Growing up, Jack McCarthy was not around too many ice skating rinks. Instead, McCarthy spent most of his time on the pond, where he had a friend who was an absolute stud on ice. McCarthy's friend taught Jack just about everything he now knows, from how to skate backwards to how to properly take a slapshot.
It was on this pond that McCarthy found his love for hockey. When he laced up those skates and had free roam on the pond, he felt like he was in a different dimension. The other thing that McCarthy's friend taught him on the pond was how to be competitive. When the group of friends got together on that ice, it was like all bets were off as they competed in different games such as accuracy contests, fastest skater, and of course pick-up games. In those pick-up games is where McCarthy still feels he developed his competitive nature and strong desire to win at all costs.
Now in the SHL, McCarthy still talks fondly of his pond hockey days to anyone who will listen, and you will no doubt see several attributes in his current game that came from those days.
Dusty Rhodes never figured on being a hockey player. He always wanted to be a pro wrestler of course. So the grueling training for that profession had him in pretty decent shape as far as cardiovascular went. In order to break into pro wrestling you have to do your apprenticeship in small promotions all over North America to learn your trade and develop your persona. As such, Dusty spent a large portion of time touring the small towns in Canada where folks really love their wrestling. Probably the only thing they love more is hockey. So Rhodes was introduced to the sport there, he figured skating might help improve his physical abilities and stamina so he started going to the rink during his downtime. Being a big dude he was noticed by several of the locals who soon started asking him to join in the pickup games when they needed another body. His natural ability took off from there and the rest as they say is history.
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It all started when my father bring me to the ice for the first time. Didn't like it at first, but with more practice I got the hang of it and my progression was exponential. Like most of the goalies, I was a player first. I tried the goalie position, and I loved the reaction of the other players when they couldn't score against me. So I got better at it and yes I went to some hockey schools to learn some hockey technics, but also the mental aspects of the game. Playing the goalie position is hard on the mind because the team relies a lot on you so you have to be strong mentally and not everybody can do it. The programs also helped me played at a higher level than I was before training with them. The road was not easy at first, but with the hockey schools help, I catch up to those with the same age than me and was able to even get better. When I got drafted early in the best minor hockey league in Quebec, I knew I will be able to play in the SHL someday and that I will just have to practice in the SMJHL for four years before making the jump and it's finally happening this year!
02-16-2023, 02:18 PM(This post was last modified: 02-16-2023, 02:18 PM by Nictox.)
PLAYER PROMPT
Luca Pane started off playing in small local leagues in Italy until a regional known academy reached out and signed him on. While at the academy Luca learned even more about the game of hockey and how to better himself. The academy was a source for young players in Europe to learn how to play hockey and to train to become good hockey players. Seeing that Luca had dreams of joining the SHL, the academy focused on North American ice and “...how to play like they do over the pond.” Of course, Luca took to the sport faster than he thought he would. Before he declared for the draft, the academy put him through various rigorous tests to truly see if he was ready. Passing with flying colors, Luca Pane made his way to North America. To this day, Luca credits the academy and all the coaches there for teaching him everything he knows about hockey.
Written Task: What kind of fun and exciting activities do you plan for your hockey school? What skills and lessons do you want the kids to take home with them? How do you structure the whole experience? What does it cost, if anything? Is this a hardcore hockey skills experience, or something that's just meant to be a fun opportunity to meet an SHL player? (150+ words)
So BASE PACK's hockey school would charge its students on a sliding scale based on how much income their parents bring in. For most kids around Philly it will be free but those who can pay a lot certainly will because BASE PACK's services certainly aren't free you can ask his agent all about that. In addition to all of the fanciest drills and what not for the hockey school (all thanks to the high level coaching staff BASE PACK will put together to do all the work for him) the kids will all receive limited edition SHL hockey trading cards as well, so it will definitely pay to pay to go to the school if that makes sense. PACK will also invite all of his Forge teammates to the school and force them all to actually show up and meet all of the students at the hockey school. That way BASE PACK doesn't have to spend TOO much time signing autographs since there will be more players there to distract the kids.
The program Ignacio Garza is involved in works in less popular hockey markets, like his native Spain, and introduces kids to the excitement and experience of hockey. The program is a not for profit organization that looks to promote engagement in hockey and offset some of the exorbitant costs of hockey equipment, and offering an opportunity to lower-income kids to develop their skills and experience the game at an organized level. The program includes transportation to areas with ice hockey rinks, and accommodations for a local tournament amongst participants. In Europe, this is easier to organize with kids from a diverse range of countries, and allow them to travel by train to a central location for the games to be held. However, this organization also operates in areas of the United States and Mexico that do not have a high amount of infrastructure in hockey, and grow the game at a grassroots level from there.
It is a tricky idea for how to get kids active and involved. Couch potatoes and poor diets are making it tough to find interested parties, and the raw cost is such a barrier for so many families to get started that this needs to be dealt with. Because of this initial hurdle, we look towards the good old endless money pit of the government!
Pitching to the government we offer sponsorship opportunities, health care reduction costs, all in exchange for them massively subsidizing equipment costs.
OK, endless money pit achieved, so now we need to figure out how to make kids interested. With their already short attention spans, the quick shift format of hockey actually works pretty well at capturing their interest. The problem is in between shifts. How do you keep their attention? The easy thing is to look towards tablets. But watching their shift is more high level, instead the focus should be directed towards some way to level up a character. So the funding would be available in a pile, and by playing shifts players could earn points, which they can access their profile between shifts and level up their facility or equipment. This instills an rpg attribute to the real game, and gives them some immediate dopamine.
02-16-2023, 03:10 PM(This post was last modified: 02-16-2023, 03:10 PM by CrazyMojito.)
Player Prompt
Jack St. Clair grew up watching the Edmonton Blizzard play when they had some legends like Tony Pepperoni, Barret Blackwood, JPB, FR Finn-Rhys, and of course James Truong. However there was also a bum of a player named Kyle Sutton who joined the team who he just could not stand. Knew the guy was never going to help his favourite team win the Challenge Cup and it was at this point St. Clair decided he was going to not only be a hockey player, but a damn good one, or at the very least better than Sutton.
Jack started learning the basics by attending a hockey game and discovered that he was actually a pretty good skater and could do some things with the puck others could not. The organizers of the camp happened to notice as well and encouraged him to try out for the local team. From that point on JSC only get better and better, first drafted to the incredible Quebec City Citadelles, and then the unthinkable happened with the very team Jack grew up watching, drafting him 2nd over all. Now he has the chance to do what Sutton could not
Hockey is expensive for kids to get into, so I would initially try to focus on the basics and probably go with a simple floor hockey to start. Not all know how to skate so starting with tennis shoes can make things easily accessible to many different kids.
Now I do not really even know the true skill work that needs to be done, but I would start with some basics to get them interested. Learn about the different roles in the game, get them to try to play those roles, and most importantly, get some shots on net. Scoring brings excitement and with excitement you will get fun. Then start working in drills to help them have the technique necessary to succeed and build their hockey IQ.
Then those that show a big interest can begin working on the ice, building up skating confidence, and applying those techniques together for results
Sven would be pretty excited to pass on some of his hockey knowledge to the next generation of hockey hopefuls, so this is naturally something he'd pour his all into. He'd give clinics on how to be the best defenseman you can be, as well as how to contribute to the overall teams offense, power play and penalty kill. The class he would focus on the most though is blue line shooting. This would be a bit of a hidden motive though, as he would use this class time to practice himself since he can hardly ever hit the broad side of a barn. He would keep an eye on whoever was excelling at point shots and try to emulate their style a bit. It's a bit embarrassing, but part of being the best Sven is looking for learning opportunities everywhere...even while claiming to be a teacher. Besides, the kids love it.
Chris got his start playing pond hockey with his siblings and other kids in his neighborhood in northern Michigan during the winters, and street hockey during the summers. The rules were pretty vague, and the play was super unstructured, but it was enough to get him interested at a young age before he started playing in the local youth leagues. Over time, Chris' interest in the sport would grow and he found himself competing harder than his peers in the local youth leagues, so he convinced his parents to allow him to start in a traveling league that covered most of Michigan and parts of Ontario. This led to long and grueling drives to tournaments are summer camps, but his parents never faltered in their support and Chris stayed dedicated in honing his skills even during the off-season. A goal of Chris' was to play his way into being noticed for the draft, and several scouts visited tournaments he participated in over the years.
02-16-2023, 11:17 PM(This post was last modified: 02-16-2023, 11:18 PM by leafsftw1967. Edited 1 time in total.)
Written Task CREATIVE PROMPT : Mats Marner’s Chicago Syndicate hockey school would have a lot of fun and exciting activities such as on-ice skills training such as skating, shooting, passing, stickhandling, and checking drills. In addition there would be off-ice training such as dryland workouts, strength and conditioning exercises, and stretching. I would also focus on small area games that focus on specific skills, such as 3 on 3 or 4 on 4 games and scrimmages that allow kids to practice their skills in a game setting. It would be cool to have SHL superstar guest speakers like Melvin Majestik-Moose and experienced coaches like JNH and Corey. I would also incorporate video analysis sessions that allow kids to watch themselves and learn from their mistakes. Team-building activities and games that promote collaboration, communication, and problem-solving are also super important for Marner’s hockey school. Overall kids would learn fundamental hockey skills and techniques the importance of teamwork, communication, and sportsmanship the value of hard work, discipline, and perseverance at Marner’s hockey school.