Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League

Education advisor, treasurer for the Weyburn Red Wings is making an impact

Anne Phair, Treasurer and Education Advisor for the Weyburn Red Wings, volunteers many hours with the team. (Photo taken by Mallory Cawthra).

(Article Courtesy Mallory Cawthra/DiscoverWeyburn.com)

Volunteers are an integral part of Weyburn, connecting people together and making the community a better place to be.

Anne Phair, Treasurer with the Board of Directors and Education Advisor for the Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings, generously shares her time and talents, putting in over 40 hours a week as a committed volunteer.

“Now in the off-season it’s obviously a lot less, there’s a lot less book work and the boys are gone home, although I am still FaceTime tutoring with one from British Columbia.”

Phair said that the first main role she took on with the Weyburn Red Wings was as treasurer.

“I can spend 10 to 20 hours a week depending on the time of the year in the books. It’s a lot bigger of a job than I realized going into it. I find that if I reconcile the bank statement every day, it helps make sure nothing is getting missed. I prepare annual budgets for the board approval and I keep everyone focused on our budget throughout the year.”

Phair shared that it’s super rewarding to see how far the club has come in the last three seasons since she’s been with them. When she first started with the books, she said they were very much in debt and it was quite scary trying to decide who she could pay and who would have to wait.

“Our board has done a lot of hard work raising money and everyone has bought into the budget and we’ve followed it religiously and we’ve completely climbed out of debt.”

Another big role that Phair dedicates her time to is education advisor with the Weyburn Red Wings. She said that Head Coach and General Manager Cody Mapes has put a lot of importance on education.

“I had a son go through the system and I was really lucky to see what his education advisor did for him during his time in Edmonton. I also have an education degree, so I thought I’d step up and fill that role. So it’s been a learning curve for me as well.”

When the students come to the Weyburn Red Wings, Phair said that she registers them for classes, whether it’s online or in person. “I help them pick their classes that will meet the Saskatchewan graduation requirements, plus the NCAA eligibility.”

“We had weekly study halls. I spoke with their teachers to make sure homework was getting done and that everything was where it should be. I proctored exams, and the biggest part was I did a lot of tutoring. I probably put 20 to 30 hours a week in with the boys.”

She said that it’s a lot of fun and the players make her laugh everyday. She said the players will even contact her to ask if she can help them with their math homework the following day. “There’s been lots of little things they’re teaching me too.”

Phair said that she started helping the team with their education two seasons ago, and she spent the first year watching videos and learning about how SAT’s worked. She took on the high school component immediately as she was familiar with that.

“It’s really hard to let your son go away and play somewhere, especially when they’re still in high school. You worry if that end of it is going to get lost, and so I knew I could fill that role, put parents minds at ease. I know that helps Cody [Mapes] recruit kids to come here because they know that their education is going to be taken care of.”

Phair added that it makes her feel good to volunteer with the team and she has a lot of fun with the players.

“I like to be busy. Where our business is two hours from here in Carnduff, and I’m able to do that remotely, sometimes while I’m working with the boys, I have to slip away and do a little bit of my real job. But yeah, I just enjoy doing it and I wanted to stay busy and the more I got into it, I’m not the kind of person to do a part job, so I dove in.”