Dear TASA Families,
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you. My name is Sheldon MacKinnon and I am going into my fifth year on the TASA Executive. Previously I have held the U9 VP and the Executive VP roles. This will be my first year as TASA President. I have also coached for the past 7 years. My wife Tara and I live in Hammonds Plains and we have two children, Charlie and Anna-Lee. Charlie is entering his second year of U13 at TASA and my daughter is in competitive Cheer.
As you can imagine, we are busy preparing for the upcoming season. TASA had an incredible year last year in terms of team success as it seemed every weekend we were posting pictures of our teams at all levels having success in tournaments and playoffs. We certainly would like to see that trend continue this year. TASA has become the gold standard in terms of the development of our players. Leading the development effort is Kyle MacDonald for players and Ben Meisner for goalies. I am happy to report that Kyle and Ben have agreed to extend their contracts far into the future, which will ensure TASA will only continue to improve.
This year’s AGM saw the formation of the new TASA Executive for the 2024-25 season. Although two of our long-serving executives stepped away, we have some new executive members and some with new roles. I am very excited about this team and what we will be able to accomplish. One of the items we will be communicating more about is the Kruger Big Assist win. We are currently working with Kruger on a plan for the prize money as it will be aimed at giving access to hockey to those who normally wouldn’t be able to play. In parallel, we are also forming an Inclusion and Diversity committee that will ensure TASA is doing everything possible to include players and families from all cultures and situations. Hockey is a great game and everyone should be able to play.
Registration will open in July. This year we have had to increase base registration and competitive fees due to increasing costs. This will be the first increase to fees in many years however we have tried to limit the increases as much as possible. Contributing factors to the increase are Ice costs, Officials costs, Development costs, Insurance costs and overall administration costs including bank fees.
We are currently working on a schedule for September and we will communicate as soon as possible. Fall Development will start in early September and flow into Competitive tryouts and evaluations for all levels.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reply to this email. Looking forward to another great year for our Ducks!
Sheldon MacKinnon
President
Tasa Minor Hockey
[email protected]
GrayJay Sports