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Northfield’s Patterson Recognized for Recruiting Efforts

By Minnesota Hockey, 01/25/16, 8:00AM CST

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January's Total Hockey Volunteer of the Month is Dawn Patterson of Northfield Hockey Association.

Congratulations to Dawn Patterson of the Northfield Hockey Association (NHA) on being named January’s Total Hockey Volunteer of the Month! Patterson became the association’s recruiting director three years ago and has helped the association grow each of the past three seasons.

Fellow board members at NHA credit Patterson with utilizing the Gear Up Minnesota! equipment program to make hockey more accessible for players in their community. Combined with renewed marketing efforts, the equipment has helped the association take major strides, particularly in recruiting girls.

Northfield has nearly doubled the number of girls at its youngest levels, growing to 15 Girls 10U players, 22 at the Girls 8U level and are fielding the association’s first ever Girls 6U team. 

We sat down to talk with Patterson about what that experience was like and how she’s been able to affect change over the last couple of seasons.

Why did you decide to volunteer as the recruiting director?

When my daughter started at age five, there was a consistent theme of moving players up and forming co-ops. Talking with other parents of girls’ players and watching how they were always concerned over the potential of not having a team made me think someone really needs to focus on getting more new players in the game at the beginner level. Then the board created this position and it just seemed like the right fit.

What has your experience been like as you have gotten more involved?

We don’t come from a hockey family or a hockey background so when we started hockey we did so a little reluctantly. It’s been a wonderful experience for our family though. Everyone is very positive and supportive. Our kids (8U & Squirt) play a number of other sports and are active in other activities. This program is supportive of that, and we really like that.

The success of my position is because of the support of our hockey families and especially our Board.   I'm just trying to keep up with the rest of them, they set a terrific example.  This program, this hockey community, and this group of Board members, are all utterly amazing.  The work ethic is unheard of, and I'm consistently surprised how this group of people puts the greater group of kids to the front of their priority list.  It makes my job easy.

What’s the most rewarding part of being in your role?

The best part to me is meeting the families that really enjoy hockey, especially when they say they never would have tried it without our efforts. When they say the newspaper ad we ran or the flyer they got from school was the reason they came to try hockey, that’s extremely exciting to me. The other thing that stands out is going to an 8U/10U shared practice and seeing how many girls we have on the ice now, and same thing with watching the boys. Seeing so many kids on the ice together is pretty amazing.

Minnesota Hockey and Total Hockey give Dawn Patterson a special thank you for everything she’s done to introduce more kids to the great game of hockey in Northfield!

Know a volunteer in your community who is doing an amazing job and deserves to be recognized? Nominate him or her today for the Total Hockey Volunteer of the Month! Each recipient receives a certificate recognizing their hard work and a $100 Total Hockey gift card to use online or in the store.

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