Special Meeting called

Attention Members of Hockey Regina:

In advance of the 2014/2015 hockey season I am calling a special meeting of the Hockey Regina membership to nominate and vote for seven additional board members. We need a minimum of 75 people to attend the meeting and make quorum.

Location: Queensbury Centre, Salon A

               1700 Elphinstone Street

Time:    May 20, 2014

            7:00PM 

Our recent attempt at another Annual General Meeting has come to same conclusion that we have sadly come to expect – not enough people for quorum.  As usual we took an obligatory stroll through the financials of the organization and opened the floor to questions and comments from the abbreviated membership group present. I am appreciative for the people who attended last evening. Coaches, managers, board members and even a few parents. You have my thanks. 

At the AGM a comment that caught my attention was a coach who said,  “Why would I continue to coach when I get constant negative feedback from parents?” “Why,” he posed, “would the board members stay when the board faces constant criticism?” I don’t have the hockey playing background that so many of you do. I do want to help out so I offer more than simply writing a cheque to HRI and sitting back for the season. 

I got home from the meeting frustrated by a number of factors – the poor turn-out, some individuals boorish interaction, a legal inability because of lack of quorum to move forward and overall, a sick feeling about the evening. I woke the next morning still trying to make some sense of it. The hockey program is not without its’ challenges. The board has operated on barely better than a skeleton crew for the past season. It is virtually impossible to do much more than handle the outlier situations that occur. Skeleton or not, the board did develop a strategic plan to guide action for the 2013/14 season that focused upon four key areas: develop coaches, develop officials, strengthen communications and build volunteerism.  

There are areas that the remaining board members would like to see explored for next year:

- Consistent 2-way communication with the membership,

- Development of goal-tending,

- Plan to build female hockey,

- Review and recommendations for evaluations improvement, and

- Review of regulations and bylaws.

What else should we be doing? Where and how can we improve as an organization? 

With 2,400 players and 160 plus teams surely we can fill a room.  We will gather from the meeting, committee members for the action areas listed above (5+ members per committee). The meeting will also serve to nominate and fill the seven remaining board positions for the 2014/15 season. Arrive with a desire and commitment to provide a positive contribution and a willingness to develop, implement and support solutions that will work for our program. While coaches are currently ineligible to sit on the board, you can still be members of committees.

I had the opportunity to speak briefly at the Midget AAA Pat Canadian’s annual banquet. I challenged them, as teenagers, to look at all of the positive experiences they have had in hockey and to pay it forward. I challenge you, as parents, guardians and families of hockey players to do the same. Choose to make a difference. Choose to take action. Start now. 

Respectfully, 

Stephen Eger, President Hockey Regina Inc.