One of the driving forces behind the growing popularity of ringette in the Westlock region was recognized for her efforts last week with an award from Ringette Alberta.
Pembina Ringette Association president Janice Tymkow was presented with the Ringette Excellence Award at a ceremony in Red Deer April 27. The award is presented annually to an individual for making significant contributions towards showcasing the popularity of ringette and recognizes outstanding, lifelong achievement as a volunteer supporting the sport.
Tymkow has been pivotal in the development of the sport in the region and has helped grow the ringette association from just 13 members, playing at the Linaria Arena in 2012, to more than 80 registered players for the 2018-19 season.
“It’s humbling really. You find a passion for something and you just want to do it. I never do anything I do for the ringette program in this community for myself. I was fortunate enough to play ringette as a kid. I’ve been very fortunate in the last three decades to, in some way, shape or form be involved in the sport,” said Tymkow.
Her passion is not just in the sport alone, she also enjoys the teaching aspect of her involvement with the association. She has showcased the sport at schools throughout Pembina Hills Public Schools, hoping to ignite a similar passion for ringette in someone else.
“Ultimately my passion is to just see kids playing it. I really don’t even care what sport kids play I just want them to find a passion in something they’re doing. Ringette is a harder program to build because people are still unfamiliar with it, it just feels that much more rewarding when you can not only introduce somebody to the sport, but also get them to love it.”
There are many reasons to love it whether it’s for the friendships you make, the social aspect or for the competition of it, all of which Tymkow said drew her to the sport.
Tymkow went to Red Deer to attend a conference and ended up coming home with the award, but that wasn’t her only experience coming out of the weekend.
Funny enough, she also ran into a former coach of her own.
“She was a coach of mine when I was in that 10 to 12 age range. I think about people like her and while you don’t remember a lot from that I age I remember the positive influence she had on me and the positive things she said and the experiences that she made possible for us as kids. I look at her and that’s the person I aspire to be like,” said Tymkow.
“People know that I’m passionate about it and I wear my heart on my sleeve. I try not to push it on anybody, I just want people to be open-minded about it and give it a shot.”
