A night of wrestling in support of Bear River youth

Ultimate Championship Wrestling is coming back to Bear River.

After a successful event last year, wrestlers will be back in the ring on June 1 at the Bear River

First Nation Cultural Centre. “A lot of people were asking when they were coming back, so we decided to do it again,” said Chris Harlow, one of the events promotors.

Tickets are available at Lequille Country Store, Digby Scallop Shell, Bear River Grocery and in Weymouth.

Fan favourites Jack Swagger and Markus Burke will face off. Other wrestlers include Dynamite Dylan Davis, Covey Christ and Marko Estrada.

“The show last fall was one of the best wrestling shows I attended.

I am hoping for a great turnout Bear River hosted UCW for the first time, last year. The event was so successful they are doing it again on June 1. since all proceeds are going towards the youth special initiative fund,” said Harlow.

Proceeds from the event are being donated to the Youth Special Initiative Fund.

Every three years in Bear River the Youth Special Initiative Fund assists First Nation children to travel to Disney World.

“Without this a lot of these kids probably would never see outside of this area,” said Carol Anne Pot- ter, a Bear River First Nation councillor.

The fund started when an elder on the reserve visited Disney World and even though she wasn’t a child, she had the time of her life.

“It’s like her eyes just lit up, she felt like she was a kid again. And every child should be able to see that too.”

The next trip to Disney World is being planned for November. All kids older than age eight are able to go, as long as they are helping fundraise, doing good in school, helping their parents and the community.

“We just want to teach them that if you put a lot of effort into something, you can do it and follow your dreams,” said Potter.

They are almost at their fundraising goal now, but every fundraiser helps.

If they pass the goal, the extra money is just put into the fund for the next group of kids. Andrew Holland and Kegin Watt are sharing the Development Coordinator of the Year Award presented annually by Hockey Nova Scotia.

Andrew Holland and Kegin Watt were selected by Hockey Nova Scotia as the Development Coordinators of the Year for the 2017-18 season.

Through weekly development sessions and coach mentoring, the hockey association made great strides in helping out both their coaches and players, making for more efficient and organized practices. Watt specialized in the running of the weekly skills sessions while Holland helped with other coaches as they worked towards honing their practice skills.

Both spent several hours outside of their own teams for the benefit of the association.

Following the example set by Bedford MHA, who has former Halifax Mooseheads coach Shawn Mackenzie as development coordinator, the Shelburne County board came up with a plan for the better of their association going forward.

“Everyone was willing to work together to help each other for the better of our players” says Holland. “The coaches all worked together at practices and participated in the development sessions with their teams. The kids here love the game and it was time we gave them the best opportunities we can to learn and progress. It was a win-win situation for everyone.”

As part of the development for the season, the association also had a hockey school held by Alan Andrews and added a goaltending clinic on the Hockey NS development weekend.

The association looks forward to giving their players more opportunities again next season.

The Shelburne County Minor Hockey Association itself was also awarded the Development Association of the Year by Hockey Nova Scotia.