Sep 24, 2014 | Jim | 1978 views
Girls Development Program
Welcome to the parents and players of the all new Development Program focused on the introduction of hockey for Girls in Grand Valley. For years girls have been involved in GVMHA playing on co-ed teams and efforts were put forth by volunteers to assemble and coach girls hockey. This had great success but was short lived as the numbers of girls coming into the league could not keep feeding the program. Today there are a number of ladies playing the game in town and the interest is very high to focus on girls hockey. I am sure that with very little effort many will come forward and step in positions of coaching, training, managing, and association support.
For the 2014-2015 season the executive of Grand Valley Minor hockey recognized that we needed to put a development program together to attract a new level of hockey in town, starting with the basics and working the way up.
We are calling it “Girls Development” but in fact we will assess all players registered and develop programs to fit all ages, skill levels, and competitive levels .
The introduction level will give new players that correct start to the game from equipment fitting, safety, rules of the game, skill development, and most of all, help them discover this great game. For developed players with some experience, they might be asked to help as junior instructors or even move to one of the co-ed teams in town, if interested. We will not know exactly the levels of all the players so it will be a work in progress to ensure each player gets the attention they require.
The long term plan is to have girls teams playing the girls leagues in the surrounding areas and possibly have a girls sub association within GVMHA that focuses on the needs and strengths of the girls playing this great game.
As the Technical Director for Grand Valley Minor hockey and the owner operator of a local hockey school, High Performance Hockey, I have worked with players from all ages and levels from house league mites to junior A players. This has included many years of working with girls hockey teams.
There is a distinct difference between boys and girls hockey, and only when you are on the ice as a coach do you see and feel this difference. The level of fun, being part of a team, and the amount of improvement that girls make over the course of the year are the reasons I like working with these girls teams.
I look forward to meeting and working with the all of the players, meeting their families, and helping to introduce many girls into this great game.
Following are some of the specific areas of development:
Right start to skating which will include:
Forward edges and crossovers
Backward edges and crossovers
Equipment and fitting:
Stick length
Skate fitting
Rules of the game:
Offside
What are some common penalties
Safety in the game
Positions and passing
Stickhandling
Team play
On ice and off ice training
These are just a couple of examples of topics within the program. After 20 years of instruction working with many different players and levels, I have the program plan well prepared that will become a fast track to learning all aspects of the game .
As an added tool to help players and parents we will be videotaping on ice players skating to help correct and develop that most important part of the game. This will allow the player to see themselves on video and analyze their own progress. Of course, this is only done with full consent of interested parties.
Again, I look forward to a successful first year with girls development and hope that those registered are telling all of their friends to sign up as well!
Jim Church
Technical director, Grand Valley and District Minor Hockey Association