Girls’ Ice Hockey Coming to ORR

The Old Rochester Regional High School sports program will now offer girls’ co-op ice hockey now that the Old Rochester Regional School Committee has granted ORR Athletic Director Bill Tilden’s request he made the night of September 9.

The team will be a cooperative with the Towns of Bourne, Mashpee, and Wareham, and when Tilden first polled female students, 32 showed an interest with eight of them already playing ice hockey. Tilden said he had no other viable option to offer incoming eighth grade girls who are interested in playing ice hockey at ORR.

“And it’s a crime to say, ‘hey, just jump on the boys’ hockey team’,” said Tilden, adding that the parents of only one of the eight girls currently playing sports would have actually allowed their daughter to join the boys’ ice hockey team.

Tilden said Bourne approached him because they were short on players and were looking for another school to join the co-op, and that was his reason for approaching the School Committee that night.

“We want to give them the opportunity to keep on playing, instead of saying just jump on the boys’ ice hockey team,” Tilden said.

ORR Principal Michael Devoll said ORR boys’ ice hockey already participates as a co-op with Fairhaven and he supported the idea of starting a girls’ ice hockey co-op.

“I get excited about this because for seven years I’ve been talking about attracting the best students to Old Rochester,” said Devoll. Now that the committee approved the new sport, girls won’t have to go elsewhere for the ice hockey experience, he added.

In other matters, ORR teacher Megan Hall presented the committee with her idea to form an ORR chapter of the running group Dreamfar Marathon to be funded by the $1,200 Lighthouse Foundation grant she won this year.

Dreamfar is Hall’s intent to get at-risk and otherwise average students who have never run a race in their life to join the group to marathon train with the mindset that they can do it and will succeed.

“It not only involves the school, but it also involves the community,” said Hall. Over 30 different community members, Hall said, have volunteered to participate with the students, with support from the New Bedford YMCA.

The grant will pay for the race fees, Hall said, and student runners would participate in a 5K in December, a 10K in January, the New Bedford Half-Marathon in March, followed by the big one – the Providence Marathon.

“What an incredible concept,” said Dr. Elise Frangos, assistant superintendent.

Devoll, who will be running the marathon with the students, added that the program is not particularly geared towards current runners or members of the soccer team. He said he wants to see students who otherwise would not ever think they could run a marathon to join – the student who says, “Wow, I can’t believe I was able to do that,” as Devoll put it.

The next meeting of the Old Rochester Regional School Committee is scheduled for October 14 at 6:00 pm at the ORR Junior High media room.

By Jean Perry

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