Creating a Cougar Community... get your minds out of the gutter.

So here is a little background on me. I love hockey and for eight years we billeted Junior Hockey players in Grande Prairie. I have experienced almost every aspect of the hockey world: the fan, the billet, the volunteer, the behind the scenes, etc... I have recently joined a new portion of the hockey community, the Mount Royal Cougars Hockey program. I am a member of the game day staff and have enjoyed every minute of the hockey I’ve seen. I feel as though this community has some room to grow and this is why I have chosen it today.
As a working member of the Cougars game day staff, I see a lot of the strengths we have within MRU Athletics.

We have an amazing game day staff. The people that work the clock, judge goals or work admissions have a passion not only for hockey but for Cougar Hockey. They want to see the game run smoothly and professionally and I see that as an extremely positive aspect of the game. Another strength is we have dressed two very talented teams. The Men’s hockey is vying for number one is the ACAC and the Women’ hockey is running away with first overall. The existing resources are listed above. They range from the facilities to the people.

The opportunities are what I am interesting in. I know that moving into the Canadian Interuniversity Sport division is probably the largest opportunity we are facing but  I think there are some major improvements that need to happen before we are able to move there. Three of those things I deem as imperative – entertainment, marketing and consistency. When it comes to entertainment I feel as though between intermissions, we could be doing so much. The games, competitions, live demonstrations, the possibilities are endless but at the moment we have nothing in place. When it comes to marketing, we need to bring out fans, even if they aren’t students and increased marketing could entice more sponsors. Consistency needs to come from the outside in – consistency on the ice and consistency with marketing will increase our profile which is necessary to make it in the CIS.

 

At this point, I  believe that the fans are at the inform stage of empowerment and the staff are in between inform and consult. That is something else we need to improve: empowerment.

According to the athletes in the community, they feel as though the programs strength is in talent. They know that by being close to the top of the standings in the ACAC , they enhance the name and the perception of the team within the community. They have a strong position with the existing resources as they have just received brand new dressing room which are larger and better equipped before. The Mount Royal gym is also a strength as we have some of the nicest facilities and workout equipment in the ACAC.  The opportunities that they see are to continue the trend of pride in excellence and within the next few years to win a championship. The athlete that I spoke to does not believe, at this point, there are any major improvements to make.

 

I even talked to some people who were not a part of the community and tried to see what we could do to improve the sense of identity surrounding Cougars’ hockey. Some of the individuals stated that the fact that there is a physical separation between the campus and the arena kills the feeling of community and makes the hockey portion of athletics inaccessible. Also, one of the major complaints was that the athletes were not visible at Mount Royal. If people knew more about the hockey players and their stories, they would be more compelled to attend the games.

I feel as though the first part of this complaint is not easy to address, mind you, most parts of community development are not solved easily. One way that I would try to solve this issue would be to provide forms of transportation to and from the game for students. I feel as though the cost of transportation would be minimal compared to the creation of a Cougar Hockey community. The latter problem, to me at least, is much easier to resolve. Make the athletes known on campus. Advertize their stories. Make them into a poster boy. If the marketing department believes that people care and deep down I believe that students here at Mount Royal do care about their sports, than the money should be directed into this aspect of marketing.

Wow. That was long winded! Sorry guys! J