Girls Score with New Change Rooms
Female hockey is one of the fastest growing sports in Canada and for one hockey dad making sure young women have their own space to change in the Wakaw Jubilee Arena means more than just keeping up with the changing face of hockey.
“My daughter Marti is 16 and when the girls are younger and just starting in hockey sharing a change room with the boys is not so big a deal. But when they get to a certain age obviously, they really need to have their own space,” says Mike Burechailo.
Like most arenas, in big and small communities, having separate change rooms for women was not part of the original plan and so it was decided to convert a couple of underused spaces in the arena into additional changes rooms, complete with showers and washroom facilities. The work was about 80 percent complete when the funds ran out.
“The work was stalled. The rooms could be used, but they weren’t finished and we had run out of money,” says Burechailo. “Then I got an email from our local ADAMA rep about their Stomping Grounds program. I hadn’t heard about it before, but thought our project met the criteria and so I filled out the grant application.”
“The work is all complete and it is such a great feeling to know that when the rink fires up in October those new rooms will be getting put to use,” says Burechailo. “In a small town like ours it seems like we are constantly fundraising for projects, and to be able to get a large lump sum like that from Stomping Grounds to get this done is just excellent.” Shantelle Cave, the Area Business Manager for ADAMA Canada who sent the email to Burechailo, visited the arena to deliver the “cheque” and meet Marti and some of the other young hockey players.
“It feels so good to be a part of breaking down some of these barriers that girls face when participating in a sport,” says Cave. “Not having their own change room doesn’t prevent them from playing, but as they get older I can imagine something like that might make young women hesitant about joining a team of mostly young men.”
For Burechailo, he says having helped build a space for girls that is equal to the boys is something he is very proud of and something long overdue.
“We’ve played all over with Marti, and a lot of the times you have to go out of your way to find a space for the girls to get ready for the game. Sometimes it’s just a chair in a custodian closet,” says Burechailo. “I am so happy that now when teams come to our arena that is not going to be a concern.”
About ADAMA
ADAMA Canada has been supplying the Canadian agricultural community with crop protection products for more than a decade. We offer an innovative approach to ag and proactively seek opportunities to listen to what our customers, experts and colleagues have to say, taking their inputs and learning from their experience. We combine these insights with our expertise and respond with new products, solutions, services, tailored commercial policies, or information that is relevant to them. We are passionate about agriculture and approach what we do as much more than just a job. Our straightforward, get-it-done attitude helps us stay focused on what we care about most: helping our customers create more sustainable, profitable businesses. ADAMA is the seventh largest crop protection company globally with sales in 100 countries and has the largest portfolio of any company with over 270 active ingredients.