U-12 Skills-Testing Pilot


            Eastern Region has been selected to pilot the skills-testing portion of LTAD (Please see our LTAD page for more information on Long Term Athlete Development).  At three different points throughout the year, we will be testing most of the U-12 girls in the ERRA.  The first session has already been completed and was very well attended which allowed us to gather a lot of information on where each girl is in her skills development.  In the second session we will be testing to see how much each girl has improved and will also have a fun event filled with mini-ringette games, crafts, snacks, and entertainment.  The third session will take place near the end of the season and will allow us to see just how far each girl’s skills have progressed.

            After the January session has been completed, there will be a survey for all participants, players, and coaches to fill out. 

Here's the online surveys for you to look at and make comments...


Player survey: http://www.cda-adc.ca/UltimateSurvey/takeSurvey.asp?surveyID=65

Parents survey: http://www.cda-adc.ca/UltimateSurvey/takeSurvey.asp?surveyID=69

Coaches survey: http://www.cda-adc.ca/UltimateSurvey/takeSurvey.asp?surveyID=70

            Why is Eastern Region Piloting U-12 Skills-Testing?

The Eastern Region Ringette Association is piloting the U-12 Skills Testing for several reasons. 

  • There has been a lot of talk about changing the format of the U-12 division in order to become compliant with the directions set out in the Long Term Athlete Development model.  What we are hoping the pilot will give us are concrete results which will help us to determine whether some of the aims of the ORA's approach to tiering are feasible or not (for example, non-tiering at Petite - if we can show them how wide the range is of skills between a Petite Provincial 1 player and a Petite C player then we will have a better idea of whether or not non-tiering completely will work).  Part of the U-12 Skills-Testing is a fun event that we will be hosting on January 31st. This event will include scrimmages made up of teams that have been sorted vertically as is expected through the ORA's LTAD implementation guidelines at this point.  If we find that splitting the teams this way works well, then that would be concrete evidence to support non-tiering at U-12.
  • In the ERRA we are also using the pilot to examine where our coaches are having difficulty teaching certain skills - if we look at a team or an association and notice over the three sessions that the girls’ skating is not improving as well as other teams' skating skills are, then we know that skating is a skill that those coaches need to be taught how to coach more effectively.  This information will allow us to host supplementary coaching clinics where the focus is specifically on coaching the skills - this is something that we on the ERRA executive feel is lacking in the current CSI and CI coaching courses.  We are committed to looking at the results at the end of the year and scheduling these supplementary coaching clinics in the 2010-2011 season.
  • We are also interested to see how skills develop on teams - is there a trend where girls at the top of each team develop less than the rest of the team?  Is it generally the girls at the bottom of the team to start with who develop more?  We are interested in this information because it could provide a basis from which to coach coaches on how to better address the needs of the team as a whole...
  • There has been a lot of discussion through the ORA LTAD Standing Committee that by the time girls are reaching the Junior and Belle levels, they are not where we would expect a Junior or Belle player to be in all areas of their skills development.  What we are trying to accomplish through the U-12 testing is to find ways to ensure that once a girl reaches Belle she is not limited by the fact that for example she never learned how to skate backwards properly, or execute a proper wrist-shot.  The U-12 Skills-Testing will identify these lapses in skills development early and will hopefully lead to more well-rounded players in the future.

Important Dates

JANUARY SESSION:          Full January Session Schedule

Skills-Testing portion: Saturday January 23, 3:30-6:30pm @Walter Baker

                                    Sunday, January 24, 11am-3pm @ Peplinksi

                                    Saturday, January 23, 7:30pm @Walter Baker GOALIE SESSION

Games portion: Sunday, January 31, 2pm-6pm @Richmond Arena

PLEASE REGISTER BY SENDING AN EMAIL TO 5KN9@QUEENSU.CA, INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND WHAT TEAM YOU PLAY FOR (EX: CORA PETITE B).  DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION IS JANUARY 10TH.  YOU WILL BE ASSIGNED AN HOUR TO COME OUT BY JANUARY 13TH.  GOALIES, PLEASE REGISTER FOR SKATING SKILLS-TESTING AS WELL AS THE GOALIE SESSION.

MARCH SESSION:

Skills-Testing: Saturday, March 27, 3:30-6:30pm @ Walter Baker

                        Sunday, March 28, 10:30am-2:30pm @ Nepean Sportsplex 2

                        Saturday, March 27, 6:30pm @ Walter Baker GOALIE SESSION