The focus is on having fun says Pro North Hockey Camp coach Steve Klein.
That was the gist of the message delivered to the Barrhead Leader regarding the Pro North Hockey Camp at the Barrhead Agrena Aug. 14 to Aug. 25 and Klein says it is important to note that getting kids motivated to play is just as relevant as building skills in the sport.
“In today’s age, if you’re not good at something, people say you have to quit and we don’t agree with that at all,” Klein said.
“With these camps, we really try to foster a lifelong love for hockey, focusing on skill development and while we have had a wide range of age groups attend, mostly it is Peewee and lower.”
Klein said the coaches and organizers hoped the skills learned at the camp would be ones the kids hang onto throughout their lives.
“We like to think that we spend time developing not just the hockey player, but the human being too. We tried to focus on having the kids enjoy themselves because hockey is a game after all and it’s not always only about who is winning or who is losing. They [kids] don’t all have to go on to the NHL to be great hockey players,” he said.
For most of the camp attendees, Klein said it was the first time they had worn hockey equipment.
“We did have kids from other age groups, even one junior-level player who was working on his gameplay and another that wanted to move into the midget level, but that’s the benefit of a camp like this,” he said, adding it is common to have kids learning to skate mingling with top-level performers.
Camp organizer Chris Driessen agreed.
“On average, we had 115 people on the ice each week, including instructors such as myself and Steve Klein. We’re really happy with the level of support from the community, the businesses and especially the Town of Barrhead for allowing us to host the camp in the arena,” she said.
On a question of what the ratio of attendees was, Driessen said she believed it was a 60-40 split between the county and the town.
“We just seem to keep growing and growing. Every year, you know, there’s always a fear that we won’t be able to fill the camp and then it happens and it’s just a great feeling, especially considering this is our 15th year doing it.”
