Hi everyone,

The next AGM I’ll be held on Monday January 23, 2023 @ 7:30PM

CAC Arena

14645 142 Street NW

T6V 1H8

 

These are a great opportunities to meet executive members, other officials and let your voices be heard. Please attend if you can. 

Hope to see you there!

GREETINGS FROM HERMAN COSTA - North Region Chairman
 
    

Hello everyone:
I would like to welcome all new and returning officials to the 2022/23 Officiating season. With the
season well under way, we have seen a lot of changes in the program and a lot of information that
needed to be relayed to all officials. I would like to thank the north region executive members and all
the RIC’s for all the hard work at the beginning of the season. All your help and dedication to the
officiating program helps keep things going smoothly. The clinic season is now completed and we
managed to register 1750 officials in the north region. Thanks to Dean Ziegler and the Instructors for
all the hard work this past clinic season.

We held out first general meeting on Nov. 21 and we will be holding our 2nd general meeting on
Monday Jan 23. We hope we can get more officials to attend the next meeting as its always nice to
get reacquainted with those that we haven’t seen in a long time. We are once again planning to have
our annual general meeting and awards presentation in April 2023 (exact date to be announced). We
hope all officials will be able to attend and support our award winners. The best way to keep up to
date about what’s happening in the officiating program is to keep checking the website, we will post
any new information here. 

Congratulations to Taylor Burzminski for being selected to officiate at the World Junior A Challenge in
Cornwall Ontario.

Congratulations to Alex Homer, Brody McGrath and Hayley Butz and Kennedy Roblin for being selected to officiate at the
Canada Winter games on Prince Edward Island February 18 th to March 5 th, 2023.

Congratulations to the following officials for being selected to officiate at the Circle K Classic
Tournament in Calgary on Dec 27 to Jan 1. Jared Gilbeau, Keaton Spirig, Brennen Jasonson, Mark
Claffey, Travis Stewart, Grayson Pollok, Aiden Schlesinger, Anthony Beaulieu, Kennedy Roblin, Conor
Filipchuk and Breylan Ottenbriet.

I’d like to wish all officials and their families a happy holiday season and a great new year.
Herman Costa
North Region Coordinator

 

Hockey Alberta Official’s Committee Scholarship

Value

Annually – Maximum of three (3) awards of up to $1,500.

Scholarships are presented to applicants who meet the following criteria:

· A member in good standing with Hockey Alberta in the current season with a minimum of Level 2 certification.

· A resident of Alberta for at least 2 years.

· 18 years of age by December 15 of the season s/he is applying for scholarship.

· An active official, working games at any level.

· Attending a post-secondary institution in a recognized program on a full time basis, including a recognized trade school program. Transcript of class enrolment is required.

· Other criteria will include, but is not limited to, the applicant’s on-ice ability and off-ice contribution to his/her Region.

Deadline

Application deadline is April 1 of each year.

Applicant could be applying for the year just being completed in order to qualify.

 

Colin Hackett Award - Application

Value:

Annually – Maximum of one award up to $1,000.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The successful applicant must meet all of the following criteria:

· A member in good standing with the North Region and at a minimum a Level 2 official.

· Resident of the Region for the past season and the current season.

· 18 years of age by December 15 of the current season.

· Active official working games in the North Region.

· Attending a post secondary institution in a recognized program on a full time basis (min. of three classes per semester).

· Volunteer experience you have provided as a mentor/leader on and off the ice.

SCHOLARSHIP SELECTION COMMITTEE

A scholarship committee will select the winner each year. The committee consists of two executive members and one member at large.

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION

The application period is January 1 to March 1 each year. Applications will not be considered received until all the required information has been received by the committee.

Here is a link to the application: Colin Hackett Scholarship application

 

Attention North Region RIC’s

If you are an RIC in the North Region and you think that one of your officials has gone over and above their duties and has done something within your area that you would like recognized with an reward, please feel free to reach out and send an email to [email protected] and nominate them! Tell me your name, the official’s name, your area and why you would like to nominate this official for a reward for their extra work. The official will receive some sort of SWAG sent right to their home. This can be done at any time during the 2022/23 hockey season. If you have any further questions or need any further information, please reach out to me!

 

Female Development Program

The female development program is off to a great start this year. We have 130 registered officials! We ran a supervision clinic at a Pandas game and had eight females show up - two of which were newer officials. They were able to sit in on the supervision and learn new things. The conversations during the game were great as well. It was obvious there was great learning happening. We have another session lined up for the January 14 game at 2:00PM at Clare Drake Arena!

We are also trying to plan a team building activity at the beginning of February that incorporates games, rule knowledge and fitness. 

We met with our female senior committee and talked about ideas on jobs they might want. We have narrowed it down to supervising assigning, a mentorship program, fitness leads, power skating and  social media.

We currently have an Instagram page that will be up and running in no time. If you are a female official and would like a central place to ask questions, see posts from around the region and to be involved with other officials, please follow us: @northregionfemale
We are looking forward to building a positive culture within the female program and establishing mentors that can start working with officials at the U9 level. 

We have had some high profile selections so far this year:

Red Deer: December 3-5
Haley Brand
Cassidy Brand

Arctic Winter Games
Reagan Houweling
Michelle Gariepy
Haley Brand

Canada Winter Games
Hayley Butz
Kennedy Roblin

 We are looking to get as many female officials as we can for the U18AAA showcase in Red Deer the weekend of February 4!
There will be great learning there as well as consistent supervision expectations that will be used at all levels. 

Please reach out to Shelley Knowlton or Darby Readman at [email protected] if you have any questions. 

 

Reagan Houweling - OPOE Experience

Hi, my name is Reagan Houweling. I am grateful to have attended the Officiating Performance of Excellence Regional Program in Surrey, BC. As a young female official, six years ago I could have never imagined experiencing such a well-organized development opportunity. Meeting other females around Western Canada and being able to relate with each other and share past experiences is something I will never get tired of. Competing with talented women and hearing such important feedback is detrimental to my growth as an official. I hope to experience more opportunities like OPOE. Thank you, Hockey Alberta, BC Hockey, and Hockey Canada, for this unreal opportunity.

 

Alex Homer and Brody McGrath - OPOE Experience

The week started out with an early morning flight on Sunday to Abbotsford, BC where we were joined by 3 other officials from Alberta (Ty Elliott (NCZ), Curtis Johanson (NCZ) and Logan Parsons (CZ)).  After arriving in Abbotsford, we quickly met the other 11 officials who were arriving from across Western Canada. From there, we caught a ride to the arena in Chilliwack, where we jumped right into some classroom sessions with Dan Hanoomansingh, Kirk Wood (Hockey Canada), Kevin Muench (WHL), CJ Senkow (Hockey Alberta) and Brad Lazarowich (BCHL).  The classroom sessions were followed by an on-ice skating session later that evening.  

 The next three days were busy, as we were officiating games in the BCHL Showcase, where we all officiated one game each day.  Throughout the camp there were multiple classroom sessions, as well as both on-ice and off-ice fitness testing.  The camp concluded with exit interviews followed by another early morning flight home on Thursday.  

We both agree that one of the best parts of these types of camps is getting to meet new officials from the surrounding provinces, that share the same passion and commitment to officiating that we do.  

 Throughout the weekend, we received valuable feedback from the officiating coaches during our games, to not only help improve our games but it will also allow us to share this knowledge and experience to pass on to the younger officials in the North Region. 

We were proud to represent Hockey Alberta and the North Region, and we are extremely grateful for having the opportunity to attend this camp.  We both agree this experience would not be possible without all the guidance and support we were provided from our peers and mentors along the way.  

Brody McGrath and Alex Homer

 

QUIKCARD EDMONTON MINOR HOCKEY WEEK 2023

The tournament began 59 years ago in 1964 in Edmonton. At that time almost all community
minor hockey in Edmonton was played on outdoor ice and teams in Edmonton only played other
teams in their own organization. The organizations were North West Zone, North East Zone,
South West Zone, South East Zone and Knights of Columbus. The premise for the original
Minor Hockey Week was to permit teams to play teams from outside their organization and
possibly be able to play a game on indoor ice in one of the three ice surfaces owned by the City
of Edmonton (Southside/George Hughes Arena, Coronation Arena and the Edmonton
Gardens). The finals were played in the Edmonton Gardens.

The format has remained unchanged with the tournament played over 10 days starting on a
Friday and ending on a Sunday in January. In the original tournament, all minor hockey teams
from Atom to Junior played in the tournament and included teams from the Athletic clubs as well
as the community teams. The tournament guaranteed all teams two games but after the
second game it is win or go home. Games are played using running or straight time and games
have a forty-five- or sixty-minute length. All games must have a winner making overtime a
definite possibility. The current overtime format is depleting players. The divisions in a category
were much fewer than today’s hockey. Because of the fewer divisions, for an Atom or Peewee
team to reach the final, they often would have to play everyday.

For many players the tournament remains the highlight of the hockey season. In 2003 the
Guinness Book of Records recognized the tournament as the world’s largest hockey
tournament. The tournament is entirely organized by volunteers, and this includes the referees
who volunteer their time as on-ice officials during the tournament. Over the years the
tournament has grown, and participation is now open to all teams in the Edmonton Federation
Hockey League. Hockey Edmonton anticipates about 10,00 players on more than 600 teams to
play in the 2023 tournament. Please consider being part of the tournament as a volunteer
official. Say yes when you are offered an assignment.

 

U18AA

There are 4 locations for the U18AA playoffs: Edmonton, Leduc, Beaumont and Fort McMurray. U18AA will be adopting 4 on 4 for its overtime format in semi finals and finals games. 

We’d like to acknowledge all local zones for their hard work in ensuring as many games as possible have 4-officials. The system has been met with overwhelming positive reviews. 

We are supposed to be having all write ups for U18AA done on a form on the website which is still in development. For now, we still want all write ups submitted via email. 

 

Male Development

Regional camps will be March 31 - April 2 in Calgary, Red Deer and Spruce Grove. Alberta Cup will be April 26-30 in Red Deer. D-Camp will be early July (probably the 5-9). More info and the application form can be found here.

Hi everyone, 

The first General Meeting of the season will be on November 21 7:30pm at CAC Arena. 

14645 142 Street NW, Edmonton, AB

 

 

Hi everyone, 

The first General Meeting of the season will be on November 21 7L30pm at CAC Arena. 

14645 142 Street NW, Edmonton, AB

 

This is a great opportunity to meet the executive and to see some familiar/unfamiliar faces! We hope to see many of you there. 

 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Herman Costa or anyone on the Executive. 

 

See you there!

Hi everyone,

We have planned a female fitness testing for November 3. All MHP females are still expected to have this completed ASAP! 

We would like to open this fitness testing up to anyone skating U18AAA and above. If you are thinking of moving up or wanting to come out and meet other females in the region, this would be a great opportunity for you!

Fitness testing will take place at:

50 Gainsborough Ave, St. Albert, AB T8N 0W5

Starting at 7PM!

Please forward this email to anyone who might be interested and please reach out to [email protected] if you do have any questions.

 

See you soon!

 

Shelley Knowlton and Darby Readman

GREETINGS FROM HERMAN COSTA - North Region Chairman
 
 

Hello everyone:

I would like to welcome all new and retuning officials to the 2022 2023 officiating season.  I hope everyone has had a safe and quiet summer and is ready to get on the ice and officiate some Hockey Games. We have started to see some Exhibition games coming in so please make sure you update your availability, Dark days (If using and assigning program) or let your assignor know when you are available.

Everyone must attend a recertification clinic. All NHP, MHP and Level 3 officials must take a Level 3 online clinic.  All Level 1 and 2 officials must take a full day in person clinic that corresponds with your level.  A clinic schedule can be found on the Hockey Alberta Website as well as links for the updated Rule Book. You must register for a clinic using the Hockey Canada registry.  Please make sure you update your HCR profile.  Here is the link to the website. . 

Reclassification applications are now being accepted for the 2022/2023 season.  We are accepting applications for level 3 upgrades as well as MHP/NHP.  More info can be found here.  Please have your application in no later than Jan 31, 2022.

I would like to congratulate all the North region officials that officiated at an international or National event this past season.  Your dedication and commitment as well as countless hours on the ice paid off with a fabulous assignment.

Kennedy Roblin (Linesperson) Esso Cup, Kael Maltais (Referee) Telus Cup, Brayden Arcand (Referee) Centennial Cup, Scott Fulmer (Linesperson) Centennial Cup, Taylor Burzminski (Referee) Hlinka Gretzky cup, Kyle Kowalski (Referee) World Junior Championship, Fraser Lawrence (Referee) World Junior Championship, and the World Championship and Lacey Senuk (Referee) USport Women’s Hockey championship, Women’s Olympic qualifying and the Olympic winter games.

I would like to congratulate all the award winners from the past two seasons.  All the awards were presented at our annual general meeting and social.  All the award winners deserve a big thank you for all their commitment and dedication to the program.  With out the countless hours that our volunteers put in, it would be very difficult to have the successful season that we have each year.

 

I hope everyone has a great officiating season.

 

Thank you and Stay Safe

Herman Costa

North Region Coordinator

 

2022/2023 North Region Executive

Chair: Herman Costa
Vice-Chair: Colin Watt
Secretary: Sanjeev Bhagrath
Treasurer: Alex Homer
U18 AA, Golf, Social: Jeff Howe
Local Referee in Chief Liason: Dennis Arski
Minor Committee, Golf, Social: Alex Verhaeghe
Awards/Rewards, Scholarships: Chris Despot
Discipline Coordinator: Stefan Brown
Match Penalty Coordinator: Ryan Hoffman
Female Committee: Shelley Knowlton and Darby Readman
Clinics: Dean Ziegler
Supervision Coordinator/Shadow: Tim Homeniuk
Federation Rep: Duncan MacDougall
Senior Regional Assignor: Sanjeev Bhagrath
Hockey Edmonton Rep: Chris Rebus
Provincials Coordinator: Ken Dentzien
U18 AAA Liaison: Colin Watt
Development Camp/Alberta Cup: 
League Supervisors: Mike Rebus (AJHL), Lance Hyndman (CJHL), Scott Fulmer (ACAC)
Communications/Social Media:  Darby Readman
Sledge Hockey Coordinator: Mark Claffey

 

Award Winners 2021/2022 - Chris Despot

Ernie Boruk Award: Dean Ziegler

Dean Ziegler attended his first officiating clinic in 1970, which took place in the Vegreville arena with Dave Baron, Willy Walaniuk, Ralph Casher, Zony Cyba and Dean’s father, Dave Ziegler.  The instructor for Dean’s first clinic was Ron Panchyshyn.  While growing up in Vegreville, Dean played and officiated minor hockey games.  Dean completed his playing career with the Vegreville Junior B Rangers.

Dean moved to Edmonton in 1976 to begin a new chapter in his life.  Shortly, thereafter, in 1981 Dean moved to St. Albert to raise a family and this move put a pause on his officiating career.  Dean went back to officiating in 1988 working minor hockey in St. Albert for Tony Chieco and Norm Douzzech. 

In 1998, Dean followed Derek Herman as St. Albert’s Referee-in-Chief, a position that he held until 2003.  Prior to becoming referee-in-chief, Dean designed a website for the St. Albert Referees.  This website displayed everything happening with referees in St. Albert and the website had links to the North Region and to the province.  Dean was also an integral part of the St. Albert supervision program. 

In 2000 Dean was part of a group of Referees-in-Chief from across Canada that designed the Hockey Canada Mentorship and Shadow program under the guidance of Norm Dueck, manger of officiating.  During this time, Dean was instrumental in designing a referee game report form for officials in St. Albert.  This form made it easier for referees to write their game reports.  Hockey Alberta adopted this form for use in minor hockey throughout the Branch.

After his tenure as St. Albert Referee-in-Chief, Dean became the referee assignor for St. Albert Minor Hockey Association and one of his duties was being responsible for the payroll.  Dean found that telephone assigning took a great deal of time and being a forward thinker Dean developed an assigning program that allowed assignments to be made over the internet.  Dean labelled his assigning program RAMP.  It was the genesis of the company known as RAMP which further developed the assigning program.  Dean gave the rights to his program to the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association and their referees.

Throughout his career, Dean worked numerous elite level tournaments, including the 2000 Alberta Winter Games in Sherwood Park and the 1997 St. Albert Bantam AAA Tournament including the Gold Medal game.

For the past twenty years, Dean has been involved the Region executive level and he currently holds the position of Clinic Coordinator.  Coordinating between sixty and seventy clinics each year through the Hockey Canada Registry (HCR) program, Dean creates each individual clinic.  As well he creates a schedule for the clinics in the North Region after consulting with the local referees-in-chief about potential dates.  Dean then assigns instructors to each clinic.  Following each clinic, Dean builds a North Region roster providing everyone in the North Region with a living document.  Dean is also an active instructor.  He does not shy away when asked to help out.

In 2008 Dean became part of the Provincial group responsible for Hockey Alberta referee clinics.  As part of this group Dean was sent to Ottawa to participate in the Master Conductor Clinic by then provincial chairman, Wally Popik which introduced him to the responsibilities of conducting a leadership clinic for instructors.  Dean helped to develop modules and ideas which help our instructors across the province.  The purpose is to have uniform instruction at clinics across the Branch. 

During the first few years, Dean, with assistance from local peers, offered to build the national exam for Hockey Canada.  He suggested that the provincial leadership group use a program called Socrative to conduct the exam at each clinic.  Socrative has many benefits including monitoring exam progress, self marking and identifying problem questions.  Dean, upon receipt of the national exam, inputs the exam into Socrative and distributes the clinic codes to the instructors.

In 2019, Dave Ganley retired, and Dean was asked to become an instructor at Branch supervision clinics.  That year clinics were held in the north and the south part of the Branch.  Dean was an instructor at the clinics in both Edmonton on Saturday and in Calgary on Sunday of the same weekend.

Both Hockey Alberta and the North Region have recognized Dean’s contributions to officiating in Alberta.  Dean received the Hockey Alberta Referee Council Award in 1990 and the Dave Ganley Award in 2013, both from Hockey Alberta.  Dean has been recognized by the North Region with the Supervision Award in 2004, the Chairman’s Award in 2007 and the Ron Panchyshyn Award in 2012.

Official of the Year: Brayden Arcand

Service awards
10 years
Parker Adam, Carlin Baerg, Ron Bay, Dane Britten, Dominic Cutknife, Brandon Geiger, Jordan Hurl, Andrew Hutton, Jacob Kraushaar, Tristen Kremer, Dylan Leaney, Austin Lightning, Blake Martin, Dillon Martin, Zach Martin, Brian Matthews, Brody McGrath, David Schreuder, Peter Sha, Tanner Stefanik, Barry Wiskel

15 years
Daniel Anderson, Brayden Arcand, Taylor Burzminski, Spencer Hayes, Scott Mah, Brett Ryan, Chip Schwartz, Duc Trinh, Devin Wentzell

20 years
Arron Best, Kelly Reid

25 years
Graham Bakay, Ray Keller, Brad Scott

30 years
Robert Boos, Don Buskas

35 years
Ian Martinot

40 years
Monty Wood

45 years
Ernie Boruk, George McCorry, Mike Rebus

 

Supervisions - Tim Homeniuk

The 2022/23 hockey season is upon us and in full swing. Many of us are officiating as many games as we can, while at the same time planning on getting out to the rink on nights-off to supervise our fellow officials.  While we have different reasons for supervising, it is important to remember that supervisions are an integral part of the development of officials. Since it has been a little while since we have been in the rinks full time, I wanted to take this opportunity to go over a few expectations for supervisors.

· Remember that you are there to coach the on-ice officials and help accelerate their development and learning

· Introduce yourself to the officials prior to the start of the game

· Go into each supervision with an open mind and a positive attitude

· Provide the officials with a written supervision, preferably submitted online at Supervision Form - North | Hockey Alberta | Officials Committee and submit completed supervision within 72 hours of the game

· Provide useful information and focus on areas the official can improve. Include feedback on the positive aspects of their game and not just the negative

Officials working hockey assigned by the Senior Assignor are encouraged to read the Supervision Requirements that were distributed earlier this year as they apply to the 2022/23 season. This season, officials will be “assigned” to supervise specific leagues or levels of hockey.

Have a save and enjoyable hockey season,

TIM HOMENIUK

Supervisions Coordinator, North Region

[email protected]

 

Colin Hackett Scholarship - Application

 

Value: Annually – Maximum of one award up to $1,000.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The successful applicant must meet all of the following criteria:

· A member in good standing with the North Region and at a minimum a Level 2 official.

· Resident of the Region for the past season and the current season.

· 18 years of age by December 15 of the current season.

· Active official working games in the North Region.

· Attending a post secondary institution in a recognized program on a full time basis (min. of three classes per semester).

· Volunteer experience you have provided as a mentor/leader on and off the ice.

SCHOLARSHIP SELECTION COMMITTEE

A scholarship committee will select the winner each year. The committee consists of two executive members and one member at large.

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION

The application period is January 1 to March 1 each year. Applications will not be considered received until all the required information has been received by the committee.

Here is a link to the application: Colin Hackett Scholarship application

 

Hockey Alberta Official’s Committee Scholarship

Value: Annually – Maximum of three (3) awards of up to $1,500.

Scholarships are presented to applicants who meet the following criteria:

·  A member in good standing with Hockey Alberta in the current season with a minimum of Level 2 certification.

·  A resident of Alberta for at least 2 years.

·  18 years of age by December 15 of the season s/he is applying for scholarship.

·  An active official, working games at any level.

·  Attending a post-secondary institution in a recognized program on a full time basis, including a recognized trade school program. Transcript of class enrolment is required.

·  Other criteria will include, but is not limited to, the applicant’s on-ice ability and off-ice contribution to his/her Region.

Deadline

Application deadline is April 1 of each year.

Applicant could be applying for the year just being completed in order to qualify.

Apply here: Hockey Alberta Official’s Committee Scholarship Application

 

Ramp 2.0 - Duncan MacDougall

For those Edmonton officials who work in the City AA program or in the Edmonton Federation Hockey League (EFHL) you should be aware that we have moved to a new version of RAMP – Version 2.  This move had a genesis about four years ago.  Since then, there have been attempts to move to a newer version but in testing we always found the newer versions wanting.  Most recently we revisited the process in late March 2022.  In June, the process continued on an almost daily basis and by the end of August, it appeared that everything was in order.  NOT.  There continue to be issues that prevent a smooth transition.  Hopefully, by the time you read this article RAMP Version 2 will be fully operational in Edmonton.  The system has idiosyncrasies that must be learned, and the system will continue to require minor tweaks to allow it to provide the best service for Edmonton administrators, assignors and officials.  Should you experience any issues with RAMP Version 2 please contact your local RIC as it is highly unlikely that you are the problem.  All officials who use RAMP in Edmonton should revisit their personal page and update ALL the data including the year that you started officiating.  

 

ACAC - Scott Fulmer

The season is slated to start sometime in October. We are looking forward to a full year of hockey. We are looking to have more 4-official games as well. Looking forward to seeing everyone on the ice.

 

Female Program - Shelley Knowlton and Darby Readman

This year there will be two co-chairs for the North Region Female Development Program: Shelley Knowlton and Darby Readman. The year is already starting off great as we have females who are very interested in helping out with the committee. Our plan is to begin a supervision program so that there are more consistent supervisions not only with mentor officials but with peers as well. We are excited to have an all female clinic taking place on October 2 at NAIT. Our plan is to also have a supervision coaching session sometime later on in the year. There will be more information to follow.

We had three North Region Officials attend MHP camp from September 10-11:

-Michelle Gariepy

-Megan French

-Hayley Butz

We couldn’t be happier for these three officials. It is a great opportunity to showcase their skill level and to learn from some of the best officials in Alberta. 

We are looking forward to a great year!

If you have any questions please feel free to reach us at: [email protected]

 

Clinic Schedule 2022-2023 - Dean Ziegler

Clinic Schedule 2022-2023

Please click here to begin your registration

HOCKEY ALBERTA OFFICIALS WEBSITE >

CONTACT THE NORTH REGION EXECUTIVE >

Good afternoon everyone!

With the season just around the corner, we would like to invite you again to be part of the All Female Clinic taking place on October 2, 2022 at NAIT. The clinic still has many spots open that we would like to get filled. It will be a fantastic opportunity to meet other officials and to learn more about the female program!

This clinic will be for level 1/2 officials. If anyone knows someone who is interested in starting to officiate this year, this would be the clinic for them!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to [email protected]

Use this link to begin your sign-up and registration.

Have a fantastic long weekend!

Shelley Knowlton & Darby Readman

Hello everyone, 

Here is the new casebook for 2022-2024. You can use this as well as the Hockey Canada App!

 

HC22_Rulebook_2022-24_EN

Hello everyone,

We wanted to start off by introducing ourselves - Shelley Knowlton and Darby Readman - as co-chairs for the North Region Female Officials for the upcoming 2022-2023 season. We are both looking forward to working with each and every one of you!

The two of us, along with a team, will be looking to build a program that has opportunities for growth, progression, supervising, coaching and mentoring. Our goal is to be transparent and create a program that is reputable and fair for every female official.

We will be sending out a “Beginning of the Year” introduction letter in mid August outlining league rules, expectations, supervision requirements and any other important information. 

With that being said, we are tentatively planning a female clinic for October 2. We are working on location and logistics. The plan is to have a Junior class and a Senior class. The Junior clinic would run all day and the Senior class would run half a day in the morning. For the Senior class in the afternoon we would like to have a supervision session. We are looking at bringing guest speakers, discussing supervision expectations, determining requirements for the year, practice delivering a supervision and demonstrating the process of how to submit your supervisions for the year. 

In addition to that, we would like to incorporate the Senior class within the Junior class for some portion of the afternoon. This could be quick one-on-one conversations with each other, a rule book scavenger hunt or just time to talk, meet each other and put some faces to names. We believe that this would be extremely beneficial for the Junior officials so they can hear about some wonderful opportunities that officiating has to offer!

We know that there are half day options for the Senior females, however this would be a great opportunity and if you are able to attend this clinic/supervision session on October 2 that would be awesome!

We are looking forward to working with all of you this upcoming season. If you have any questions, please email: [email protected] Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Shelley Knowlton and Darby Readman