Portland man inducted into Ringette Hall of Fame
Posted Jul 8, 2010 By Ryland Coyne
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EMC Sports - He took a primarily regional sport and helped give it a national focus with its own rules and development programs for players, coaches and officials. 
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Wes Clark, who makes his home at the Rideau Mac Resort in Portland, Ont., during the summer, was inducted into the Ringette Hall of Fame last month.
For his years of effort, both as the group's first executive director and as a tireless volunteer, Wes Clark has been inducted into the Ringette Hall of Fame in the Builders category. The Portland, Ont., resident received the honour on June 12 during a ceremony in Cambridge, Ont.
He wasn't necessarily looking to get involved in the sport at first, he admits. But fresh out of university, he landed a position as technical director in Ontario in 1978 which he held for five or six years. His job, he says, was to build programs to develop players, coaches and referees at the competitive level.
In his younger days, he had been involved in a number of sports, serving as trainer with the Kitchener Rangers or the Ontario Hockey League. And with a Masters in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo in hand, he was well positioned to tackle the job of taking the sport to a new level.
"That job just happened to be open when I graduated," he said.
In the early 1980s, he oversaw the establishment of a new office in Ottawa which would serve as the national headquarters. According to his Hall of Fame biography, he "was instrumental in shaping the organization's financial plan and securing federal funding for additional programs and staff."
He also landed a number of major national sponsors which allowed the fledgling organization to increase its profile across the country and to reduce Ringette Canada's reliance on federal funds.
"One of my main achievements, I feel, is to have moved Ringette Canada to an organization dependent on government funding to one that has a diverse funding base from corporate sponsors and adverting to training materials and membership fees," he noted.
Not having had previous experience in ringette prior to his hiring, he says he soon discovered the sport not to mention the people involved in it is hard to shake.
"Once you get into ringette, it grows on you," he told the EMC, noting he remained with Ringette Canada until 1992 before moving on to the Canadian Lacrosse Association and, later, the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Clark, who resides at the Rideau Mac Resort during the summer, says he has "a lot of good memories from ringette," many of which have to do with the hard-working and dedicated volunteers who comprise the sport.
"The people involved in it are very enthusiastic about it," he said.
"I would be remiss in not thanking a host of players, referees, coaches and volunteers who provided the motivation and vision to help make Ringette the great game it is today."
His list of accomplishments is long, highlighted, he says, by the establishment of national development programs for players, coaches and referees.
"I decided to formalize that a bit," he said.
Building from the ground up, there wasn't much about the sport in which Clark was not involved:
- formed and chaired national coaching committee under Ringette Canada and Coaching Association of Canada in 1978,
- launched Level 1 coaching certification program in 1979, Level 2 in 1986 as well as course conductor manuals as well as a rough draft of the Level 3 manual,
- co-ordinated the development of the skill modules - skating, Ringette skills and goaltending for the level 1 coaching program and produced a series of skill films/videos,
- with Bruce Kettles and Sharon Jones, formalized three levels of Ontario Ringette officiating certification program and Admin Manual (1986) - later adopted by Ringette Canada,
- established major sponsorship agreements with Shoppers Drug Mart (1982), Micron (1984), Itech (1985), Cooper, Lange and others for provincial sponsorship,
His accomplishments at the national level are no less impressive. Just a few of his key contributions that led to his induction include:
- being hired by Ringette Canada in 1982 as first Executive Director and established office at National Sport Centre in Ottawa,
- in 1983, meeting with Sam Jacks family to bring the Jacks family (Agnes) closer to Ringette Canada as ambassador for the sport and further recognize Sam jacks as the inventor,
- revising bylaws and initiated Ringette Canada Policy manual and National Championships Handbook, officials program (1982)
- establishing agreements with Shoppers Drug Mart, Micron, Air Canada (AC Cup 1988), Itech, Gillette, Dom Sports and Games (gym Ringette sticks and rings) and others,
- co-ordinating/facilitating the transfer of rules (1983), player development and officiating certification programs to Ringette Canada and translation into French,
- in 1986, serving as Secretary for the newly formed International Ringette Federation (1986).
One of the moves of which he's most proud was bringing the wife of ringette's inventor, Agnes Jacks, back into the sport.
"It was neat to get her back involved," Clark said of Agnes, who has since passed away. "She was a real ambassador for the sport."
He's also proud of ringette's expansion to other countries including Finland, Sweden, the United States and Russia. For his efforts to spread the word about ringette outside Canada, he received the Agnes Jacks Award for International Contribution to Ringette in 1993.
While the sport may have been at its peak 15 to 20 years ago with many communities including Smiths Falls featuring competitive teams and local organizations, it does remain strong across the province, particularly in the Ottawa region and Toronto/Pickering area.
"People involved in it are very enthusiastic about it," Clark said. "It's just too bad more girls don't get an opportunity to play."
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