City takes 'hard line' on arena dressing rooms

The city may be icing dedicated dressing rooms at local arenas in response to the increase in co-ed hockey teams.

Minor hockey no longer permits body contact in the majority of house league games, which has resulted in an increase in girls taking up the sport. This is bringing up issues that need to be addressed, particularly at the higher levels of hockey, when girls and boys “are maturing in different ways,” Ward 2 Coun. Jacques Barbeau, a member of the city's new community services committee, said.

The committee, which met for the first time on Feb. 27, approved a recommendation from staff to adopt the policy of Hockey Canada with respect to co-ed dressing rooms, and to allow general user groups access to dressing rooms at the Chelmsford and Dr. Edgar Leclair arenas, currently dedicated for the Nickel City Hockey Association. Council has the final say on the matter.

City staff will also review the need to retrofit existing spaces at other arenas in co-operation with local minor hockey associations to determine inexpensive alternatives to meet the need of all participants.

The Hockey Canada Co-ed Dressing Room Policy allows co-ed dressing room situations to exist at the initiation program, novice and atom levels, five to 10 years of age, provided players arrive in full equipment or wear, at minimum, gym shorts or long underwear, as well as a full T-shirt, all of which must be in good condition and without holes or tears.

At the pee-wee level (11 years old), the policy states that girls and boys will change in separate rooms, but both genders will congregate in one dressing room, fully prepared to play, 15 minutes before game time. Following the game, whichever gender has less numbers will have 15 minutes in which to change. The other gender won't be allowed into the change room until it is cleared.

The city forwarded this policy on Dec. 1, 2011, to all associations using area arenas requesting their feedback. Only four associations responded (Sudbury Speed Skating, High School Hockey, Coniston Minor Hockey and Valley East Minor Hockey).

The city “has taken a hard line on groups that have had designated dressing rooms over the years, and we've forced them out of those rooms to offer them up to girls who are playing on co-gender teams,” Barbeau said. “It's an issue, and we're not new to the problem in Canada, or else Hockey Canada wouldn't have developed this policy.”

Local arenas are 30, 40 and 50 years old, and to start adding dressing rooms onto them just isn't going to happen, he said.

“As a corporation, we have to be creative, and staff has to work with these groups. For the most part, I think people have been happy with what they're seeing.”

Most, but not all, he added. The hard line taken by the city has “upset some longtime user groups, but as we build new arenas, we are going to build them for co-gender teams and for any other need that arises.”

Barbeau said he is frustrated by the fact only four user groups took the time to respond to city staff looking for options on how to address the situation.

“Those who continue to complain and say there are problems, need to address their own associations and ask why they didn't respond to the staff survey,” Barbeau said. “It's very disconcerting that they didn't take the time (to respond). Does this solve all the needs? Absolutely not, but as we move forward, we will continue to try to find the solutions to those needs.”

Posted by Arron Pickard