Sports
Cohen committed to the net
—
Tayler Cohen has always had an affinity for sport.
In the beginning it was mainly swimming, a bit of summer soccer, and a few skating lessons for the-then precocious five-year-old.
Today, the Grade 8 McNair Secondary student is equally busy juggling a demanding academic schedule with playing on her school’s volleyball and basketball teams, suiting up with Richmond Ravens’ Midget female ice hockey teams, and playing ringette. Lots of ringette.
Tayler backstopped the Zone 5 (Vancouver-Coastal) team at the upcoming BC Winter Games Feb. 20 to 23 in Fort St. John. She has played goal in Richmond for six years—and for the last two has played up (U16) in Delta which has an “A” team.
“We got involved with ringette through the city works yard open house in 2012,” explains her mom, Diane. “Richmond Ringette had a booth set up with a net and sticks for the kids to shoot rings. (It) teaches skating and the game all in one shot. She was six years old and has played ever since.”
Tayler was the player that would bring her street hockey gear to try out during practices. From a young age she was drawn to the net, and by her second year was committed to being a goalie.
Dedicated to ringette, and keen to continue playing the game at a competitive level, she’s already garnered considerable experience. She recently played in Richmond Ringette’s annual West Coast Classic that featured more than 75 teams, and has participated at the Esso Golden Ring in Calgary (the largest ringette tournament in the world with more than 2,500 participants) and last year in both the Western (Edmonton) and provincial (Prince George) championships.
Tayler hopes to pursue scholarships for ringette and try out for the National Ringette League. However, because ringette is not an Olympic sport, she’s also looking at advancing her hockey career—with the ultimate dream of wearing the maple leaf.
“She loves the rink and winter, a perfect combination for a goalie to grow,” says Diane.
• Also representing Richmond at the BC Winter Games were:
Archery: Kin Luk (coach) and Sam Riter
Badminton: Samantha Cham, Bobby Chen, Megan Wu, Mia Wu and Adrian Zhou
Wheelchair Basketball: Hamza Elburai
Diving: Alan Hungerschafer (official)
Figure skating: Louie Fukuda-Wu and Nayali Liu
Gymnastics: Naomi Tsang
Judo: Ethan Cajigas, Owen Hou, Ryu Tamayose and Cynthya Tan (coach)
Karate: Haruki Mori and Toshi Uchiage (coach)
Speed skating: Daniel Liu, Nathalie Stewart (official), Scott Stewart (official), Quinn Teh and Roanan Tien-Vidal