Choosing a Hockey School
Here are some steps to guide you through the process
of choosing a hockey school and a specific program.
1.
What does my child want?
First decide what it is you want your son or daughter
to get from their camp experience:
-
General Skill
Development
-
Specific Skill
Development (eg. scoring, puck handling, etc. )
-
Skating Development
-
Sports related
day care
-
Social Development
2. Find out about the
hockey schools
Use the Internet to compare types
of programs and cost.
Phone the contact number and
asks questions. You’re spending a lot of money
- you want to make an informed choice. One of the
best ways to find out about a program is to talk to
someone who has been involved with them in the past.
If you don’t know anyone, ask the contact person
for a local reference. Did the camp deliver what they
promised in their brochure? How did the camp handle
discipline problems? Was player supervision on and
off the ice sufficient?
3. Ask about the coaching staff
Who are they and
where did they gain their coaching experience? What
is the coach to player ratio? If a program boasts about
professional players at their camps make sure they are
part of the regular coaching staff.
The head coach is very important
to a program. Head coaches plan each ice time, decide
on what will be taught and how it will be taught. They
set the tone and tempo of each practice. Try to find
out who will be the head coach and what is his/her coaching
style and philosophy. Has he/she had a lot of experience
with young athletes?
4. Compare costs and value
A quick way to calculate dollar value is to divide the
total fee by the number of hours of ice received. Average
cost is usually around $28/hr of ice for a half or full
day program and $22/hr of ice time for a clinic. Boarding
programs usually charge an extra $200 per week ($Canadian).
Clinics are more popular than Full Day Camps for a few
good reasons:
- Clinics are usually cheaper
because you’re not paying for extra off ice
supervision
- Often full day camps combine
numerous physical activities into one week / day without
due consideration to reasonable work to rest ratios.
(Overworking any muscle group is counterproductive
and may lead to injuries.)
- An hour of practice every day
for 2 weeks is more productive than 12 hrs of practice
in one week.
5. Other considerations
How close to the regular minor
hockey season is the camp. Skill development starts
to deteriorate significantly after two weeks off. Try
to pick a camp that finishes as close to the start of
minor hockey as possible for optimum carry over.
Keep in mind that it takes an average
person a certain amount of repetitions (about 5 min
a day for two week) for a person to acquire a physical
skill that they did not have before. Try to pick a two-week
camp if skill acquisition is a priority.
Finally, the program should be fun. This is about
‘play’ not ‘work’.
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