North American Hockey Academy

Move in Day!!

34 campers from Florida to Ottawa will arrive at NAHA for the first camp on the NAHA campus for the summer. After two weeks of camps in Alaska, the crew is ready to get started with move in today, some fun activities to get the girls to meet and one of Jackie's great kickoff dinners!

Everyone participated in a variety of fun activities, but there was only one trophy awarded toHaley Gaughan (Canton MA)! She proudly brought it everywhere with her... the contest, who could run the farthest while yelling the loudest!!

 Everyone got an early morning start with a dynamic flexibility warmup before heading the the rink.

Focus at the rink on Monday was in movement with a purpose, learning how and when to move without the puck to provide great support to your teammates. A combination of drills and small games got the campers moving, and most importantly thinking!!

The position specific sessions worked on:

- defense: types of open pivots, proper technique and when to use them

- forwards: mohawk turns, getting to good breakout positions with great timing

- goalies: crease movement and technique

Evening Activity was the preparation of Team Flags for their team activities during the week.

 We started the day with a presentation of visualization, and how it can be used in both practices and games to help the girls reach their goals.

The morning on ice focus continued our theme of movement without the puck while putting an emphasis on ralising passing and receiving skill levels.

Position Specific sessions (photos at right): Goalies worked with Kelsey Neumann (Clarkson University) on movement and power slides. Forwards worked with Josh Hechter (NAHA) and Coach Plumer to continue to develop offensive attack options through a series of progressions they began on Monday. These were then taken into more pressure situations in the afternoon session. NAHA defensive coaches Jesse Driscoll and Jill Nugent worked with the D in their position specific segment of practice on open pivots into puck retrieval, breakout options and finally defensive skating practice with the focus on developing good habits for D.

The afternoon session integrated concepts from the first two days of position specific play into attacking options off the rush, defensive read and react, and a progression of the attack through 1v1, 2v1, 3v1.

The camp is divided into two teams, Red and White, and points are kept throughout a variety of on ice games, off ice games and challenges. After the second day the results:

 Camp started with a dynamic flexibility routine lead by Kelly Steadman, Mercyhurst College (US U18 Gold Medalist), following the Team USA format to help get rid of the tired legs, and aid in avoiding muscle pulls. That was followed by a presentation of the University of Wisconsin NCAA Champion 2009 season highlight video, featuring two NAHA alum, Kyla Sanders and Brooke Ammerman. We talked about how preparation for the competition affects performance, and how important that is as players get older and move up in competitive levels.

On ice focus today was on passing and receiving, skills targeted by the coaches for improvement. We also worked on a series of drills and games to imrove decision making.

 Following another dynamic flexibility routine to wake up and loosen up the muscles, campers had a presentation by Coach Plumer, highlighting a number of the core concepts we have highlighted in camp including movement, combination play, shooting to score, playing without the puck, and making good decisions. A number of clips that impacted outcomes in games were shown.

Thursdays on-ice practice stepped it up in all areas, challenging the playes to think at a higher level in more complex situations. The change caught them by surprise, but it wasn't long before they executed at a much highter performance level than the first morning, congrats to all!!

The mid day sessions switched from position specific to team play and the teams were put through a variety of breakout type movements. We believe there are patterns of the game that repeat themselves and work to incorporate a variety of drills, small games and series of movement drills to help players recognize these and make good decisions.

Team White won the Scavenger Hunt in the Stowe Village for an additional point.

 We kicked off the day with an off ice presentation on the path to playing at a higher level, a roundtable discussion with the coaches and athletes. Topics of discussion ran from how to be a better academic student-athlete, what college coaches look for and ask about in prospects, skill development and physical preparation.

The focus of the day was to bring the concepts together and increase the speed of both the game and decision making within the context of the small games and drills we played. Team practices included breakout and regrouping skills, and getting connected on entries into the zone.

Team Red had a breakthrough day, and scored some key goals in winning all three points that were on the line.