Building a strong and active community in Sylvan Lake through Hockey  

Are you someone looking to move to a place to suit your active lifestyle? Or are you searching for a family-friendly community that offers a wide range of recreation facilities and services for you and your kids?  

Sylvan Lake is a wonderful place to call home.   

More than its sceneries, what makes Sylvan Lake really special is the strong and active individuals that build this community who are unified with their love for sports.   

When Donovan Gemmell moved to this town in 2001, he was amazed at how the people here share meaningful and tight connections through the sport of Hockey.  Watch this episode of The Property Show for Donovan’s inspiring story.

Image from sylvanlakenews.com

  Sylvan Lake and Hockey

That is what fueled him to give back to the community through volunteering as an assistant coach of the Sylvan Lake Minor Hockey Association back then.   

More than twenty years later, the same is still true. He still has the same love for the sports, now being one of the best coaches in town. His love for the game has extended to his kids who also play Hockey.   

With Hockey being deeply engraved in the Canadian culture, Sylvan Lake is blessed to have people like Donovan who extends their time and effort to bring people from generation to generation to come together and celebrate sports.  

“It’s a great way to be involved in the community. Now with my own kids, and being involved at this level, it was great,” Donovan said.  

Hockey’s ability to unify communities doesn’t stop at the rink. Donovan was able to meet people that later helped him professionally.   

“Coaching hockey was a great way for me to get involved, to meet a lot of people, and it’s definitely helped me out on my professional side by getting to know a lot of the good and like-minded people in this community,” he said.   

Donovan works as a Market Director Business Banking at Servus Credit Union.

Image from Unsplash

Volunteerism

The active and vibrant Hockey community in Central Alberta only proves that the people here enjoy working together as a team and promoting social cohesion.   

As someone who started as a young volunteer coach, Donovan calls for more appreciation for the volunteers who share their valued time in honing a society of active individuals united by their love for Hockey.   

“It’s hard to find volunteers and I think we need to do a better job at treating our volunteers well, showing appreciation and recognizing the amount of effort and time that’s put into what they do,” Donovan said.   

"(I know many people who are) committed to their community, and committed to raising kids who are not necessarily becoming great hockey players but to just raise good people who are respectful, mindful, driven individuals, with a real sense of teamwork. That’s what sports bring us,” he said.