Duggan’s essay skates to first

Times Reporter   

 

She excels not only with ringette, but essay writing as well. Sixth grader Mackenzie Duggan entered in the Friends First Ringette individual essay contest, and won, beating 15 other participants – many of whom were much older than her.

“I just thought it was a good message,” Duggan said. “I wanted to share it with my team and spread the word about it. Writing’s my favourite subject. My teacher told me I’m a pretty good writer.”

That message, promoted by Friends First – a team-based campaign, teaches young women to support one another and pay it forward. Athletes are encouraged to share what makes them unique, thus eliminating negative competition and replacing it with an inclusive sisterhood. Ringette players involved wear a red lace on their right foot, as a symbol to strive for the best, but also remember “friends first”.

Duggan’s piece, “Red Skate Laces”, took two hours to complete but earned her $500, which was awarded to her by the Calgary Rath women’s ringette team.

“The Rath team wanted to present her with her cheque and tell her she had won, with all of her team there,” Mackenzie’s mother Jenn Stanlake-Cammer said. “They said don’t tell her, we want it to be a surprise.”

Meeting the Calgary Rath just made Duggan even more of a bigger fan.

“It was really awesome because I’ve always watched their games. To meet them was just so cool,” she said.

Duggan found out about the contest when her younger sister was playing in Calgary’s Esso Golden Ring Tournament. 

“We love promoting and supporting the sport – we thought this was a great way to do that. If she read what it was about we thought she might be motivated to participate in the contest,” Stanlake-Cammer said. “She totally was.”

As for her prize money, Duggan’s first stop is for a new ringette stick.

“She’s actually wanting to donate some of it,” Stanlake-Cammer said. “She wants it to tie into ringette somehow.”

Duggan and her U12A Strathmore Ice team will be competing at the Laurie Morton Ruppe Memorial Tournament from Jan. 31-Feb. 2 in Strathmore.

“I’m really excited. I hope my team does well,” said the four-year veteran. “You meet lots of new friends and it teaches you teamwork. It’s a really cool thing to do, and I always have so much fun. I like being competitive and stuff like that.”