Every summer, hundreds of hockey camps are operating all over North America. And no matter what skills your hockey-playing child needs to work on, there are camps out there for you.
There are camps for speed, camps for stick handling, camps for shooting, camps for checking, camps for “power” skating, camps for defensemen, etc.
Most of these camps are week-long camps, and with each camp comes the promise of positive results.
So my question is: If positive results can come from attending a 1-week hockey camp, what kind of results could you expect from 37 weeks of hockey camp?
Before talking about how you can get 37 weeks of hockey camp (I'll get to that below), here's some food for thought, not only about summer hockey camps, but also about maximizing the development of your hockey-playing child.
While your son may derive some value from attending a week-long camp (see Youth Hockey Development - Part 1), it is definitely NOT the best way for a youth hockey player to develop.
By day 2 or 3 at most week-long camps, nearly all the players are fatigued.
The fact is: there is a better way.
Training sessions should not be jammed together. They should be set up intelligently:
Hockey, first and foremost, is a game of skills. Brute force alone does NOT make a hockey player. Strength and power do matter, and they matter very much as players move up the pyramid to higher and higher levels of hockey.
And of course a player's athleticism is also crucial to the process. (Learn about "Developing Physical Literacy" to become a high-level athlete from my 4-part series under "Recent Posts" in the column to the right.)
It is about developing proper techniques so that strength and power CAN be applied to those skills later.
Look at any skill, and experts who teach that skill will tell you unequivocally that the skill cannot be developed, much less mastered, while the “student” is fatigued.
This is true not only for youth hockey skills but also for something like mastering a musical instrument. It is true for baseball players and golfers, for gymnasts and figure skaters, for pole vaulters and high hurdlers. And on and on, for all skill-based activities.
No matter the skill, if fatigue has set in, you are better off NOT practicing.
(But again: there is no doubt that a high percentage of the youth hockey players attending a week-long camp, especially a residence camp, have become fatigued by day 2 or 3, and that they do not recover from that fatigue until after the camp ends.)
The key to mastering any skill is proper technique. And, as stated above, proper technique can only be maintained when the athlete is not fatigued.
For example, if you hope to play the guitar well, your left and right hands must work together.
And of course in a sport like hockey, which requires the use of almost every muscle in the body at all times, the athlete must coordinate not only both hands, but also both feet, as well as the elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and head.
To execute any athletic skill at the higher levels, the athlete must be able to apply power and strength to the skill.
But if the technique the athlete is using while attempting to execute the skill is flawed, then at some point strength will overpower the technique.
For example, a baseball player hoping to hit major league pitching must be able to swing the bat faster while still keeping the swing on plane. But if there is a technical flaw in his swing, then adding power to the swing will tend to exaggerate the flaw. And the player who continues trying to add strength and power to the flawed swing will simply get out of whack (for lack of a better term).
But an athlete who is executing a skill with “perfect” technique can continue to add strength and power to the skill, without having the skill break down, up to (and in theory even beyond) the limits of his strength and power.
Hockey is not just skill-intensive. It is also physically demanding. (A prior blog, Youth Hockey Development - Part 2, discusses the consistent commitment necessary to excel at hockey.)
After that, he must rest and recover if he hopes to properly execute the skills in the drill without fatigue the next time through.
And so being physically fit, i.e. so that the player can fully recover between each skill-based repetition, matters a lot to skill development.
Now, to the matter at hand:
The school year of most elementary and middle schools comprises 37 weeks of school over a 41-week time frame. This is likewise true at Bridgedale Academy.
Because, as part and parcel of our core academic/athletic development curriculum as a youth hockey prep school, all Bridgedale Academy student-athletes receive the equivalent of 37 weeks of hockey camp conducted by 200 x 85, arguably the top youth hockey development program in North America.
The training that our student-athletes receive at Bridgedale is specifically designed and overseen by 200 x 85 to manage the balance between hard work and recovery, so that fatigue is minimized and development of skills is maximized.
The results we have seen over the years are undeniable, and we are confident that you can ask any parent of a Bridgedale student-athlete and you’ll get the same response: my son’s development at Bridgedale has been amazing.
Add in the academic benefits of Bridgedale Academy, such as:
and the combination is unbeatable.
Attending a school for athletes like Bridgedale Academy is the best of both worlds. It is literally the "best possible developmental environment" in which you can place your son. And this should be what guides your decision-making process.
Bridgedale Academy limits its enrollment to 16 student-athletes at each grade level.
Your son can Be One of the 16.
Bridgedale continues to accept student-athletes for the 2018-19 school year.
Our 8th grade is full but limited openings remain at the 5th, 6th and 7th grade levels.
Bridgedale Academy is now accepting transfers for the 2018-19 School Year.