Barriere resident, Cora MacLaren, has accomplished the first hurdle in achieving her dream of one day playing at the women’s national level for team Canada.
Cora recently attended the B.C. Hockey female under 16 Okanagan camp tryouts on Jan. 8 and 9 in Princeton, B.C.
After two full days of ice and fitness testing, plus four game evaluations, she proved to be one of the top 20 female Okanagan players who were successful in making the B.C. team.
Cora is registered with the Clearwater Minor Hockey Division, where she has been playing hockey for only three years. In that time she has advanced from a beginner, to playing on the Clearwater Bantam Boys Rep team this year.
Cora feels that being able to play at the boys rep level has helped her achieve the success of making the U16 team and is very grateful to her coaches Orylnn Braaten and Ron Hudema for teaching her the skills she needed.
“If it weren’t for my coaches and teammates helping me, I wouldn’t be the player I am today,” said Cora.
Cora has always loved sports, and plays many school sports as well. However, hockey is her passion and she has had to give up other sports that may interfere with the hockey schedule.
She attends numerous hockey camps in the summer, willingly giving up her free time to train and improve.
Cora states, “Making the B.C. Okanagan U16 team has only increased my desire to become an even better player; there is always something I need to improve on. I still can’t stick handle like the boys on my Clearwater team, but then most of them have been playing hockey since they were little. I’ll get there eventually.”
Cora says her motto is “confidence is everything”.
B.C. Hockey’s Female High Performance Program was established to identify and train athletes and team personnel for possible participation at Provincial, National and International events.
Although the percentage of athletes who actually experience international competition is very small, the program plays a valuable role in delivering a message of the skills, attitude and dedication expected of a High Performance athlete. In addition, it allows athletes who possess these skills to be identified in a systematic way across our country.
The B.C. Hockey Female High Performance Program is incredibly important as a goal for gifted female athletes that do not yet have the opportunities of Junior and professional hockey that the males do.
B.C. Hockey’s Female Under 16 High Performance Program will send six zone teams from across the province to participate in the B.C. Cup. The zone teams are selected by the team staff evaluators during zone camps. The B.C. Cup will be held in 100 Mile House from March 31 to April 3, 2011.
The Under 16 Program plays an integral role in the development of B.C. Hockey’s elite level players.