With ball games and other activity heading back to normal in the west central community, the Rosetown Minor Athletics Association, or RMAA, is thankful. So thankful in fact, that they are offering up a chance for parents to win a free registration for their child if they attend the June 8th AGM at the SaskCan Sports Centre.

Thanks to all of the uncertainty surrounding actually competing this year, a large focus has been put on the organizational side of things for the minor sport umbrella. Members enjoyed a very successful “Chase the Ace” event that was so popular, it’s a no-brainer to bring the event back next year according to RMAA President Kevin Clark.

“It’s obviously something we are going to keep doing going forward now that the community is excited about it, and we know how well it can go.”

He was quick to mention that people were skeptical at first when it came to the fundraiser and its setup, but repetitively buying tickets eventually payed off for one lucky Rosetown resident winning over $56,000. Clark says the event went over 30 weeks and people would go from buying 1 or 2 tickets a week, to coming in and requesting sometimes 10-20 tickets at a time once the prize became worth winning.

The event surpassed where the organization needed to be from a fundraising standpoint, and according to Clark it was necessary because of some opportunities they have lost during the past year and some.

“The last couple of years we couldn’t host our banquet which is a big fundraiser for us, and throughout the hockey season we usually run a little lottery and that’s usually just our annual hockey one to keep things going,” said Clark, “this is more of a ball and hockey as a whole organization fundraiser. Everybody is on board, and it got us to where we needed to be and we are in a good place because of it.”

With sporting events finally back on the RMAA’s schedule, focus was again shifted to the kids along with identifying what needs to be done next. No immediate projects are on the docket for the organization after the whirlwind, but empty season seen a year ago. All kids and their parents can do now is remain optimistic the re-opening timeline stays on schedule in the province.

Clark finished up his conversation with West Central Online by letting us know the RMAA is planning to set-up their virtual hockey registration by mid June. They hope to have registration numbers in by mid July to gauge the outlook for teams before hockey season sneaks into the picture.