Ringette Canada  – Ottawa, Ontario – April 18, 2016 – Ringette Canada is pleased to announce that Laura Knowles has been elected as Technical Director of the International Ringette Federation (IRF). The IRF has also elected Finland’s Anu Pitkänen as Director of Sport Development.

Knowles, who lives in Ottawa, has been involved with ringette in various capacities for over 40 years, including as an athlete, coach, instructor, official and administrator. She has been actively involved in rules development, as well as the development of officials. During her officiating career, Knowles became one of the top officials in Canada and over the last 15 years has focused on the development of future high performance officials.

“Laura has made many valuable contributions to our sport in Canada,” said Natasha Johnston, Ringette Canada Executive Director. “We are very pleased that she will now be able to bring her expertise to the international table.”

The International Ringette Federation was founded in 1986 and currently has six member countries: Canada, Finland, Sweden, USA, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

About Ringette

Ringette is a Canadian sport that was invented in 1963 in North Bay, Ontario by the late Sam Jacks. There are currently nearly 30,000 players on nearly 2,000 teams across Canada, with over 1,500 officials and nearly 8000 coaches. Internationally, it is played in more than a half a dozen other countries around the world. Ringette has been designated a Heritage Sport by Sport Canada and as part of the Sport for Life movement, ringette is well advanced at adapting Sport Canada’s Long Term Athlete Development model. For more information, please refer to the Ringette Canada Web site at www.ringette.ca.  

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For more information, please contact:

Alayne Martell
Media and Public Relations | Relations de presse et publiques
Ringette Canada | Ringuette Canada
National Ringette League | Ligue Nationale de Ringuette
Phone | Téléphone : (613) 748-5655, ext. 226
Cell : (902) 308-1067
alayne@ringette.ca
@: www.ringette.ca
@: www.nationalringetteleague.ca