The Second week of the School Holiday Programme was designed for the Bantam’s and Junior’s.
The days started with our on ice session. We would begin with skating and puck handling warm-up where players had to execute a variety of drills while moving around a barrier in small groups. They would then be split into 3 groups and put through skill development stations similar to what we do on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s.
After the on ice component we would split them into 2 groups. 1 group would do a cool down stretch with our “flexibility expert” Joel Messenger while the other would work on high level stick handling drills. We began incorporating agility drills with the stick handling drills to add a level of complexity but also to ensure that the hands and feet can work together and separately. The player’s found the drills challenging but incredibly beneficial.
After our off-ice component we would go upstairs and have a classroom/video session.Day 1 we went over goal setting and how to set SMART goals. The players were split into groups of 4 and had to provide examples of short term/long term individual/team goals. This was followed by a brief presentation in front of the larger group. It was fun and educational. Day’s 2 and 3 we watched off ice training videos of top NHL draft picks such as Connor McDavid, Jack Hughes, Sydney Crosby etc. It was awesome to see the light bulb switch go off when players realised that the drills we have them do throughout camp are the same ones the top players in the world work on.
After our classroom session it was time to hit the Strong Factory. Strong Factory is a local gym that sponsors the West Auckland Admirals. Huge thank you to Dan and his team there. We put the kids through circuit style interval training. We set up 10 drills using light weights and body weight and gave them a glimpse into how the Admirals train every week. We spent lots of time educating on the muscle groups, Do’s and Dont’s, Technique and sport specific approaches to training. This was always wrapped up with a solid stretching session before we made the trek back to Paradice.
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Unfortunately, Paradice was quite busy during their public skate sessions during week 2 and as such we were unable to draw the net and play 3 on 3 as we would have liked. Instead coach put the players through various high level power skating and edge control drills that were done amongst the public.
It was a full on few days and was awesome to combine the educational component within the context of fun with friends. Bring on the next one!
