Under 7

U7 2024/2025 Season

Welcome to the 2024/2025 Hockey Season!

Hope you all enjoyed your summer!  We are very excited for a new season to get started.  We continue to offer a U5 program, it has been such a great place for kids to learn to skate and gain confidence before joining into U7.  This year our U5 program will include kids born in 2020 and 2021.  We are asking if you have your 2021 born child in this program that you plan to go on the ice with them.   BMHA also offers a female program starting in U7.  This is a great spot for girls to play hockey and to build lifelong friendships.  If there are any girls that are registered for co-ed but would like an opportunity to play female hockey, please send me a message and we will make sure they are where they want to be. 

For the Female U7 Sharks program to continue we will need someone to step up to coach this year.  If we are unable to find someone to do this we will have to mix the girls up with the co-ed teams.  If anyone is willing to do this or knows of anyone that would want to head coach please reach out to me and I will help you get the certification required to do so. 

As there are a lot of new players this year I just wanted to touch base with what a season in U7 looks like.  All players will need full equipment (helmet, neck guard, shoulder pads, elbow pads, jock/jill, hockey pants, shin pads, socks, skates, practice jersey (for preconditioning until teams get made and kids get a team jersey), water bottle and a stick.  The first few weeks we do pre-conditioning - kids will get randomly put on a team and do skating drills in order for the coaches to see where the kids are at.  This is to ensure that each hockey player is put on a team with like skilled teammates.  Pre-conditioning is not your child’s team for the year - There will be a coach meeting once pre-conditioning is done and teams will be made there. 

U7 is the building the block to your child’s hockey skills and development.  You will see more of a focus on practices, learning to skate and hockey skills than playing hockey games.  The amount of hockey games and tournaments your child's team attends is dependent on the coaching staff, manager and the families on the team.  Some teams like to attend more tournaments and play more games and some like to focus on practicing and skill development.  U7 teams share the ice with another team for each practice.  Some teams prefer to run both teams together and some prefer to run their practices as an individual team - this entirely depends on the coaches and their preference.  Please keep all of this in mind during your child’s hockey season.

Coaches, Assistant Coaches and On-Ice Volunteers - If you have not already received an email from me regarding coaching and you wish to help out please send me a message - if you weren’t apart of my last email it’s because you did not indicate on your registration that you would like to help this season.  Sometimes there are glitches in the registration process and I may miss seeing who all would like to help out.  The more help we can get on the ice at this age the better.  There are a lot of returning coaches that it would be very valuable to be on the ice with and learn from if you are at all interested in coaching now or down the road.  I know sometimes being on the ice with your child can make things harder for them and for you but if you have a 1^st time skater please consider coming on the ice and taking the required online courses to do so.  It helps the coaches and your child learn if they are able to have some one on one help in the beginning.

Managers - Reach out if you would like to Manage your child’s team.  U7 is a great age group to get started taking this on.  At this level, you will discuss with your teams’ coaches and families if they’d like to attend tournaments, out of town games, invite teams to play in town, getting game sheets ready, you can organize clothing orders, team building activities…however you see fit in your role as a manager.  I am available to answer any and all questions and help along the way. 

*Important information*

Every helper (coach, assistant or on ice volunteer - even if it's just to help your own child) that goes on the ice will need to submit a criminal record check - you must do so every 3 years (If you are unsure if yours is still good please call Kelly at the BMHA office 306-446-3393 or check your spordle account).  There is a form on the BMHA website you can print off to get your CRC for $10:

https://cloud.rampinteractive.com/battlefordsminorhockey/files/SKM_C3320i24071211550.pdf. 

You will have to pay at the city or online and then bring your receipt to the police station in order to fill the paper work out.  If you are coaching, assistant coaching or wanting to be on the ice with your child at any time please see below for what will be required.  To be an on-ice volunteer for your child you will need to do 1 online course - Respect in sport.  Returning Coaches, Assistant Coaches, Managers and on-ice helpers:  Respect in Sport needs to be re-taken every 5 years.  Please make sure yours in up to date.  December 20th is the very last day to obtain all the required certification before we receive a fine.  U5 will require the same certification.

 Very important that all bench staff start a spordle account this year if you haven’t already - coaches and volunteers if you could ensure you have an account and all your information with your certification (if you have) is in there ASAP that would be great!

https://account.spordle.com/login

CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR U7

• Head Coach
• Respect in Sport (Online)
• Coach 1 - Intro
• Assistant Coach
• Respect in Sport (Online)
• Coach 1 - Intro
• Manager, Trainer, Volunteer, Bench Person
• Respect in Sport

ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR TEAM

• Hockey Canada Safety Program
• HCSP Level 1 or HU SAFETY - One (1) of the registered team officials (manager, coach, trainer or volunteer) must have this certification

 *FEMALE REGISTERED TEAMS MUST HAVE A MINIMUM OF ONE (1) REGISTERED FEMALE COACH*

We don’t have an exact start date yet for U7 so keep an eye out for an email from me with our start date - or keep checking the website as everything will be posted there as well.  We have plans to keep this division to Saturday and Sunday mornings, so keep that in mind for this year.  I understand that it can be frustrating not knowing ice times for the entire season but just know we are getting it out as soon as we are able to.  Things have been known to need to get switched up and changed sometimes at the last minute (tournaments, make up games, and playoff games for the older divisions) so it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on ramp (You will receive an invite to RAMP once the season is underway) or the website.  If I am missing a parent or guardian's email please let me know and I’ll get them added to my list.   

I have shared a lot of information - Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns and I will do my best to help you.  Looking forward to another fun season.  Again, if you wish to help our U7 division on the ice or have your daughter on a U7 all female team, please send me an email!  

Thank you!!

Chantel Lapointe

U7 Director