President’s Message
2023 President’s Message
This year was a learning year for many of the volunteers that stepped up, including myself. There were many of us that were new to our roles on the Board, and a few of our board members took on multiple roles as we did not have a full board directors.
As a new board, we learned lots this past season and have taken away many things to make our association that much better as we go in the next season. Planning next year, if you can believe it, has already begun!
My hope that this year we will be able to fulfill the board to capacity now that we are past the pandemic and back to a somewhat normal hockey season. Full Board requires 5 Executive members and 9 Directors. This year, the 1 st Vice President and Treasurer role are up for reelection, along with 7 director roles. As the saying goes – many hands, make for light work.
The office also looked a little different this season having Joanne working remotely. We are thankful to have Joanne with us for the time that we did, she has a wealth of knowledge about hockey that has helped all of us in the time that she has been with us. We are sad to see her leave, but wish her all the best in the future.
st COVID, it was a successful season. There was a lot of Hockey played this season. We hosted some fantastic tournaments; we had our teams traveling for out-of-town tournaments and games. We were able to put together some successful tournament teams to travel over Christmas and Spring break.
5 of our 6 Rep teams were honored to compete at BC Championships in March. We ended the year hosting the U18 Female Championships, the committee hosted a 1st class event! Even though our ladies didn’t quite get the outcome they wanted, they played well and left it all on the ice.
I would like to personally thank all our volunteers. Our executive, board of directors, coaches, managers, coordinators, and everyone else in between made this year possible. Without all of you, we could not have had a successful year.
As an association, we need to be thankful for the volunteers. Our volunteers are the backbone o our association, giving up their time to give back to our community. Without them, we are not able to be successful. Unfortunately, this past year, I have seen some behavior that was hurtful to our volunteers. I want to remind everyone to be kind, respectful and polite when we are communicating to one another and follow our 24-hour rule, and if you do not like what is happening, we are always looking for more volunteers. Also, please bring your concerns up through the proper channels, as we cannot make change if we do not know where the problems are.
Thank you to everyone, it has been a privilege to serve as your President this past season, and I look forward to serving another year as your President with WLMHA and am excited for what next season has in store for us!
Dustie Coombes