RNB LTAD Guidelines 2009-2010 Season

Ringette New Brunswick Long Term Athlete Development Guidelines

(Amended July 23/09: FINAL VERSION)

The focus of this document is Long Term Athlete Development, or LTAD, for the membership of Ringette New Brunswick. This document sets out the guidelines for LTAD that RNB is requesting each association follow for the upcoming season, 2009-2010.

Our first guideline:

1. Age Categories (Name Change) Please all association correspondence, registration forms, tournament categories etc to reflect the following:

  • U9 Fundamentals (Bunnies)
    • For the 2009/2010 season: born 2001 or later
  • U10 Learning to Train (Novice)
    • For the 2009/2010 season: born 2000 or later
  • U12 Learning to Train (Petite)
    • For the 2009/2010 season: born 1998 or later
  • U14 Training to Train (Tween)
    • For the 2009/2010 season: born 1996 or later
  • U16 Training to Train (Junior)
    • For the 2009/2010 season: born 1994 or later
  • U19 Training to Compete (Belle)
    • For the 2009/2010 season: born 1991 or later
  • 18+ (Open)
    • For the 2009/2010 season: born 1991 or earlier

Our second guideline:

2a. Guidelines to assign athletes within the U9/U10 age groups.

The concept behind this change is that the new age categories will provide both participants and associations with some much needed flexibility. Although we recognize that movement within these categories will be evident, please have the 8 year old players register within the U9 category and then follow the criteria below to divide these players.

  • Tiering should not be going on at the U9/U10 level; therefore regulating these age categories solely based on skill level would be in violation of this concept. Local associations have some discretion on how to make this work or them, hopefully with attention paid to the wishes of the families. A move by a local association to restrict U10 to a one-year category would violate the concept of the definition of age categories (as under age X). For the most part, we have been allowing players to “play up” when it makes sense, and we will continue to do this.
  • First Criteria: Local associations will be able to move players to satisfy the minimum number of players to have at least one team in each age category. The maximum number of players we want on each team is 18 players and any more than that could require players moving within categories to satisfy the needs of two teams.
  • Second Criteria: Players of superior skill that request to be moved to U10. Each local association would be responsible to evaluate the skills of these players and slot them into the appropriate category.
  • Third Criteria: Players that have played several years in the U9 category to be evaluated and moved to U10 as the association sees fit. Or a player that is new to the sport to start out in U9 in order to get a year of U9 under her belt before she moves into a formal atmosphere in U10.

2b. Guidelines to assign athletes within the U19/18+ age groups.

  • Along with the name change, players aged 18 now have the choice where she wishes to play. For the provinces that have NRL teams, players have the choice to play either U19 or try-out for an NRL team. RNB athletes that are moving out of province where an NRL team currently exists, now have the option of NRL versus U19. Players (aged 18) remaining in the province of New Brunswick now have the option of playing for either the associations U19 team or the 18+ team as well as the option of which competitive team (U19 or 18+) they wish to try-out for. The issue of the fact that athletes who are 18 and older are adults and have the freedom to choose what they want to do and where they do it. Therefore we ask that each local association or the competitive coaching staff work with these athletes to assist them with their choice.

3. Our third: Guidelines for coaching staff with regards to practice/game ratios:

  • Keeping in mind that RNB is offering these ratios as guidelines, we also recognize the challenge of ice time within your association. Also as a quick reference, within the 2008/2009 season RNB tracked each associations practice to game ratio and believe that the ratios listed below are achievable.
    • U9 (Bunnies): Although there is no suggested practice/game ratio at this level, the majority of the time will be spent on practices. U9 (bunny) jamborees will be offered throughout the year to celebrate games the fun of the sport.
    • U10 (Novice): A training/game ratio of 70/30. 70 percent training periods versus 30 percent game sessions.
    • U12 (Petite): A training/game ratio of 70/30. 70 percent training periods versus 30 percent game sessions.
    • U14 (Tween): A training/game ratio of 60/40. 60 percent training periods versus 40 percent game sessions.
    • U16 (Junior): A training/game ration of 60/40. 60 percent training periods versus 40 percent game sessions.
    • U19 (Belle): A training/game ration of 40/60. 40 percent training periods versus 60 percent game sessions.
    • 18+ (Open): A training/game ration of 25/75. 25 percent training periods versus 75 percent game sessions.

A full description of what each age category looks like with regards to general objectives, guiding principles and benchmarks can be located in the “Long Term Athlete Development Framework Document” on Ringette Canada’s website.

http://www.ringette.ca/content/LTAD/Resources.asp?langid=1

4. Our forth: U9 (Bunnies) guidelines with regards to practice/game ratio:

The focus for the U9 level will continue to be having FUN and becoming comfortable on the ice using simple group skating games and activities. Develop basic skating skills such as basic stance, falling and getting up, edges, balance on skates, start, stop, walking all directions, forward/backward stride and glide. Introduce sticks and rings, playing fun games to learn how to send, receive and carry a ring. RNB defines the ringette community with reference to U9 (Bunnies) as the entire province, therefore if associations want to schedule exhibition games they may do so with any association within the province…no official RNB schedule will be issued. If needed coaches can be on ice to assist players with the development of the sport. RNB also supports the need for officials to officiate this level as this allows our young officials to utilize their skills and train for the higher levels of play.

As Ringette Canada advises the provinces of the LTAD updates, RNB will continue to keep our membership informed. We wish each association a fun-filled season!