Hello Families of the 2024-2025 SMHA U11 B Black Team!
First, thank you to Darren for the email yesterday and for being our Head Coach this season. It's going to be a great year.
My name is Helen Scammell (
Webmaster@FlyersHockey.ca), and Jada Harvieux (
jada_patey@hotmail.com) and I will be co-managers for this season. My player is Alice Legay - one of our Goalies - and Jada's husband is Head Coach Darren, and their player is Kyle Harvieux on the blue line. I see some familiar names on the roster and also a few families that I have yet to get to know, and I'm looking forward to it.
There is a lot of info here, and should be enough to get us through a week or so. Following a budget meeting between Team Management, we will absolutely host a Parent Meeting during or immediately following an upcoming practice. More info TBA in the coming week or so.
Here is a breakdown of the topics covered in this email:
- Communication
- Finances
- Team Treasurer
- Team Budget
- Seed Money
- Jersey Sponsorship
- Fundraising
- Tournaments
- Equipment
- Name Bars
- Jerseys
- Game Socks
- Teamwear & Other Equipment
- Safety
- "Rule of Two"
- Hockey Canada Health Form
- Google Form to Collect Feedback from Families
And - Here we go!
Communication
Quick Links:
Jada and I will funnel all important Team Communication through the GrayJay Website and accompanying GrayJay App.
The SMHA Website is run by GrayJay (a Cole Harbour based company) and they have designed the GrayJay Teams app to run alongside it. I'm excited about this instead of using TeamSnap, TeamLinkd, or other options, since this app is ad free with a one-time annual payment per team, and it automatically syncs the in-app calendar with the League Schedule and other calendar items that Jada or I may add to the calendar. There are chat options, RSVP tools, and reminder tools - I think it will be pretty helpful.
So - please Download the GrayJay Team App (
iOS |
Android). You may need to create an account on the GrayJayPay platform if you've never used it before. Please create the account with the email address listed below for each player, and from there you can easily "share" the info to other family members. (i.e. co-parents and extended family). If you're having trouble, please let me know. It is new to me too, but we will figure it out together.
We also have created this
U11 B Black Facebook Page, which will be good for sharing fundraisers and also helpful for doing any Live Streams in case some family members are not able to attend but want to tune into the action.
Kenzie Moore (parent of Lucas Bellingham) has agreed to help us out with managing the Facebook Page. Thank you, Kenzie!
Finances
Team Treasurer
We are lucky to have
Lisa Gillis (
U11BBlack@FlyersHockey.ca, note the two B's are not an error!) as our Team Treasurer this season. Lisa has filled this role on her son's team - Logan, one of our Goaltenders - for several years now, and it'll be great to have her in charge of our Team Budget. Thank you, Lisa!
Team Budget
For those of you who are new to the U11 Competitive Division, please know that Team Fees are typically higher than in U9. This is primarily due to the lack of shared ice times, as well as more expensive tournament fees. Lisa, Darren, Jada and I will be having Team Budget discussions soon, and we will certainly keep everyone in the loop.
Seed Money
To get some funds in the bank to allow for team startup costs, it is standard for all families to provide an EMT that counts toward their player's Team Budget fee. As usual, an exception can be made if your family has a significant amount of Carry Forward 50/50 Credits that will be transferred into our Team Bank Account. If you provide Seed Money and end up fundraising your child's entire Team Fee, then the Seed Money can either be refunded to you, or rolled forward to a future year at the end of the season.
Please provide $200 by EMT to Lisa at U11BBlack@FlyersHockey.ca as Seed Money by Thursday, October 31st, 2024. This $200 will count toward your player's Team Budget fee.
If you can send funds in advance of the deadline, that is better as there are some start-up costs that the team must incur. Please reach out to Lisa at
U11BBlack@FlyersHockey.ca with any questions or concerns.
EDIT Oct 15 1:00pm: Thank you to those who have sent Seed Money to the email address already. For now, please hold of on the EMTs until the bank account is activated and Auto-Deposit is enabled. Lisa will let us know when she is ready. Thanks! -HS
Jersey Sponsorship
One standard fundraising option is to try and obtain a Jersey Sponsor for your child's Game Jerseys. We have attached a form letter that SMHA provides for families to use, or feel free to write your own.
How this works: If you obtain a Jersey Sponsor, the Sponsor either writes a Cheque to "Sackville Flyers U11 B Black" or they send an EMT to U11BBlack@FlyersHockey.ca with the agreed upon sponsorship amount. The amount is flexible, and up to you. The entire amount provided as a Jersey Sponsor goes directly toward your player's Team Budget amount. Note: If you do obtain a Jersey Sponsor, you are responsible for obtaining a Name Bar with the sponsor's name and having it added to your player's jersey. The Name Bar must meet the same criteria outlined below - the correct colour for the jersey, with no logos, and plain unjustified font.
If you already have a Jersey Sponsor and would like a Name Bar for the sponsorship as part of the Group Order from sportwheel
s, please include it here on the Google Form. (We do get a small discount for bulk orders, so it is slightly cheaper than buying one on your own.)
Fundraising
Kenzie Moore has agreed to take on the role of Fundraising Coordinator for our team, and she already has some great ideas started including Earrings, Valley Apples, and Ornaments. Stay tuned for more info in the coming days! Thank you, Kenzie!
Also, Kelsey Young has agreed to take on the role of 50/50 Coordinator for our team. Those little orange tickets are probably just around the corner. Thank you, Kelsey!
Tournaments
Please
indicate on this Google Form what your level of interest is as a family with regards to tournaments for the year. Of course, tournaments are expensive and come at a significant cost to each family by the time we factor in hotel stays, meals out, possibly time off work, etc - but it is one of the foundational shared experiences about playing Minor Hockey. It seems fairly standard for SMHA Teams to try and find at least one "away" tournament with a hotel stay and maybe another two closer to home. We will happily review feedback, and try and plan accordingly.
Equipment
Name Bars
Name Bars can be used for multiple seasons. If you already have Name Bars in good condition from a prior season, there is no need to order more.
Your player will require two Name Bars to go with our Home and Away jerseys for this season:
- White Name Bar with Black Font (as per the image below)
- Orange Name Bar with Black Font (as per the image below)
If you have Name Bars on hand already and would like some help getting it sewn on, here are a couple of local options:
Jerseys
Coach Darren has picked up the Team Jerseys this evening. FYI: Our Home Jersey is Orange and our Away Jersey is Black
as per the CMHL Website.
There might be a few exceptions, but as a reminder, the lower the jersey number, the smaller the jersey.
Game Socks
We've decided that families should source their own Plain Black Hockey Socks to be worn for Games. The ones we can find locally for Team Sales that most teams purchase (Black with Orange band at knee, and Orange with Black band at the knee) are over $30 per pair, and truly not really great quality. We thought most players likely already have a solid black pair of socks, or if not have the ability to grab a pair for ~$20. Maybe consider keeping the Black ones special for Games, and feel free to wear whatever other Hockey Socks for our practices.
Teamwear
Coach Darren had an idea that instead of putting in a Track Jacket order, we could place a Group Order for an optional Team Hoodie that can be worn anytime of course, but especially before Games for the warmup.
Other Equipment
We will be ordering Team Water Bottles for the players once the jersey numbers are locked in, which will be included in the Team Budget.
Safety
"Rule of Two"
As a reminder, SMHA is adamantly supportive of the "Rule of Two", set out by Hockey Canada and Hockey Nova Scotia. This is a risk-reduction strategy to dressing room management, and we want to make sure we are always keeping safety in mind and complying with this rule. This means that there will be no players permitted in a dressing room until there are two approved Team Staff present. Approved means they have an up-to-date Criminal Record Check and their Respect in Sport Activity Leader course is complete and on record. Please hold each other accountable to this rule, and don't let your players into the room until you know there are Team Staff present and ready to supervise.
Hockey Canada Medical Information Form
Jada and I will have blank copies available this week, or if you prefer to do it in advance and email it back to us, there is a .pdf attached. A copy of these completed forms are meant to be available to Team Staff at all times in the event of an emergency, so we appreciate your time and effort to fill them in.
That is all for now - I believe Kenzie is going to chime in with a couple fundraiser ideas. Jada and I will take her email and add it to a Fundraising page on our website as well so it is all in one place.
Thanks folks! Have a great week and we will see you at ECV!
GrayJay Sports
Sackville Black 
Parents can copy and paste the link below to confirm their booking online. 