I just came back from a trip out to Vancouver BC to run the first ever Total Female Hockey Experience Camp out on the west coast. It was a high-intensity 3 day event that showed the 30 players involved exactly what they need to do on and off the ice to get to the next level.
One of the biggest highlights was Coach Brooke’s 2 hour presentation about the US College Hockey Process and what players (and parents) need to do in each grade of high school on and off the ice to get noticed, get recruited and get one step closer to the school of their dreams. Everyone loved the session and the amount of detail Brooke went through. This was the same response we got from the session she did at the Experience event last August in Toronto.
As I was sitting there listening to Brooke give another great seminar, I realized something.
::: Even though we all come from different countries, cities, associations, and teams, we all have the same issues when it comes to figuring out how to get to the next level. :::
You are looking for the path to get you from point A (where you are now) to point B (which for most players is college/university hockey as well as the national team).
We all have a different point A and our exact paths to point B will be very different. But the *details* of what you need to do along the way in order to reach your dreams are the same no matter where you are starting from.
Let’s use Brooke and my experiences as an example.
Brooke played hockey mostly with the boys out in the Seattle area (after starting to play the game at a young age up in Alaska). She was involved with the national team development camps from the age of 14 on. Even though she was one of the better female players on the west coast, she had to fight the battle of geography and the fact that most college coaches weren’t going to make the trip out west to see her play. She also had to fight the fact that most of those coaches weren’t going to come out and see her play with the boys. So Brooke had to play for girls teams as well that would travel out to the east to play in big tournaments so that she could get noticed.
I, on the other hand, grew up in the hockey recruiting hotbed of Toronto. But unlike Brooke, who started hockey very young, I didn’t learn to skate until I was 13. And I didn’t make a decent team until I was 15. I never made a provincial team and certainly wasn’t on the national team radar at that age. I may have been the best player on my team by the time I was done with junior, but I wasn’t one of the best players in the city, let alone the province or country. I had to scratch and claw for everyone single opportunity I got and do all the hard work away from the ice in order to put myself in a position to get noticed. Because even though I played in the big recruiting tournaments and lived in Toronto, I needed to do more and work harder to stand out.
We both ended up getting to play for the schools of our dreams and skating with the national team even though our paths to success were very different.
::: The bottom line is that we all have our unique challenges on our way up to the next level. No one has it easy - and the truth is that it takes more hard work and dedication to get there than most players are willing to give. :::
But beyond putting in the time and effort on and off the ice to get there, you need to know the critical check points and targets you need to meet along the way in order to get from your point A to your point B.
That’s why Brooke and I created the Total Female Hockey Experience Camp in the first place.
Because we’ve spoken with so many players and parents who are putting in a ton of time and effort, but still don’t know the specifics of what they need to do (based on their own individual situation) to get closer to their dreams.
The Experience isn’t just a hockey camp - it is an opportunity to see how you stack up relative to the competition, get a complete on and off-ice evaluation from college coaches so that you know exactly what you need to work on, and learn what skills you need to develop on and off the ice to get to the next level. You’ll skate with players of the same age who have the same big dreams as you so you can see how you rate compared to them.
Add in the fact that you are going to hear from world-class nutritionists, get cutting-edge information about how to take your mental game to the next level and hear Brooke go through the step-by-step timeline for the college hockey recruiting process - and I can guarantee you that you’ll come back from the 3 day camp with a whole new perspective and motivation to reach your dreams.
We’ve still got a few spots left for the Total Female Hockey Experience Camp here in Toronto from August 20th to 22nd. To make sure that you get the chance to learn exactly what you need to do to get to the next level from coaches that have played and coached at the highest level - as well as get specific feedback from current college and university scouts - click on the link below to register:
http://totalfemalehockeyclub.com/experience2010/
We hope to see you there!
Your friend and coach,
~ Kim
