The fate of house hockey in Terrace is currently under threat because the Terrace Minor Hockey Association (TMHA) can’t find someone to volunteer for one of its top positions.
The 1st Vice position has been vacant since the end of the season and TMHA has not been able to find anyone to step up. The non-profit association has posted notices in the paper saying that the hockey season will not start until the position is filled.
TMHA president Terri Soucie says the lack of volunteers, which is an ongoing issue, is “disheartening”, noting that only five people showed up for the recent AGM. There are nearly 365 youths who play hockey in Terrace.
While there is a core group of volunteers, it isn’t enough, she said. If more people volunteered, it would ease everyone’s load and help make running the organization more manageable.
“It’s to the point, if you don’t get more people to volunteer, are you going to have to begin paying people to do it? And then you’re going to have to start charging more for registration and that sort of thing to cover all the costs,” she said. “I’m not really sure what the answers are.”
The association is especially unsure what to do about the 1st Vice position – the position, which is in charge of house hockey and requires strong organizational skills and a thick skin, is a big role.
Ideally, TMHA could get someone in the position now so they could be trained under the former 1st Vice (Theresa Hutchinson, who Soucie describes as “a miracle worker”) over the summer and be ready for the season.
If someone doesn’t come forward, “house division itself will suffer, it will be disorganized,” she said, noting that its organization could fall to existing volunteers who already have a lot on their plate. “My biggest fear is that we’ll lose the volunteers that we have because they’ll be overwhelmed.”
And it would be great to get volunteers with children in tyke or novice, so they could grow with the organization over the years, she said, noting that volunteers with strong hockey knowledge are also in demand.
