Young girls interested in hockey are invited to the Osoyoos arena on July 28, when the Shooting Stars all-female hockey team will be opening up the ice for a free skate and practice from 5 to 6:30 p.m. (Photo contributed)
She shoots, she scores!
The Shooting Stars all-female hockey team is looking for new recruits, and they’ll be opening up the ice this week for young girls interested in trying out the sport for free.
“These girls have so much fun playing hockey,” said head coach Charmaine Casorso. “There’s great energy for all hockey, but if you ever enter a girls change room – it’s something else. Lots of dancing.”
After noticing that girls living in the South Okanagan were limited to just a few athletic choices, Casorso decided it was time to introduce female hockey to the region.
“Between Oliver and Osoyoos there are not a whole lot of sport options,” she said. “There’s dance and figure skating, and soccer in the spring – but I’m trying to create awareness that hockey is a lot of fun.”
For those young, aspiring female hockey players, the Shooting Stars will be holding their free event on Thursday, July 28, and the fun takes place between 5 and 6:30 p.m. at Sunbowl Arena in Osoyoos.
“It’s going to be more of a practice style than a game,” Casorso said. “What we’re going to do is have the experienced girls already on the team wear purple jerseys, so that way we can quickly see the new players coming out. We’ll have a fair amount of helpers to make sure new girls are getting lots of support.”
Girls are encouraged to come out even if they don’t have any hockey equipment since the Shooting Stars have more than enough to share.
“We’re going to bring extra gear, but if anyone is in need of gear please give me a call (250-535-0696). It’s helpful to know someone’s coming so we know what we need, but regardless, any girl who comes out is going to have a lot of fun. Even if they have no skating experience.”
The evening will start off with a free skate before leading into drills involving skating, passing and shooting, and then some mini-game activities.
When the Shooting Stars play their regular season games on the road, the team travels to Penticton and Kelowna for games. And two or three times each season, the team travels to compete in a four-game tournament. Last year, the Shooting Stars finished second at a tournament in Kamloops.
“It went awesome, the girls did so well.”
Parents whose daughters are interested in continuing with the program can register online through comha.com. There will be two options for female hockey, atom and peewee, which are divided by age. The Shooting Stars will form a team around the age group that shows the most support. The cost is $200, which works out to about 20 games in the season with two practices each week.
DAN WALTON
Oliver Chronicle
