Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am writing this letter to encourage all parents to register your son/daughter for the Truro Major Bantam AAA summer evaluation camp to be held in August. If you receive this message and have already registered then I would like to thank you for your support.

The evaluation camp is the beginning of the process to select the team for the upcoming 2010-11 season. This camp will provide coaching staff with critical evaluation to begin to shape our team. It will provide your son/daughter with upwards of 8-10 hours of ice time including practice, skill development, off ice training/evaluation and intrasquad games. As well each registrant will receive a keeper Jersey for their participation. Attendance at camp is required to be considered for the team.

There appears to be many rumours out there about this program. While this is a franchise situation, our ownership group is focused on this being a community minded endeavour. There is no profit planned or budgeted for SRM Hockey nor is the camp considered a "money grab". I have no children and no reason to support or be involved in such an endeavour other than the fact I have played at this level growing up in Truro and coached at this level, and without this team a wonderful opportunity for learning and skill development would be lost. Also, I, along with our group, recognized that without this program in our Zone, our young Bantam aged hockey stars will be overlooked for the HNS developmental programs. This program will allow our young budding hockey stars from our region at the Bantam level to play against the best competition and at the highest level in Nova Scotia. They will need to play at this level if they desire to move onto Major Midget and Junior.

We will deliver a professionally run program and organization, skill development, a learning atmosphere, and a fun hockey environment. The league in which we will compete will have a schedule that involves less travel, less overnight stays, less rigorous tournament schedules and more "free" weekends for family activities throughout the winter.

Our home arena is Truro, and we will be the Truro Bearcats. We will be required to schedule some games in Amherst or Springhill as part our scheduling process. Our region is the northern zone of Nova Scotia. We have had a very good response from kids and parents from the northern part of our zone.

Our fees are in line with current rep fees when paying at the AAA level. Parents are asked to raise $ through various fundraising events throughout the year. The Ownership group through sponsors and our own funds will ensure the program is delivered. For the registration, the player receives a set of jerseys, team wear, use of hockey helmet, gloves and a shell. There is a payment schedule that was outlined at the parent information sessions that were held earlier in the year so the registration is not all due upon selection to the team.

We have hired Josh Boulton as our Head Coach. He brings a good perspective of the game and youthful leadership to the team. His recent coaching endeavour has been with  Brookfield Jr B Elks. He played and was a leader on his teams in his former playing career. He played for the Truro Junior A Bearcats for a few years.

Deadline for registration is June 22nd. This program is needed for the development of hockey in the northern region. We attempted to mitigate the costs as much as we could to delivery the best program possible. I trust this email finds everyone in good health and good cheer as we head into summer. Please register you son/daughter for the evaluation camp and provide them a wonderful opportunity to be involved in a professionally run organization where the PLAYER (KID) is first over all else!

All the best,

Jon Stanfield

President, SRM Hockey Inc., Truro Major Bantam AAA