow us to continue these nights.
Finally… Thanks again for being Twisters. There is no other organization that cares for your kids as much as we do, because we see them at school, on the diamond and in the street. It takes an entire village to raise a child. You’re doing the right thing.
Being a hockey parent isn’t easy… It takes will and determination, and grace too.
Dave