Dear Southwest Hockey Association Parents:

It's hard to believe that the season ended over two months ago. Time flies and it won't be long until we are signing up again for another year of hockey. In the meantime, enjoy the outdoors, baseball, hockey, soccer, or whatever other activities your player and family share.

Recently my wife had a conversation with her aunt about hockey in the Boston area where her grandson plays hockey. To show up at the first practice it runs $2,500....when you add up all the additional costs of playing, they estimate it costs approximately $5,000 a year to play. Even here in the Twin Cities, there are programs that cost much, much more than ours while delivering a comparable program.

So how come our hockey is so much less expensive? Our association is fortunate to have profitable charitable gambling and fund raising to bring down the cost of playing. But, I believe what really makes the difference is our Minnesota hockey culture. As a kid playing hockey growing up I can remember parents scrambling to shovel the snow off the rinks in between periods, diligently taking stats, coaching, raising funds, running tournaments, and even making hot chocolate for my teammates and I.

It is this giving culture and committed parents that has allowed our association to thrive and grow over the last several years. The only way to keep this forward momentum and continued success is to 'hand over the keys' to the next group of parents in an organized fashion. Our kids are aging...it is time for the next generation of parents to step up.

Cutting to the chase....our board is going to lose approximately four key members over the next twelve months. We need people to fill those roles, but also people to fill other roles. The exiting board members have pledged to help the new board members transitioning through sign-ups and tryouts (mid-October). Being a member of the board requires you to attend 12 meetings annually, and assist in the planning and running of the association. In addition, each board member sits on a committee. One specific position that absolutely needs to be filled by a mite or squirt parent is a Vice President position for 07-08 that will transition to the President position for 08-09. We only ask a couple of things for new board members...that you avoid 'hockey politics' and that you do not join because you have one key issue (i.e. getting rid of a coach, etc.) and are more concerned about that issue than growing a successful, competitive program for the future (that also teaches kids to be better people).

Our committees are: Executive Committee, Registration Committee, Finance/Gambling Committee, Ice Committee, Grievance Committee, Marketing/Communications/Fundraising Committee, Tournament Committee, Hockey Development Committeee, Girls Program Committee, and Recruiting Committee.

In addition to having the four open board seats this year, we welcome parents on virtually all of the committees above. At the conclusion of this newsletter I have provided you with an association contact to volunteer to help out on the committee.

Also, we play hockey in Minnesota District 1. District 1 has asked our association to provide a Treasurer/Bookkeeper for the 07-08 season. If you have any bookkeeping skills, this is would be helpful to assist our District in operating. Contact Newt Fuller at nfuller@axiomproductions.tv for additional information.

It is very critical for you to be involved if you want a strong program for your child in the future. At the beginning of last year, we had no parents volunteer to be a coordinator for our mite program. As the season began, I began receiving calls and e-mails disappointed with the organization of our mite program. My standard response was that we are a 'Parent Driven' organization - if parents aren't involved the program does not run. Thankfully, we had three parents step up and the program ran well and they are returning this year. My point of this story is....you can learn from scratch when most of the current parent volunteers leave and things become extremely disorganized --- or you can have us help you carry the program forward by getting involved now.

Please get involved....your kids will have a much better hockey experience if you do.

Steve Jecha - President - Southwest Hockey Association