Bloomington Girls Hockey Mite Director Renae Spencer knows just where to spread the word about a winter sports offering for girls in the biggest suburb of Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

Spencer can be found at girls’ sporting events, including softball, lacrosse, and soccer, throughout the year, passing the message by word of mouth and an occasional flyer. When those sports organizations are looking to inform girls of outdoor options, the door opens in both directions.

“It’s so important, we all believe, that kids should be in multiple sports and not just doing hockey or just doing lacrosse,” Spencer said. “It’s good for them to get all kinds of experiences. We have certainly sent out information about other sports that are going on in the [hockey] offseason. It works out well. We all work together pretty well.”

Bloomington Girls Hockey has been growing steadily since being founded in 2012 to offer female players, who had been part of the Jefferson and Kennedy/Richfield youth programs in the city, their own organization.

“There wasn’t enough in either organization, so we took all the girls and combined them to make one,” said Rick Larson, the president of the board of directors. “From that, we’ve expanded.”

Much of that expansion, Larson said, has come from Spencer’s ability to draw players in at the mite level. Those 8U players are divided into four teams from beginner to advanced. Larson said they all end up on the ice together for the practice sessions, which outweigh their local game schedule as they work on developing their skills.

“Our biggest recruiting tool has been our mite director,” Larson said of Spencer. “She has done a phenomenal job with word of mouth. She’s very social, and she just gets out there and promotes the program. She gets out there at girls’ soccer and softball and lacrosse. She promotes hockey, and she just loves it.”

There are now more than 120 girls playing in Bloomington Girls Hockey, which has two 10U teams playing on the A level and another 10U B team as well as a 12U team that plays on the B level. About half of the membership is under 8 years old.

Other factors have helped the association bloom while sharing the three sheets of ice at the Bloomington Ice Gardens with the Kennedy/Richfield and Jefferson youth programs.

Spencer points to an incentive program that keeps costs down for first-year players. The most prominent item on the home page of the Bloomington Girls Hockey website is “New Player Incentives.”

“Bloomington Girls Hockey recognizes the decision to play hockey is significant,” reads the item. “To encourage new players and families to give hockey a try, the Girls Board approved the following new player incentives for the 2014-15 season …”

The offer, which is exclusively for new players, caps first-year fees at $175 plus $25 equipment rental for all 6U and 8U players. New players coming in at the 10U level receive a $250 credit toward team costs. Grants and equipment from USA Hockey and Minnesota Hockey make the program possible.

Established players are encouraged to try to benefit from the recruiting process as well. Players who make referrals are entered in drawings that award financial credits toward their costs.

“The thing that really freaks some people out is, ‘I have to get all that equipment, and I’m not even sure if she’ll like it and stick with it’,” Spencer said. “This kind of takes that pain away.

“A lot of the girls are new to hockey, but also a lot of our families are new to hockey. This takes away that need to figure out all those things up front with equipment. By taking advantage of the great grants from USA Hockey and Minnesota Hockey programs, we are able to dole out equipment to the girls, and that really seems to get them over the hump in taking the dive into hockey.”

Another reason for the association’s growth, Larson said, is that Bloomington Girls Hockey keeps girls playing on their appropriate age levels, which helps establish and strengthen each team while also better preparing the girls for ongoing development.

“Right now, our biggest thing is that the current board fought to keep everybody at the age group they should be in,” he said. “We have one U12 team. We could have moved some players up so that we could have two, but we decided not to be doing that.

“They’re playing as one team in B and, for the first time in that age group, they’re very successful. We have them playing where they should be as far as talent goes, and they’re blossoming because of it.

“The same thing is going with our 10s,” Larson continued. “A couple years ago, we had to move some 8s up just to fill out teams. They were getting blown out every game, and nobody likes that.”

Larson hopes that decision is as beneficial in the future as it is now.

“Down the road, we’ll reap the benefits,” he said.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.