[3] While the sport was originally created exclusively for female competitors, it has expanded to now include participants of all gender identities.

Since then, it has gained popularity to the point where, in 2018, more than 50,000 individuals, including coaches, officials, volunteers, and over 30,000 players, registered to take part in the sport in Canada alone.

[20] The 30-second shot clock is now used almost universally in all age groups as well as internationally (including the World Ringette Championships) with the exception of very young players and some of the lower divisions.

"turbo ring")[25] is not a torus, but a small open disk (a toroid) used on ice to help ringette players develop and hone pass receiving skills and is typically either orange or blue.

Practice rings don't collect snow and come in different high-optic colours for easy visibility.

Nonetheless, goalies are required to wear a combination of a ringette-approved helmet, facemask, and throat protector.

[citation needed][9][10] It is meant to be played as a stand-alone activity or as a form of dry-land training to help players develop skills which are transferable to the ice sport.

[11] In-line ringette is played as an informal alternative, but a consistent set formal rules have not been codified and sizeable organizing bodies do not exist.

[32][33] Jacks is credited with creating the idea for the sport in 1963, following his earlier development of a variant of floor hockey[34] in 1936,[35][36] which used bladeless sticks and a flat felt disk with a hole in the centre.

[38] Ringette was created in the hopes of increasing and maintaining female participation in winter sports under the existing authority of the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO) and the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) due to a lack of success in generating interest among the young female population in the winter team sports of girls' broomball and girls' ice hockey.

[33][34] For as long as Municipal Recreation has existed there has been, with some justification, a concern that our sports tended to be male orientated.

Over the years attempts have been made to discover or create a new winter court or rink game for girls.

[33]The idea for the new game was first introduced at a general meeting between the members of NORDA in January 1963 in Sudbury, Ontario.

[47][48] The sport was introduced to Manitoba in 1967 and the province's first team, the Wildwood, was created two years later in Fort Garry, Winnipeg.

The following year, the sport received national television exposure in an intermission feature during Hockey Night in Canada.

[51] Ringette Canada initially had little money and received no assistance from the Canadian federal government though the sport grew significantly between the 1970s and 1980s.

[54] Jan had been an exchange student in the United States the previous year, 1978, and had seen girls playing ringette.

[55] The game quickly gained popularity, aided by Canadian coaches who helped establish programs.

However, participation fell dramatically in the mid-1990s when ice hockey was endorsed over ringette as an official high school sport for girls.

Historically, Canada and Finland have been the most active ambassadors in the international federation and regularly send teams to demonstrate how ringette is played in countries including Japan, Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, and South Korea.

[1][2] The International Olympic Committee (IOC) asked Canada to stage a heritage games event for the sports of ringette, broomball, and lacrosse for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but the three sports were unable to meet objectives and the event failed to materialize.

The championship was discontinued after 2011 due to the fact that competing teams faced financial costs which made the tournament untenable.

Traditionally held in Prague, the Czech Lions Cup is the only ringette tournament of its kind in Central Europe.

The cup was established by Betty Shields (the fifth President of Ringette Canada) and was named after Jeanne Sauvé.

[97] During the 70's ringette was most popular in Alpena, Flint, Michigan, Minnesota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Viroqua and Onalaska, Wisconsin.

[108] Female ice hockey only began to experience significant growth after it banned body checking, which was mostly accomplished in Canada by 1986.

[107] Following this, the expansion of female ice hockey in Canada was largely accomplished by aggressive recruiting from the ringette system.

[33][109] Canada Post issued four stamps in a series of sports with Canadian origins: ringette, basketball, five-pin bowling and lacrosse.

[110][111] The commemorative stamps were issued on August 10, 2009, and featured well-worn equipment used in each sport with a background line drawing of the appropriate playing surface.

[116] Notable in ringette is Sam Jacks who created the sport, in addition with the help of Red McCarthy.