Being away from home for Christmas may not be ideal, but for Shae Reaman it will be a dream come true.
Shae will be joining the junior Team Canada for the World Ringette Championship in Helsinki, Finland from Dec. 27 to Jan. 4. She leaves for Finland on Dec. 23 and her family will follow her on Christmas Day.
“It was like my dreams are coming true because when I was younger that’s all I wanted, I wanted to play for Team Canada. When I finally was chosen for the team it was just kind of like (it) hit me,” said Shae.
Her mother Tracey Reaman has watched Shae work for her dreams since she was eight.
“I just knew when she told me, maybe when she was eight, but watching her play throughout the years, I knew that she would make her goal,” said Tracey.
Shae started playing ringette in Mount Forest when she was young. She had originally enrolled in figure skating but gave ringette a try after her mom saw an ad in a Newspaper. She now spends her time playing for the Richmond Hill Lightning in the National Ringette League and training for Team Canada.
“I chose ringette and I ended up loving it even though growing up everyone played hockey,” said Shae.
She recently went back to Mount Forest to help out with the youth team and found she had come a long way from playing in the local arena.
“I realized how far I’d come. I didn’t realize until I was back there and I was this, I was these little girls,” she said.
During the Worlds, Finland is the team to beat, she said. Even though she is nervous, she’s excited for the chance to play.
“The first game right before we go on the ice, I’ll be really nervous but once I start playing I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine, hopefully,” she said laughing.
Not only will this defence player be on her dream team, but she was voted assistant captain by her teammates and coaching staff.
“Just being chosen for the team was like awesome, but being able to be assistant captain was just like really cool,” said Shae.
Her dreams won’t stop at the junior team; she’s hoping for the chance to get on the senior team in a couple of years and she is eventually hoping to coach.
Right now, she’s studying nursing at McMaster University.
“It’s been a challenge but I’ve grown up playing lots of Sports so I’ve learned how to juggle schoolwork and that. But it does become a lot, I wrote a ton of papers in the car or on the plane,” she said.
For Shae, she said she couldn’t imagine a world without ringette.
“Playing ringette is a total stress reliever.”
