Josée Roy is making her mark in ringette and will represent Team Manitoba at the upcoming Canada Winter Games. The Games take place in Red Deer, Alberta from February 15–March 3 and will feature 19 sports over 150 events along with a major arts and cultural festival. It will draw up to 3,600 athletes, managers, and coaches and more than 20,000 visitors, according to the Games’ official site.
Among them will be Roy, a 17-year-old high-schooler from Ste. Agathe. Roy has played ringette since she was six and has excelled each year, leading to invitations for prestigious tryouts and ultimately making those teams.
Roy played for the Red River Rage, based out of Niverville, for six years, before qualifying for Team Manitoba in 2013. The following year, she qualified to try out for the AA Eastman Flames, which is the highest level of ringette in the province. In April 2018, the Flames advanced to the Canadian Ringette Championships Nationals, where they took home bronze in the U19 category. In October 2018, Roy joined Team Manitoba to participate in a pre-Canada Winter Games tournament with the other U20 qualifying teams.
Now Roy, who plays defence, has qualified for the Canada Winter Games with Team Manitoba.
“This is a different level. It was an exhilarating feeling… it was unlike any other tryouts I’ve ever done,” she says of finding out that she made the team. “I’ve been training for two years knowing [the Games] were coming up.”
The Canada Winter Games only come around ever four years, and since ringette isn’t part of the Olympics, the Games has become like the Olympics to its athletes. Competition to make the team is fierce, with 120 players participating in phase one of the tryouts, with only 55 making it to phase two. In the end, only 18 players made Team Manitoba in the U20 category.
“It’s awesome,” adds her father, Luc Roy. “She’s put a lot of work into it. I’ve watched her gain some confidence in the last couple of years and want to participate in the Winter Games, so we set some goals…. with her workouts and training, which she did. We are so proud of her as a family that she was able to accomplish that. She’s one of three players her age that made the team… it’s been a very positive experience.”
The road has not been easy for Roy, who suffered her first concussion during phase one of the tryouts. Still, with limited opportunities to continue with ringette at a professional level, the teenager knew she could not let the injury sideline her.
“There’s no future for ringette,” she explains of what her future holds. “You can only play six years in AA during your lifetime. I could try out for the National Ringette League in two years, or I could possibly coach the AA level in the future.”
For now, though, the 17-year-old is eager to compete in the Games and experience a higher level of play than she has been used to, and to make her mark. Team Manitoba is taking their task seriously, practicing with the 2015 Team Manitoba girls and preparing to elevate their game.
“I’m expecting it to be a lot harder than Nationals,” Roy says. “We’re playing the best of the best at the U20 level. We’ve been practicing three times per week and training three times per week as well. We only have a game per day, so when we don’t have a game, we will be watching all the other sports that are there too.”
