What Is Ringette?

Ringette is an exciting unique winter sport, played mainly by females but open to all. Ringette is a non-contact sport where players use a straight stick with a specially designed tip and a hollow rubber, blue ring.

The emphasis is on play-making and skating skills. Players must pass the ring over each blue line in order to advance the play. Only three players from each team, plus the defending goalie, are allowed in the end zones at the same time. This keeps the play open, puts a premium on sharp offensive moves, and requires defending players to skate close to their opponents.

Ringette, the 48-year-old Canadian invention that has become one of the fastest team sports on ice, involves tens of thousands of girls and women, and hundreds of males, all across Canada. Internationally, it is played in Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States. As well Ringette is being developed in other European countries. Created by Sam Jacks a North Bay, Ontario sports enthusiast in the early 1960s, ringette has come of age in Canada with over 50,000 participants including players, coaches, officials and volunteers across Canada.

There are various skill levels of play across Canada beginning with U9 and then formal teams in categories of C, B, A and AA. Provincial Championships are held in most provinces at various levels. Each year Provinces select teams at the U16 and U19 AA divisions to play in the Canadian Ringette Championships. (CRC's) Ringette is played at the Canada Winter Games every four years.

The National Ringette League (NRL) is the showcase league for ringette in Canada and strives to be the premiere women's sports league in the country. This elite league currently has 16 teams from coast to coast. The top players in the country are all NRL players. Manitoba has one team that participates in the NRL – Winnipeg Prairie Fire .

The World Championships are held every three years with Canada selecting a National Team to participate in these Championships.