It just seemed the natural thing to do. That is how Christine Driessen described how Pro North Hockey Camp came into existence.
It just seemed the natural thing to do.
That is how Christine Driessen described how Pro North Hockey Camp came into existence.
“I am a mother of four children, three of which are all involved in hockey and of course when they got old enough they all wanted to go to a summer hockey camp,”she said.
The problem, at the time, there was no hockey school in the immediate area. So instead of carting her three children into the city she decided, with the help of her husband, to start her own hockey camp.
“It just made sense,” Driessen said. “I have been coaching figure skating for 35 years and power skating for more than 20 years so I thought let's bring something back to Barrhead.”
Aiding Driessen's goal of bringing a hockey camp to Barrhead was the fact the town had just built a new arena.
“Without the Agrena, I'm not sure we could have opened a hockey camp in Barrhead. It's a wonderful facility that gives us a chance to have really good summer ice,” she said, adding the town was very receptive to the idea.
Like many new ventures, Pro North began small, offering young hockey players in small, three to four day mini camps.
However, it didn't take long until Pro North began to evolve into more. Today Pro North is a full-fledged two week summer camp providing would be hockey players from four to 17 years-old instruction in a wide variety of hockey skills from game strategy, shooting and puck skills, power skating, cross-training, fitness development, skills centre training, and goaltending.
The hockey camp has also expanded to Whitecourt this year, providing a series of short mini-camps during spring break and on school professional days.
“Our true goal is developing skills as opposed to just running kids through the same old drills over and over again,” Driessen said. “We take and fine tune drills in order to get players to get the ultimate power and body control of what they do on the ice.”
To help accomplish that task, Driessen has employed a small army of coaches each specializing in a specific area.
Heath Klein is Pro North's goaltending coach. Klein played two years of college hockey as a goalie for Augustana University College in Camrose. He then went on to become the head on-ice goalie instructor at the Okanagan Hockey School in Kelowna, B.C., before coming to Barrhead after marrying his wife, who is from Barrhead.
Klein said he became involved with Pro North almost by accident.
“I met Chris through my wife and she convinced me to come and teach at her hockey school about seven years ago,” he said, adding that the reason he keeps coming back every year is because of the kids. “I just love working with the kids and seeing them progress. The goalie is the most important position on the ice. They have to be the best conditioned athletes, with the most leg strength and it's so much fun and rewarding to pass on what I have learned over the years.”
Mike Ivey who runs the game strategy and shooting sessions, said he is the product of Pro North Hockey Camp.
“I actually took part in the camp when I was a teenager, now here I am as a coach,” he said, adding that he grew up on a farm between Barrhead and Westlock. After finishing his minor hockey in Westlock, Ivey went on to play junior hockey in Edmonton before eventually attending Grant MacEwan University and playing on their hockey team.
Another coach Driessen managed to secure this year, is puck control and stick handling coach Ashley Shroed.
Shroed played for three years for division one school, Mercyhurst College, before playing her final year of university hockey for Syracuse University. She also played for Canada's under 22 women's team.
“I first met Chris when I was playing midget hockey here in Barrhead with one of her sons,” Shroed said, adding that she credits Driessen in part with helping her become a coach. After retiring as a player, in 2011, Shroed went on to become the head instructor at St. Joseph School's hockey program in Whitecourt.
“It all started here at Pro North,” she said. “I first started out as a group leader 10 years ago and I just kept working my way up.”
However, Driessen said Pro North is about more than just developing hockey skills.
“We try to develop well rounded athletes by helping them develop the skills on and off the ice to succeed,” she said, adding that every year the camp brings in a special speaker that will help the athletes.
In past years the camp has featured speakers such as hockey personality Daryl Sutter, Todd Herman, a mental toughness and peak performance coach from New York; Brian Koberstein, who focused on the mental side of the game; Nicholas Kasper, who spoke on reaching your physical goal as an athlete; and Dr. Merazic, from the University of Alberta hospital brain injury team.
The Pro North Hockey Camp runs until Aug. 21. Driessen will also be holding a mini-camp session starting on Aug. 24. Contact Pro North at 780-674-5007 for more information.
