Kairo Mair and Brooklyn Hay have made the BC Ringette team, and are gearing up to compete at the 2015 Winter Games in Prince George.
Tryouts took place about a year ago, and Mair and Hay managed to make the cut and secure their place on the roster.
The newly assembled team, which is coached by Salmon Arm’s Cathy Lipsett, met for their first training camp over the weekend.
Mair said it was exciting to hear the news that she made the team.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” said Mair, who, at age 17, is the third youngest player on the team. “It’s an honour to represent our province like this.”
Mair is grateful for the opportunity to represent the sport of ringette, which she says doesn’t have the most popular presence.
Mair said she tried out for Team BC on a whim, noting she’d heard people talk about it but never thought it would be a possibility for her because her age. But she made the team, and it will be the highest level of ringette she has ever participated in.
Mair said she started playing ringette when she was five years old. With limited options in town for girls hockey, she wound up going taking the ringette route, and has stuck with it since.
Mair says her favourite part of the sport is its speed.
“They don’t call it the fastest sport for no reason,” said Mair, noting the ring moves across the ice much faster than a hockey puck.
