Girls Hockey Calgary's Spring Skills Camp focuses on individual skill development on and off the ice for female athletes born 2006 to 2016! On-ice sessions are run by experienced hockey coaches and will focus on individual skating, puck-handling, passing and shooting skills. Off-ice sessions are run by a variety of qualified coaches and are designed to build confidence, competence and physical literacy.

Camp Components

• High Coach to Player Ratio for U9
• Short But High Quality Off-Ice Components
• Brain on/Brain off Program Design
• High Quality Feedback from On- and Off-Ice Coaches
• High Repetition Environment
• Culture-Creating Components
• Facilitating Play and Competitive Environments

Schedule Overview 

• Stew Hendry and Henry Viney Arenas
• Tuesday or Thursday Evenings - Dryland and Ice
• Wednesday Evenings - Multisport 
• Wednesday Evenings - Goalie Session (On-Ice)
• Fri., April 28 or May 5 - Shooting Clinic - Optimist Dry Pad
• Saturday, June 10 - 3x3 Jamboree & Wrap-Up 

What's Included?

• On-Ice Sessions (10)
  • 8 skill sessions
  • 2 jamboree games
• Goalie Only On-Ice Sessions (8)
• Dryland Sessions (14)
  • 7 fitness/dryland sessions
  • 7 multisport sessions
• Shooting Clinic
• Nutrition Sessions (2)
• Recovery Session
• Goal Setting Session
• 3x3 Jamboree 
• Camp T-shirt & Jersey

What Skills Will We Learn?

Hockey Skill Sessions

Sessions are designed to build skills consistently while maintaining a high level of engagement. Skills will change each week to maintain engagement but stay consistent enough to provide results over the period, with a focus on quality of repetitions versus a full session of repetitions. Each session will include core stick skills appropriate to the age group. Goalies will have position-specific instruction for portions of on-ice skill sessions with a qualified female goalie coach.

• Skating - base
• Stickhandling - base
• Shooting - base
• Skating - edgework
• Stickhandling + skating
• Shooting + skating
• Core stick skills
  • Passing
  • Shooting
  • Stickhandling

Multi-Sport Sessions

The multi-sport curriculum will review fundamental concepts and movements, basic team tactics and sportsmanship in a variety of team sports: basketball, softball, rugby, soccer, and more! All multi-sport instructors are trained in their respective sports, offering athletes quality coaching focused on skill development, building character, and developing a passion for the game.

Fitness Sessions

Fitness sessions are designed to improve strength, speed, coordination, balance, and fundamental movement skills. Sessions introduce proper movement prep and cool-down techniques an emphasis will be placed on injury prevention.

What's Required?

• Full Hockey Equipment
• Dryland Clothing (Running shoes, shorts, water bottle, sun screen, etc.)

*Some sessions will be outdoors, please dress appropriately for the weather!

Why Multi-Sport?

Skills

• 88 per cent of college athletes come from a multi-sport background. (American Medical Society for Sports Medicine)
• For most sports, there is no evidence that intense training and specialization before age 13 or 14 are necessary to achieve elite status. (Sports Health Journal)
• Diversified sports training during early and middle adolescence may be a more effective strategy in ultimately developing elite-level skills. (American Medical Society for Sports Medicine)

Reduce Burnout

• Around 70 per cent of kids stop playing organized sports by the age of 13 because, “it’s just not fun anymore”. (Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan University)
• Children who specialized early in a single sport led to higher rates of adult physical inactivity. Those who commit to one sport at a young age are often the first to quit. (Ohio State University study)
• An athlete who specializes early or plays on an ultra-competitive select team is at increased risk of burnout or quitting sports as a result of chronic stress, repetitive strain and a decrease in intrinsic motivation and enjoyment during their training sessions. (American Medical Society for Sports Medicine)

Injury Prevention

• Athletes who specialized were 70 to 93 per cent more likely to be injured than children who played multiple sports. (Study by Dr. Neeru Jayanthi of Loyola University, et al)
• Intense and repeated training in one sport at a young age has been associated with higher rates of injury, which ultimately has an effect on the length of a sport career. (International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology)
• Early sport specialization has been identified as damaging for the future physical and mental health of the athlete. (Consensus Statement American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Early Sport)

Source: Hockey Calgary

Resources

• Change it Up Campaign
• Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney - Importance of Multi-Sport