Believe it or not, it is once again time to think about registering for the coming ringette year. It is our pleasure to bring you this first newsletter of the 1999/2000 season.

In the post season period GRA volunteers again wrestled with issues such as rising administration costs, improving financial management, and reducing administrative workload for both volunteers and the membership. In consequence, a number of program changes have been made for the 1999/2000 season - all of which are summarized in this letter.

Rising costs of both ice and administration have resulted in the need to implement an increase to the registration fees, and adjustments to the procedures surrounding both mail and walk-in registration.

• Basic registration fees have been increased slightly. Please see the enclosed registration form for details. These increases are necessitated by ice cost increases, and increased fees paid to the governing bodies (Ontario Ringette and Ringette Canada).

• Members whose mail-in registration is postmarked by August 23 may take advantage of an early registration discount of $10 from the prices shown.

• Similarly, members may bring their registration forms to the August 26 registration night at Orleans Recreational Centre (6:00 to 9:00 pm) and also take advantage of this discount.

• Mail-in registrations postmarked after August 23, or registrations hand delivered after the August 26 registration night will be subject to the full registration fee. Only one exception to this rule will be made - members who wish to register on the last day of the Recreational or Competitive Ringette Camp (August 27) will be permitted the discount.

• As GRA will no longer be sponsoring an Intermediate age level, the Deb division will now accept registrations from members who are between 19 and 23 years of age (inclusive) during the 1999 calendar year.

A number of changes have been made to the tryout process. These changes were prompted by the need to reduce ice consumption during the tryouts, and to reduce the amount of administration and time required to selected teams.

You will find enclosed a schedule of tryout times for each division. This should provide you with adequate information to determine your first ice time. PLEASE DETERMINE YOUR ICE TIME FROM THE ENCLOSED SCHEDULE - YOU WILL NOT BE RECEIVING A PHONE CALL IN ADVANCE OF THE TRYOUTS. If you have any questions, please contact the general information number at 830-9124, or by e-mail to:

Gloucester Ringette Administration.

A and AA tryouts will be conducted at the same time this year, and will be collectively referred to as Competitive tryouts.

All players taking part in competitive tryouts will be required to pay a tryout levy along with the basic registration fee (see form for details).

All players taking part in competitive tryouts must participate in at least two of the first three tryouts. Exceptions will be made for illness with approval of GRA.

No player will be permitted on the ice until they have registered and paid their fee. There will be no exceptions to this rule. Unregistered players who show up for a tryout can still register but will not be permitted on the ice until such time as all registration paperwork and payment is complete. All members are therefore advised to register by mail, or at the August 26 registration session.

Changes are being made to streamline the selection process, and progression toward team selection will take place much more quickly than in previous years.

At the time this letter was written, the competitive coaching selection had not been completed. Information regarding who will be coaching what teams will be communicated later.

If you are interested in coaching a house league team - please contact Debbie Cowan at 830-9021.