Local Sports
Lacombe Athletic Park Association Celebrates Successful 2016
Officials with the Lacombe Athletic Park Association say 2016 was a very successful year for them and the ME Global Athletic Park. In a release, outgoing LAPA Chairman Murray Cunningham said during their recent AGM that “Our part time staff continue to do a terrific job including Dita Knip for the concession and facility maintenance, Fred Knip for facility management and schedule coordination, and Darrin Thompson with our promotions, marketing, and sponsorships. Our board and volunteers are excellent and continue to lead with fundraising, organizing events and supporting our community initiatives.
A big thanks to our partners, the City of Lacombe, Lacombe County, and Wolf Creek School Division who provide great support for us to operate at our best. Special thanks as always to Don and Marianne Gustafson for all their time and support as well.”
2016 featured a number of highlights for ME Global Athletic Park and the LAPA. They include:
- The City of Lacombe supporting the organization with a 10 year loan of $245,000 when construction started on MEGlobal Park. “Each year we have fundraised to make principal and interest payments on the loan. In September we made an additional lump sum payment of approximately $50,000 to pay the balance of the loan over three years ahead of schedule. We are now debt free.”
- Capital reserve funds continue to increase for future expansion and turf replacements at MEGlobal Park.
- Fundraising and partner commitments are being received to ensure the organization will be able to construct the all access full size exterior basketball court in the spring of 2017.
- Alberta Schools Athletic Association approved a request to host the 2017 High School Provincial games at MEGlobal Park. This event will bring 10 teams and possibly 4,000 players and fans to Lacombe over two days in November, 2017.
- MEGlobal Field saw tremendous use this past year as the facility hosted lacrosse, soccer, rugby, football, quiddich and other community events. Officials tracked almost 50,000 people hours of use through the facility.
Cunningham says “The partnership model we have is so exciting because it is a sustainable way to align and deeply involve volunteers and corporate partners with our municipal and education partners to provide great recreation and sport facilities for our community.
Thank you everyone for your support of the Lacombe Athletic Park Association this past year. LAPA will once again be hosting our annual GALA evening on March 4th, where we will have details about a big exciting community announcement at LAPA in 2017.
Tickets for the evening are available at Reds Sports, or by calling Darrin Thompson at 587-877-6294.
The LAPA GALA evening promises to be another great night of fun and rubbing shoulders with CFL and sports celebrities.
Everyone is invited.”
From Red Deer Minor Baseball Board of Directors
Following many discussions within the Red Deer community, the baseball community, our association members, as well as our board of directors we have made the decision to move forward with rebranding our teams, currently known as the Braves. For our association the Braves name symbolized warrior strength, bravery and resilience, all qualities we were proud to align with; and although the initial moniker of our teams was never intended to carry a derogatory or disrespectful connotation, for some, it has. The topic of our rebrand has been polarizing and arguments both for and against have been passionately presented. We have made the decision to move forward in the direction we feel is best for our association.
In alignment with the membership majority vote, the Red Deer Minor Baseball Board of Directors is excited to announce that we will now be known as the Red Deer Rangers.
The Red Deer Rangers will retain our current navy and crimson colors and will not adopt the colors or logo of the MLB, NHL, or any other Rangers franchise. We are looking forward to forging our own identity and embracing our own look.
As you can appreciate this is a complex initiative that will take time. We will remain the Braves for the 2024 season and aim to have our rebrand complete for the 2025 season.
All participants that submitted the Rangers name during our rebranding poll, will be entered into a draw to receive the first Red Deer Rangers jersey.
We hope you will join us in celebrating this positive endeavor as we create a new inclusive legacy for our association that all can be proud of.
RDMBA Board of Directors
From Red Deer Minor Hockey
The Red Deer Minor Hockey Board of Directors is pleased & honored to announce, after an extensive search, that Lane Moore has accepted the position of General Manager of Red Deer Minor Hockey. Lane will start his new role early in the new year & is very excited about leading our organization into the future as we aim to provide a positive learning and maturing experience for all of our young athletes & coaches in a minor hockey setting.
Lane comes into the role of General Manager with an extensive resume, in both hockey and administration. Lane has led the Bentley school as principal for the last 17 years & was an educator prior to that. On the hockey side, Lane’s passion for coaching & engaging with young athletes, dates back to 2002. His most recent involvement as a coach with Red Deer Minor Hockey saw Lane lead the U17AAA North Star Chiefs for 2 seasons (21-22, 22-23). Prior to his work with Red Deer Minor Hockey Lane served as President of Rimbey Minor Hockey for several seasons.
One of Lane’s biggest strengths is his ability to create highly effective teams by building a common mission & vision & then executing on those through visionary leadership. These attributes shone through during this General Manager search and we are thrilled for Lane to lead this organization now & into the future as we aim to be one of the premier Minor Hockey Associations in the province.
Lane, his wife Kathleen & their three children Easton, Cooper & Lexi call Red Deer home. His son Cooper is the captain of Red Deer U18AAA Optimist Chiefs & his older son Easton is pursuing his hockey career and post-secondary studies in Massachusetts. Please join us in congratulating Lane Moore as the new General Manager of the Red Deer Minor Hockey Commission, welcome Lane!
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