Apr. 1—JAMESTOWN — Jamestown Hockey Boosters President Whitney Trautman spends a good chunk of her time talking about hockey.
There is a lot to say.
"I joined the board three years ago when my own children became more invested in hockey," Trautman said. "I wanted to give back to the organization that my kids were interested in and make decisions so all kids in Jamestown who want to participate would have a good experience."
Trautman is in her first year as the board president. As the president, she helps oversee the Jamestown Prowl Hockey program.
"In Jamestown we offer seven different levels for youth hockey from ages 2 to 15," Trautman said. "Within those seven levels we have 11 individual teams that kids are placed on. We average about 140 players from Jamestown each year. We have three different levels that we co-op with Valley City, so we have another 20 to 25 players from Valley City on those upper-level teams."
All participants practice at least twice a week during the season.
"Most of our younger skaters see the ice two to three times a week for practices and our older skaters are usually three times a week," Trautman said. "The older levels split time between Jamestown and Valley City for practices."
Games are held on the weekends.
Skaters up to the second grade level mostly play in-house with the exception of a few tournaments throughout the year. Once skaters hit the third grade level, they are playing a full game schedule of 25 games and two to three tournaments.
The youth hockey season begins in August and September with early ice. The competitive season begins in October and runs through the end of February.
"It can be a little bit of a big commitment for families but usually the kids become families on the ice," Trautman said. "They have their buddies — who they may or may not go to school with — on the ice together. You get to see a little bit more of a family dynamic with all the kids coming from all the schools in Jamestown playing on the same team."
This season was one of great success for the Prowl teams. Trautman said five of the program's six upper levels competed in a state tournament and managed to bring home some hardware.
"We want everybody who is interested in hockey or thinks hockey is fun to come and try it so we've hosted different 'Try Hockey' events in Jamestown where you can bring your kid and they can put on gear, use a hockey stick and see if it is a sport that they like it," Trautman said.
If skaters end up wanting to commit to the sport, there is a price.
At the 8U level, the cost is $300 for the season. Squirts costs $500, Pee Wees and the 12U girls are priced at $700 while Bantams will cost families $725. Registration forms can be found on the Jamestown Hockey website.
"One of the biggest misconceptions is how expensive it is as a sport," Trautman said. "We really do work as a board to keep our registration fees low and offset those costs with our gaming funds that come in to help pay the ice-time fees and the tournament registrations so that those are not passed along to parents to pay for.
"We have a scholarship fund if you are a family that could benefit from that," she said. "We like to try and reach out to whoever is interested in the sport of hockey. We'll figure out a way to work with them."
Skaters and their families will benefit from more than just financial help if they join the program.
"We have lots of families with multiple skaters and the families become dependent on each other to help with siblings, help with travel, help with carpool — everybody works together to help get the kids to all of the practices," ...
