Sunshine Coast hockey players got a jump on the upcoming season during the fifth annual summer hockey school last week in Gibsons.
The camp, held at the Gibsons and Area Community Centre, saw approximately 60 kids take part. The camp started with a goalie clinic on the weekend of Aug. 16 in which eight goalies took advantage of top-notch instruction from Top Shelf Hockey.
On Monday, Aug. 18, the main camp began, under the guidance of the Burnaby Express from the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.
Mischa Polzin was the head instructor at the camp. He said he was impressed by the new facility in Gibsons, the enthusiasm of the participants and the generally positive atmosphere of the camp.
"These kids are great. They want to learn and they want to work hard, and that's just so great to see," Polzin said. "I think what's really important with the younger kids is to learn balance, co-ordination and stability, and that's really what we teach. Our background in our hockey school is for them to just work hard and pay attention. I think what we really bring in the two ice sessions is to work on power skating. I think that is really lacking in hockey today, and it's fundamental.
"The fundamentals are so important at any age. The concepts we are teaching these kids are very similar to what we would do at our junior A camps. Obviously we're not at the same level of play here, but it's very important that these kids learn the fundamentals."
Besides the on-ice training, camp participants were treated to a variety of off-ice training, including hockey-specific training, soccer, lacrosse and swimming at the aquatic centre in Sechelt.
Polzin said the off-ice training is just as important to a players' development as on-ice training.
"In the last 10 years, you're seeing that the off-ice conditioning is very important, just as important as the on-ice conditioning is," he said. "I think these kids are really lucky to get the off-ice training they do in this camp, especially training that helps with their co-ordination and stability. You have to put in the work off the ice as well. We try to teach and instill those things and that work ethic in these kids. If they have aspirations to play junior hockey one day, we can show them what it's going to take and how hard they have to work to achieve that. Hopefully we'll see some of these kids up in our camp one day."
Sunshine Coast Regional District recreation co-ordinator Tom Poulton said he was pleased with the numbers and the players who came out to participate.
"I'm really happy with 60. These guys are doing a good job. The coaching is top-notch," said Poulton.
