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17

June

The Happiest Hockey Ever

Posted by Greg Carter

The Return to the Rink. After more than 25 years in the Summer Hockey School business this is a phrase that, given the moment in time, we never thought we’d be using. But we are, and after walking into the rink for the first time, we must admit, it has never felt better to be back in an ice arena! 

The chill in the air, the Zamboni, the sounds of pucks clanking off the pipe and the boards. Heck, even the smell of hockey equipment seems refreshing! All the familiar faces and places are back online and the energy inside of the ice rinks is nothing short of amazing!

Players have been so fired up to see their coaches, friends and to get back onto the ice that they have literally been running into the rink with their equipment! What a cool sight to see!  

As we launch our full schedule of 2020 Summer Hockey Schools we have some great plans and procedures in place to guarantee that players will receive top training and instruction geared towards maximizing skill development. Based on our first weeks back on the ice, the desire of players to learn, succeed and take their game to the next level has never been greater.

The intensity on the ice during drills and skills sessions is fantastic. Staff is focused on making the very most of the moment and players are responding with enthusiasm at an all time high. 

Over the past weeks we have answered many questions about dates, times, locations and more. Please feel free to email us with any questions you have about joining in the excitement and enthusiasm for Summer Hockey School 2020!

Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing you at the rink soon!

22

January

Greg Carter Hockey Camp

In recent articles we have talked about the importance of being well prepared with development plans and that youth hockey skill development is much more of a marathon rather than a sprint. FOMA should not be a driving force in determining how, where or with whom you train this summer and when it comes to making your final decision, one size definitely does not fit all.

A great way to start this process is setting goals for what you hope to accomplish with your summer hockey training. Once your winter season is over, write down areas of your game that need improvement and that you would like to focus on over the summer. Whether it is very specific positional play or fundamental skill development with skating, stickhandling, passing or shooting, it’s important to identify areas of growth opportunity.

Next, research opportunities that can provide the specific training that you need and match those opportunities against your goals and objectives. This is an important step as there is so much variety available to youth hockey players that one can easily get lost in the confusion. One tried and true recommendation that we offer at Greg Carter Hockey Schools is that development won’t occur by simply playing games all summer long. Find a place to train and then dedicate yourself to that training, which brings us to ‘training versus straining.’

When we talk about training versus straining it’s important to recognize that no player is going to magically take their skills to an extreme level overnight, or over a summer. Improvement can definitely be made, and sometimes significant improvement can be made. But running from camp to camp, game to game, skill session to skill session and lesson to lesson all summer will in all likelihood create a single outcome; burnout.

After a successful summer, players should have a burning appetite to hit the ice in the fall refreshed with new skills and excited for the season, versus burned out from a strained non-stop summer hockey regiment.

Bottom line, take the time to set goals, research and align opportunities with your needs. Of course we invite you to train with us at any of our 2020 Summer Hockey Schools taking place across 11 states this summer!

Good luck with the rest of your season as you head into playoffs and please email us with any development questions that you may have!

 

 

07

January

New Year, New Me!

Posted by Greg Carter
Summer Hockey Camp in Summer Hockey Camp in Massachusetts

With the excitement of the holidays in the rearview mirror, it’s back to business as usual which, for those of us in a cold climate, means trying to survive the rest of a snowy, cold winter. But there’s plenty of awesome hockey to come in the next few months!

It was fun to be at the rink over the holidays and talk with so many parents and players at practices, games and tournaments. One of the things that struck me was the number of times conversations turned to summer hockey plans.

The trend over the past several years has been a growing urgency to make plans for the summer earlier and earlier, and trends of our summer hockey camp registrations support this.

While there seems to be a rush to make decisions about how and where to play and train during the summer months, there also is a very calculated approach.

As the game has become more sophisticated and players are bigger, faster and more fundamentally skilled than ever before, planning for player development and training has followed suit, with plenty of planning and research going into these important decisions.

If you are a player that in the past has typically taken more of a wait and see approach to summer hockey training, maybe this is the opportunity for a “New Year & New Me” when it comes to planning and preparation.

An old coach used to say that the best players are also the best prepared, and as the game continues to evolve, I think these words of wisdom ring truer than ever.  Sure, the best players have great talent, but that talent comes from hard work away from the spotlight of the in-season practices and games. Players who have great talent have a burning desire to continually improve and therefore are always prepping and planning for what’s next and taking their game to the next level. These players are oftentimes the first to register for our summer hockey camps and clinics.

With the New Year upon us, we invite you to contact us to help make your summer skill development plans. We are excited to once again offer summer hockey camps in a variety of states with many great options to improve your game. Make this the year you are proactive about your puck plans!

Thanks for reading and make this a New Year & A New Me!

20

November

5 Hockey Reasons To Be Thankful 

Posted by Greg Carter
Summer Hockey Camp in Summer Hockey Camp in Massachusetts

Thanksgiving is an awesome time for hockey players to pause during the break in the action and reflect on the great things to appreciate this season!

Coaches
Coaches play an integral part in the development of hockey players and if you are fortunate enough to have a really good coach, make sure they know how much you appreciate them! It takes a lot of time, energy and dedication to coach youth hockey teams and what you see on the ice from a coach during practice is only part of the story. There is a lot of practice preparation that goes into that one hour practice session and game strategy and oftentimes the coaches are the last to leave the rink after a game or practice. To this day I can still remember my favorite coaches and the important skills they taught me!

Equipment
Technology advancements in equipment over the recent years has been nothing short of amazing. Protective equipment like shoulder pads, gloves and pants (breezers) that used to absorb sweat and water and up weighing what seemed like five pounds heavier at the end of the game, have been replaced with ultra lightweight and super durable protective equipment. Skates are amazingly light and players are spoiled not having to go through a week long painful – sometimes tearful – break them in. Perhaps the greatest advancement has been in stick technology as once a player is strong enough to benefit from the flex, the ability to develop a crazy hard shot is just a matter of putting in the time.

Parents
Hockey parents are the greatest sports parents ever. Parents willingly wake up long before the sun comes up only to stand in a freezing cold ice arena for that 6 a.m. mid-January practice. They travel hundreds and thousands of miles each season and attend enough weekend tournaments that they are on a first name basis with the front desk at the hotel. The dedication of hockey parents is awesome!

Opportunities 
There are more opportunities than ever for hockey players to develop their skills. From regular season hockey teams to in-season weekly skill camps and clinics. There are plenty of AAA teams and of course summer hockey camps and summer hockey schools. Skill development is a marathon, not a sprint, and there are so many great opportunities for players to master the fundamental skills required to reach their full potential!

The Game of Hockey
Perhaps that best thing to be thankful for is the also the most simplistic, the basic fact that kids have the opportunity to play the greatest sport in the world! Hockey has brought so much excitement, joy and happiness, taught so many life lessons, developed so many friendships and brought so many people together in such a positive way. Enjoy the season, fight through the adversity and always remember that hockey is a sport to be enjoyed, win or lose!

Thanks for reading and from our hockey family to yours, have a great Thanksgiving holiday and we hope to see you at the rink soon!

 

 

13

August

New Skills Lead To New Heights

Posted by Greg Carter

We had another incredible summer of hockey camps and would like to thank everyone who attended and trained with us!  This was our 25th summer of hockey camp using the CARTER Method and wow did we see success! Skaters really dedicated themselves to build on each days’ skills and met the challenge to reach their full potential as the hockey camp progressed.

The skill level that we saw at the camps this year was super impressive! Stickhandling, shooting, powerskating and of course the CARTER Method that includes: Control, Agility, Reflex, Technique, Edge and Retention.

As you wind down the summer and get ready for the 2019-20 hockey season we encourage you to focus on continuing to work hard on the fundamental skills that are going to elevate your game this season. We worked with many players this summer that came into camp wanting to improve in a specific area and left at the end of the week feeling much more confident about their game!

The work however is just starting as players need to continue to improve everyday at practice. Remember the skills and tactics that you learned at hockey camp and continue to work on them each and every time that you hit the ice. If you dedicate yourself to becoming just a little bit better at every practice then you are well on your way to becoming the absolute best hockey player that you can be!

And when that happens, the sky is the limit!

Good luck to you as you start your season and on behalf of the entire staff at Greg Carter Hockey School, thank you for an awesome summer! It’s a privilege to train so many fun and talented hockey players!

 

 

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