Many parents want to develop their young hockey players, enhance their skills, speed , hockey iq, game playing (tactics) and they often seek hockey schools for that development.
As most of you who read this blog know, each age level should be treated a bit differently. Yes, all of these skills need to be addressed but at Midget more teaching in the requirements of training to compete, mental focus and on the ice, the need for more emphasis on the physical game.
True, at Peewee and Bantam, the physical game is introduced and implemented but I think that we can all agree that more is required at Midget. More puck protection, more learning to take a hit and give a hit while minimizing th risk of injury, how to identify situations where you may be making yourself vulnerable to the risk of injury.
So, what separates one hockey school from another and how do you decide the right hockey school for your child?
Some hockey schools are led by former NHL hockey players that bring their knowledge and experience to the rink for their students. They, often have 25-30 kids on the ice with them and a helper and teach aspects of the game they think the kids need to learn based on their knowledge as a former professional hockey player.
Some hockey schools ar skill gurus. These schools teach skills that are akin to the skills the Harlem Globetrotters display in their games versus what you might see from an NBA or College game. (Understand, this is simply an analogy, no hockey school is teaching basketball, lol!)
Some of these hockey schools offer off ice training. Some of those are hockey particular training and some are conducted by fitness gurus.
Some hockey schools operate as glorified day care, with hockey as a theme...again, this is what some parents are looking for in the summer.
Our philosophy is different.
Instructors developed through our methods
We have a group of instructors who have developed through our methods, use our methods now as they prepare each off season to compete at the Junior and Pro level. Like the saying goes, "We drink our own koolaid!"
Low Student to Instructor Ratio
We have 5 or 6 instructors on the ice and a goaltending instructor. Our goaltending instructor never has more than four students to work with in a session and often it is two.
Our on ice groups range from 20-30 students per session and that provides our students with a 5 to 6 student to instructor ratio. Our instructors don't just watch the students do the drills, they participate in the drills with the students. That creates a better environment between the student the instructor but also helps the instructors to take the student out of a comfort zone and have the student skate faster, stick handle quicker while maintaining control of the puck and turn around cones with better balance and body weight shifting on the turns, as opposed to repeating the drill wrong and moving on to the next exercise.
Our off ice has two instructors, groups are stuctured in such a way that individual attention and encouragement is delivered to each and every student, each session! Our approach here is in line with the goals and objectives of the LONG TERM ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT plan accepted and implemented by all Olympic nations. This is not sport particular but deals with the students physical development needs as age specific.
Our championship habits program is setup where our weekly host instructor introduces themselves to the students, explains their particular background and experience and delves into some of the challenges that they have faced along the way to where they are now.
Each weekly instructor invites guest speakers to address the group. Whether that is Hockey Operations people at the NHL level, General Managers at the Junior level, professional/college players, motivational speakers.
My favorite question from the Championship Habits surfaced last summer when one of the students asked the speaker, Mark Barberio, the most outstanding defensemen in the American Hockey League last season. "Have you always played at the highest level? Have you ever been released from a team?" Mark's response, "Well, Tampa Bay has released me each of the last four years"
Encouragement versus Intolerance
With the environment that we create in all three aspects of our program, we focus on encouragement, building confidence and self esteem. There is no elling at students. There is encouragement, correction and the development of tools to build confidence and self esteem.
"Our championship habits program teaches students how to deal with adversity, deal with change, deal with recovering from making a mistake on the ice, introducing the students to players that are further down the road of development and learning their stories to understand that development isn't just staright up...there are setbacks every once and a while and we provide lessons and tools to deal with those," stated Chris Sides Director of Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School.
The on ice side is the same. If the students could do every drill without correction or without making a mistake, they wouldn't need to come to the hockey school. Mistakes are expected and our group encourages the students to work their corrections and get confidence from that process.
And, this process is in place with the off ice training as well. Students come with varying degrees of strength, stamina and dexterity. Some off ice exercises will demand from students things they are not necessarily equipped to do day 1, but by day 18 they are absolutely amazed at how far they have come.
One lesson we learned in our first summer, the students don't mind working hard and being tired when they leave...in fact, they enjoy that! It allows them to know that they are developing and not just spending time in a hockey themed day care.
Our Philosophy in a Nutshell
Our group tries to put ourseleves in the shoes of the parent, what do I want for my hockey playing child from this experience. And, then, we go about executing that. The student enjoys the experience because they get to know the instructor well, feel that the instructor cares about the student and focuses on making it fun to learn. The student improves in all aspects of the game, improves the strength, stamina, dexterity, improves the confidence and self esteem level.
Our program might not be for everyone, but you now know our approach and you can decide, what do I want for my hockey playing child?
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