Local parent Dan Blair doesn’t think Puslinch will be netting goals with its current approach to community hockey for youth.
Councillors here recently reviewed the letter written last month by Blair as he outlined his concerns about the re-introduction community hockey programs back to the Optimist Recreation Centre (ORC) in Aberfoyle.
He stated hockey programs should include both stick and puck and shinny in various age groups.
He wrote “Historically, hockey has been a large part of the Canadian culture and as witnessed by the over 7 million viewers of the World Junior Hockey Under 20 tournament final. Some of the proudest moments and lasting memories in Canadian history include the last two Olympics with both men and women winning Gold medals, the 1972 Hockey Summit series with the Soviet Union and the state funerals of the great legends Maurice Rocket Richard and Jean Beliveau.”
Blair stated that in the short history of the ORC, the Optimist’s and its members invested thousands of volunteer hours in support of this facility and it is my understanding it was with the community’s youth in mind.
He stated that in the first couple of years it was dominated by teenage youths playing shinny and this angered others.
Blair suggested that if the facility had been managed properly in the early stages with times slotted for different age groups and different purposes, this would not have occurred.
“It is absurd to blame the teenagers for the lack of management.”
He considered the anger misplaced and the pendulum swung to a point where there was no shinny last year and this year a single hour of shinny for three age groups has been added recently.
Blair stated the times offered are between the dinner hours of 5pm and 6pm and are not friendly towards families and setup for failure.
Of further concern was his belief that no attempt was made to publicize this “test period”.
He considered offering the venue on Sunday and Monday at family dinner times for this test period “shameful and disrespectable for both parents and children.”
While the ORC is used extensively in the two week holiday season, Blair stated it “otherwise sits idle far too often.”
He added “In the Spring, Summer and Fall the utilization of the arena portion of the ORC is horrid yet when my sons arrive to an empty facility to shoot some balls around with a small group of friends, they are asked to leave.”
Blair said teenagers are not the scourge of society.
He also contended rental rates charged for the ORC are far too high nor is it a controlled environment.
“Puslinch is NOT Mississauga or the GTA.
“For a township that values conducting their affairs in a fiscally responsible manner and a desire to maximize the revenue from this facility, then drop rates and fill up the underutilized time slots in all seasons of the year.”
“It is the hope that we all learn from the mistakes made in the past in the management of this first class facility and it is time we demonstrate some overdue respect to the children of this community and the family oriented goals of the Optimist Club of Puslinch.”
His letter was only briefly referred to at council last month.
CAO Karen Landry said the letter was referred to staff and would be part of a pilot program report to come back to council.
Councillor Matthew Bulmer asked if the township recreation committee would also have time to review the letter prior to the next council meeting.
Bulmer added “it is not too late in the year to make some changes … if needed.”
