North American Hockey Academy

Ginny's experience at NAHA was unbelievable. The opportunity that NAHA provides to female hockey players is extremely rare. The exposure she received to colleges at NAHA can't be beat. Playing for Alaska, because of its remote location, the only exposure she got was at the Polar Bears tournament and unless she contacted college coaches in advance, they most likely weren't going to pay too much attention to her. NAHA also provided Ginny with many college resources that she could turn to for advice and direction. Bill Driscoll tries his hardest to place each individual in a college that will fit them both academically and athletically. Bill worked with Ginny constantly, talking to her about the different colleges and helped her to understand all of her options. NAHA is an awesome opportunity for female hockey players that would like to bring their game to the next level. Ginny wouldn't trade her experiences at NAHA for anything.

-Randy Berg, Soldotna, Alaska

We felt Teal got a fantastic education. The teachers were 100% in support of Teal learning the material and keeping up with her classes in order to be completely ready for the transition back into her high school. She not only got more attention in every subject, learned the material more thoroughly, but was ahead of her classes when returning home! The whole atmosphere was amazing for her to thrive in. At first she was homesick and the teachers noticed and tried to help her through the transition of being away from home. Then after she realized the opportunity before her, she loved the schedule. The whole program combines education and at the same time supports the dreams she was also trying to achieve through hockey.

She has missed the “one on one teaching” she received through NAHA and it has made her excited about returning next year. She loved the no nonsense of being taught at her own speed and being able to ask questions and getting answers right away. It actually was more efficient time-wise and gave her the opportunity to be able to do more personal hockey workouts with some of the free time it created. We worried at first about the academics and are so happy with everything about NAHA! We consider it the closest program in the country to the Boy’s National Program but for girls. And because of Bill Driscoll, maybe better than any other program in the country. I personally felt that I would never send my daughter away from home unless I could find a better teacher than what I could provide at home. We feel as parents that NAHA is such a program, that when you send your daughter there, she is going to learn, thrive, grow, and become a better individual, besides the incredible hockey development that they receive. And she was only gone for five months! It was perfect.

-Rita and Bill Bishop, Fairbanks, Alaska

Just wanted to let you know that Randi returned to school yesterday and found she is ahead, or at par, with all her classes! Thank you to you and your wonderful staff for making this happen!

-Bill Zukas, Glen Head, New York

As we all know, there is nothing that can "top" the one on one instruction for these student-athletes, or any student for that matter. The individual attention that they receive is second to none. When you have the quality teachers and the individual instruction the student can only excel! Our hats are off to Linda Kristin, Andrea Fournier, and James Meade to mention a few. They were key in helping Stacey reach her potential in those courses. The teachers at NAHA have impacted Stacey's life in such a positive way. Our sincere appreciation for everything you did to help with Stacey’s academic program at NAHA. “Each child has something within that is unique. The instructor must encourage the child to develop that gift.”

-Kim and Shawn Scott, Massena, New York

You should be so proud of all your accomplishments this year with the girls, the parents, and the schools. We are so impressed with you, your program, and the success of Liz this year. Please accept our sincere thank you for all of your efforts. You have been a pleasure to work with and a great representative of a tremendous program.

-Ruth and Gordie Keenan, Houston, Texas

I just can’t believe 4 plus months have gone by this quickly. When Nicole first came to me with the idea of attending NAHA I was unsure. The concern I had was for the academics and wondering how it would all work. Well, here we are at the end. Nicole’s academics have spoken for themselves. Her teachers I have met have had nothing but praise for her and her work efforts. With your watchful eye and direct communication with me on a regular basis (thanks for listening!), I felt assured things would turn out fine. I appreciate everything you have done to help make this all work. Your professionalism dealing our school was extremely helpful.

So once again, thanks! I am sure Nicole will look back on this in the years to come as one of the highlights of her life! Best of luck in the future with NAHA. I will only ever have positive things to say about NAHA and Nicole’s time there.

-Laurie Goguen, Truro, Nova Scotia

I wanted to say a special thank you to all of you at NAHA. What a wonderful experience you have given our daughter and we will always be grateful. We think you’re all wonderful people that give everything to those girls. God bless you all.

-Stacey Koloski, Gillette, Wyoming

The 1 on 1 approach to academics is unique and also very effective. The organization that the girls had to learn will help them tremendously in college. Erica picked right up in classes when she returned to Winthrop, she was actually required to do more at NAHA than her classmates did at home. I was very happy with the whole experience.

-Karen Higginbotham, Winthrop, Massachusetts

The big advantage of academics at NAHA is that when a topic is being studied that the student is struggling with as much time as needed can be spent on that particular area; and on the flip side, when something comes easy to the student, there is no need to bore them with busy work and time wasted. . . they can move on to something else. It is important to make sure that they are where they need to be in the curriculum when they return home which requires good communication with the home school. It has worked well for Jeanna, we told her going into it that she would come home if her grades fell and she has kept them up.

-Jeanne Dippel, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Margaret is quickly coming to the conclusion of a very successful freshman year. She has been able to maintain her Honor Roll status throughout all four quarters while not only attending her home high school in Darien, Connecticut but also the North American Hockey Academy. She has been able to accomplish this while participating in a very demanding ice hockey program.

Prior to Margaret attending NAHA our main concerns was how well her curriculum would transfer and how well Margaret would perform in a one on one tutoring approach to her studies. Initially, the change presented some challenges that soon turned into great benefits. This was mainly due to the staff that you have assembled that is not only dedicated to their profession but also devoted to the girls’ overall education. Any concerns we had were soon allayed when we received her first academic progress report. Moreover, Margaret has learned how to be more independent in her studies through time management, more confident in her abilities by prioritizing, as well as becoming her own advocate when necessary.

Your program allows our daughter to experience the best of both leaning environments. In her home high school she is in a classroom setting and benefits from the free flow of ideas and open discussions with her classmates. While at NAHA Margaret is able to delve more deeply in to her subjects with her teachers, which has been particularly important for her with math and science. In addition, I would like to mention the life lessons learned outside of the classroom at NAHA from Ernie Roick of Phit. Ernie has had quiet an impact on Margaret by recounting the times he faced great challenges and he overcame those challenges through shear will and determination. Also, some of his saying such as, “Never, Ever Quit”, and other more colorful dictums will help guide her throughout her life long after some of her academic lessons have faded from memory.

-Michele & Ed McNamara, Darien, Connecticut