| Summer Hockey Camp - Having Fun the Bill Bolton Way |
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This year we ran our third annual Summer Hockey Camp, from the beginning of July to mid August. This was a camp for kids who come and play house league hockey at Bill Bolton. It was a great success, with about 25-30 kids attending each week.
The Goal!
When we talked about creating a summer camp we had several goals in mind.
The No. 1 goal was for the kids to have fun.
We wanted the kids to enjoy themselves, while learning great skills.
The No. 2 goal was for the kids to improve their hockey skills.
Of course, like any other hockey camp, we wanted to make positive changes in skating, stick handling, passing and shooting
The No. 3 goal was to increase the amount of team playing.
That would include being aware of other players, passing, moving of the puck, making quick passes, going to the net, passing, moving the puck quickly out of the zone and of course passing, passing and more passing.
Note that the goal was NOT winning, throwing a good body check, being aggressive with the puck, or winning at any cost! Bill Bolton is a totally non-contact arena, we play hockey because we love the game.
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| So What Did We Do? |
Let's deal with the fun part.
First, we did not want the kids to get bored! There is nothing like doing repetitious drills to take the fun out of any activity, no matter how useful the drill. So in designing the exercises we had to keep this in mind.
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One of the things we did was divide the ice rink into quadrants, and in each space the kids would do a different activity. When we did a drill which could be considered a little more boring, they would do this in only one of quadrants and then move to an activity which was "more fun".
Presenting the kids with an assortment of challenges kept the interest and energy up.
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Secondly, we wanted to avoid drills where one or two kids were doing the drill while the rest stood around and waited for their turn.
We also were careful to match exercises to skill levels. So some exercises were modified for the younger kids. For example, in most cases it is not reasonable to expect a 7 year old kid to do an across-the-ice pass, so that exercise was modified.
Here are some of the different kinds of exercises we did with the kids.
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| Teaching team play |
Around 50% of the exercises were part of our strategy to teach team play. Each was a building block.
For example, goals are scored in all levels of hockey when a pass is made across the ice surface and the receiver one-times it into the net. This is of course easier said than done.
To teach this skill, we used two drills.
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Exercise 1
Two kids about 20 feet apart. In between was a block of wood with a hole in it. The kids had to pass the puck through the hole in the blocks. As the kids got better at this as they moved further apart. This way their passes had to be longer, while at the same time keeping the accuracy. They could also pass the puck by raising it over the board.
Exercise 2
Two kids, one at the boards and the second kid standing out on the ice facing the net. The first kid had to make a pass onto the stick of the second kid, who then had to one-time it into the net. Then the next puck and the next. Then the kids would switch.
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These were not the only exercises that taught passing, given that about 50% of our drills involved passing in some form, but these ones specifically taught passing and then one-timing the puck.
So did it work?
Each day ended with a scrimmage and we were constantly amazed at the number of passing attempts, many of which were successful.
There were also a couple of other by-products because of this. First, a passing game is so much more fun to be involved in, so the kids enjoyed the game more. Secondly, the goalies had to learn how to stop these types of plays, so their skills and their ability to read the play improved.
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| Skating Skills |
We did lots of different skating drills, and the goal was to make the drills really fun for the kids.
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For example, we played Musical Pucks. This worked on the same principle as Musical Chairs: we took them kids and gave them one puck less than the number of kids. The kids would lie on the ice, When the music started (whistle blew), they would scramble up and go for a puck. The kid without a puck would try to take it away from a kid who has a puck. When the music stopped, the kid without the puck had to sit down, and we took one puck away and so on.
Look at the skills this simple fun game teaches:
- Constant stopping and starting
- Puck control
- Quick acceleration
- Poke checking
- Protecting the puck
- Ice positioning where you skate into open ice away from others
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Did the kids know that they were learning these skills? No, they were just having fun
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| Passing skills |
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One of the passing exercises we called the Hot Potato Drill. It is similar to throwing the ball around the bases in baseball. This exercise involved four players positioned in a square. The trick was to pass the puck around the four players. We explained to the kids that the puck was a hot potato, and they had to get rid of it as fast as possible. With the older kids we got them to pass it between each other until we blew the whistle
This exercise taught the kids to not only pass accurately, but also to move the puck quickly; one of the most important skills in hockey. For the kids, they loved the idea of the hot potato and not being able to hold onto the hot potato. It made the exercise fun.
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| So what else did we do for the kids to have fun? |
The closer the exercise is to real hockey, the more fun it is for the kids. Now just playing scrimmages all day would not only be tiresome but also we would not be able to teach many of the skills.
But we did two on ones, and five on two drills, just like the Leafs. They mimic a scrimmage game, but really force the kids to pass, skate, shoot and think about what they are doing. The kids learned these skills but had fun doing something which felt like they were playing hockey. This was especially valuable for the older kids. With the younger kids we would simplify it.
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Every Friday we had a skills competition, just like they do in the NHL, with relay skating and shootouts. We even got the instructors to compete, with the kids yelling encouragement. You could feel the excitement.
Friday was also shirt day, where kids could wear their favorite jerseys.
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| The very young kids |
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We ran a mini-camp for really young kids, many of whom could not even skate.
One 4-year old enthusiast this year came to two mini-camps. In the first mini-camp, not only could he not skate, he could not even stand. We gave him a push cart, and by the end of the week he could skate without assistance. In the second week he learned to skate forwards and backwards and stop. Then he convinced his parents to let him come to the full camp.
This is what makes running a camp such a heart-warming experience.
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| No pressure just fun |
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One of the nice things about having a camp for house league players is that we really did not have to worry about whether they improved enough so that they could play A or AA hockey.
Sure we wanted the kids to learn and improve, and we designed the activities so that they would learn a lot, but the emphasis was on having fun. We did not pressure the kids, or drive them hard, or get on their case when they did not do it perfectly. Kids were allowed to learn at their pace.
Our instructors fundamental mission was to encourage the kids, and make sure they were involved and enjoying themselves.
Playing hockey should be a pleasure. It is the Bill Bolton way.
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| So how did we do? |
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The test of how we did is, of course, the daily scrimmage. It shows how well the players have learnt what we have taught. Nobody keeps score in the scrimmages and the emphasis is also on having fun.
From what we saw, the amount of good hockey was significant. Players passed, and went to the net. In every scrimmage there were some really good plays, saves and goals. You could see how the players had improved.
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| What did the kids have to say? |
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The number one comment from the kids was:
"It is a lot of fun."
The number two comment was:
"It is a lot of hard work, but it is so much fun."
We heard these almost universally.
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| What did the parents have to say? |
The main reaction was that their kids had a lot of fun. The parents who came early and watched part of the day-ending scrimmages, commented frequently on how great the hockey was in the scrimmages. Even the youngest kids were passing.
At the end of one camp, we interviewed the parents about what they thought. Here is what they had to say:
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It's awesome. It is a great introduction to the skills. I just saw a huge improvement from Monday to Friday. I know other parents have said the same thing.
He was really nervous now his confidence has grown immensely.
It's great because the kids get lots of ice time.
My son is generally a soccer player but he decided to try hockey. He has not enjoyed any camp as much as this one.
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The coaches were great. They were really encouraging.
Fantastic. It is community and skill focused not competitive focused. My son loved it.
It really was in the tradition of Bill Bolton where the focus is on the kids having fun. So user-friendly.
My son just jumps out of bed in the morning. He has never enjoyed a camp as much as this one.
Fantastic. She has been to a lot of hockey camps and she said this was the best one she has ever attended. She wants to come back next week.
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| What did the coaches have to say? |
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Last year (2010) was the first year that Bill Bolton ran this camp. So the coaches who coach house league were able to compare the quality of play before the 2010 summer camp with the quality during the entire season after the camp
The feedback that we received was that the quality of play was so much better. The amount of team-play, passing and just good hockey was noticeable.
This was music to our ears, especially when it came from the veteran coaches who had been coaching for many years. That was what we were going for.
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| Finally |
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We set out to have a camp which was total fun. It looks like we succeeded. Our greatest reward is when the kids all tell us that they are having fun. If the lessons learned at camp transfer to house league play, so we see more and more team play, then that is the icing on the cake.
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| Thank You |
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We would like to end this by a statement from senior Bill Bolton management to all those individuals who worked on making the camp a success.
Bill Bolton would like to thank James Oreto, Anthony Di Francesco and the rest of the staff for organizing and running a great camp. We are proud of these young individuals who created a camp where the kids learnt so much and had so much fun.
Thank you
We would also like to especially thank Anthony Di Francesco, the camp director for doing such a good job in organizing and running the camp and for writing this article with us.
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We should always remember that in the final analysis, the question is "Are the kids having fun?"
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