Etobicoke girls will have a chance to play a spring season of ball hockey at the West Mall outdoor rink.
For girls six to 13 years of age, the youth league, divided into two age groups, will be held on Tuesday nights and run for about eight weeks – from the beginning of May until the end of June.
Registration is $80.
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The youth league is being kicked off by the Toronto Women’s Ball Hockey Association (TWBHA) which currently operates two leagues in the Toronto area for players 14 and over - based out of Malton Arena in Mississauga in the west and at Scarborough’s Leacock Arena in the east.
The TWBHA was started 30 years ago by Etobicoke’s Judy Ilcio – at the West Mall location where she is now starting the youth league.
"This is about using the outdoor pad at West Mall as we did when we started our women’s league 30 years ago," said Ilcio, a life-long Etobicoke resident from the Markland Wood neighbourhood who graduated Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute.
"A lot of these girls are already playing in ice hockey leagues so it’s a good opportunity for them to continue to evolve some of their hockey skills," she said.
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As far as the number of teams, she said "it really depends on interest and what we get from a sign-up standpoint."
With Toronto’s abnormally long winter finally easing its grip, she said enquiries about the new youth league have really started coming in to the league.
As for the timing of a new youth league, three decades after the adult league got going, she said, "I happen to have the time, it’s a pet project, it was something that I wanted to do."
A pioneer in the sport for women, Ilcio, after kicking off the TWBHA in 1983, went on to serve as the first female president of the Ontario Ball Hockey Association in 1983 and then played an integral role in the development of the Canadian Ball Hockey Association.
The adult league’s competitive division has welcomed a steady stream of Canada’s gold-medal-winning Olympic players over the past three decades.
For more information on the adult league or new youth league visit the TWBHA website at www.twbha.ca
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