Birth of a great organization!
On Wednesday February 24, 1993 in meeting room #2
at the Pickering Complex the birth of the Durham West
Girls' Hockey Association took place. Over sixty interested
parents were in attendance from Ajax and Pickering
for a special meeting called by Bev. Mallory who was
then the Vice-President of the OWHA in charge of hockey
development. The topic of discussion was the feasibility
of forming a Girls' Hockey Association in Durham West.
There were numerous girls and women playing all over
Metro Toronto with various other girls' leagues and
with boys' teams. Perhaps it was time to create our
own league and help develop our own female hockey
players. We were fortunate in Pickering that a new
ice surface was under construction and would be ready
for operation in September of 1993(O'Brien Arena).
We initially needed to sign-up or show intent to play
organized hockey to our respective Parks & Recreation
Departments. We needed to a show a demand for some
ice time for girls and women of all ages in Durham
West (Ajax/Pickering) that wanted to play hockey.
A steering committee composed of 11 volunteers chose
to meet within two weeks to develop a publicity campaign
to encourage females of all ages and all abilities
from beginner to advanced skaters to sign-up at various
locations and times.
Planning a strategy!
The magnificent 11 volunteers met on Wednesday March
10 and devised a plan to sign-up players to join our
new association. Art Carefoote was voted in as President
and master organizer. He helped set-up the incorporated
name and designed our corporate logo. We then pooled
$50-$100.00 each into a start-up budget for advertising
and to buy DWGHA hats and sweatshirts to wear at the
sign-up locations. One day of publicity at the Pickering
Town Centre in front of Shopper's DrugMart yeilded
over one hundred names and advertising in the local
paper increased our initial registration to almost
140 names. Art then put together a forty page presentation
with everyone's input to present to both the Towns
of Ajax and Pickering. He was successful in acquiring
13 hours of prime time ice from both towns to start
a houseleague program and two Rep/Select teams at
Atom and Novice levels. We were also successful in
acquiring a $13,000.00 Wintario grant to purchase
hockey equipment. This was a very important event
as we were in competition with surrounding organizations
to keep our costs in-line with established associations
that were years ahead of us. We ended up just in the
red over the first two years but were well on our
way. We had begun one of the fastest and most successful
women's hockey associations in the History of the
OWHA (Ontario Women's Hockey Association). The OWHA
asked us for a copy of our Town presentation to advise
other new organizations on how to form a plan and
present it. We hosted half of the Provincial Championships
in April of 1995 and were the first organization to
do this in over a decade.
How we did it!
The magnificent eleven rotated meetings between our kitchens and dining rooms every other week during the entire year one. There were some late mid-week meetings but we wanted everyone's input and understanding of the decisions that were being made. We were all super volunteers with one goal in mind- 'our daughters were going to play ice hockey in their own town arenas'! Looking back five years later, we did one hell of job and had a lot of fun doing it. We have established some life time friendships that are a direct product of that first year. It is hard to estimate the total volunteer hours put in during that first year, but it easily in the 1000's for sure. Here is that executive.
Inaugural Executive 93/94
President Art Carefoote
Vice President of Houseleague Andrew Vahey
Vice President of Selects Rob Black
Secretary Dale Genuis
Treasurer Sylvie Morra
Registrar Andrew Vahey
Referee-in-chief John Morra
Dir. Coach & Player Dev. Penny Giraudry
Dir. Equipment & Uniforms Denise Warne
Dir. of Publicity Art Carefoote
Dir. of Sponsorships Janice Black
Dir. of Statistics Andrew Vahey
Dir. of Tournaments Mike Serio
Dir. of Ways & Means Barb Ritchie
We all salute the executive members that have served and that have made DWGHA a first class organization all across Ontario. Your dedication and committment to DWGHA is very much appreciated by everyone.