M’CHIGEENG—M’Chigeeng First Nation hosted a series of hockey workshops last week for Island female hockey players led by two time Olympic gold medalists Cheryl Pounder and Becky Kellar.
“It was a joint effort between the Union of Ontario Indians, the Anishinabek Educational Institute and Lakeview School,” Union of Ontario Indians Health Policy Analyst Tony Jacko told The Expositor. “The program is a mix of on-ice instruction focussing on skill development and a presentation about the girls’ Olympic journey.”
“Cheryl and Becky were such high energy,” added Lakeview School Principal Neil Debassige. “The students really enjoyed the workshops and learning from the women.”
“Their whole platform is being yourself, setting goals and putting a plan in place to achieve your goals,” continued Mr. Debassige. “They had their golden tickets (Olympic gold medals) to prove that it works—anything is possible with hard work.”
Mr. Debassige said Lakeview School had been working with the Union of Ontario Indians on a number of projects including a recent project which brought an optometrist into the school to check the students’ vision and supplied students with two pairs of glasses (for school and home use).
“We have a good working relationship and when this opportunity came up we were thrilled to host the program and help organize it,” said Mr. Debassige. “We also brought in students from Wikwemikong and Sagamok because we wanted to include as many girls as possible. As well, we had local girls who have played for the Lady Wolves and college hockey come and help out with the on-ice workshops.”
The workshops were held over three days with 25 girls from Wikwemikong participating the first day, 21 girls from Sagamok on the second day and 21 girls from M’Chigeeng (including Lakeview and Manitoulin Secondary School) the final day.
“We love to give clinics and work with young female hockey players,” explained Ms. Pounder.
“We didn’t have the same opportunity growing up, coming from smaller towns, to play girls’ hockey,” explained Ms. Kellar.
“We like to share our journey and the message that you need to find your own path, your passion,” added Ms. Pounder. “To do that you have to try different things. We do on-ice work, but sharing our medals and our journey I think is the most impactful.”
“If you look at the Canadian Women’s Hockey team you see a lot of success,” said Ms. Kellar, “but there have also been also of challenges along the way and we try to tell the girls that success doesn’t come easily—it comes from hard work.”
