Week 2: Langley Camp

YWAM Hockey and Athletes in Action partner for two sleepaway camps each year. Last week our team of 8 coaches led a camp of 58 kids from Sunday to Friday. The Kids were dropped off on Sunday night and we were in charge of them until Friday when their parents picked them up again.

Human Sundae Victim

Overall the week was a ton of fun, although we were going non-stop pretty much from 7am when we had to wake the kids from

breakfast until 11pm when we had lights out. The camp was divided into two age groups and I was helping with the older age group, 13-15. Each day started with breakfast and then bussing to the rink where we did dryland, ice-time, lunch, second ice-time and then coaches corner. I don’t know whose brilliant idea it was to have dryland training right after breakfast, but it was not a great idea. But the kids worked hard at dryland all week (well most of the kids) and we had a ton of fun.

In the afternoon we would bus back to campus for various activities like a ropes course or ball hockey. In the evening, after supper, we had wide games which I was in charge of. The most popular widegame of the week was a tie between full contact snatch the bacon, and human sundae which turned into an all out whipped cream war.

Revisiting the first Canadian Ice I ever skated on.

Caroline attended camp all the way from NYC!

Several of the girls in my group were also at the camp last summer so it was such a joy to get to know them even better and to spend another week with them. Also, one of the girls I coach on the Ice Hockey in Harlem Team in New York City was able to attend the camp thanks to a generous donated flight from American Airlines as well

as a camp scholarship from YWAM Hockey. It was Caroline’s first visit to Canada, and to summer camp. I loved having her in my group all week and her hockey skills improved immensely over the week of ice time.

The rink the kids played their exhibition game on at the end of the week happens to be the same rink I skated on the first time a came to Canada a year ago, so I has some sentimental value as the first Canadian Ice I have ever skated on.

Week 1: Prince George Camp

Well, it’s already Wednesday and I finally have enough energy to share about my week so far.

Let me start by saying my body is aching from head to toe thanks to all of the skating and conditioning we’ve done so far. This is what the schedule looks like at this camp:

• 8 am – Kids arrive and we run them up a hill from the rink to a gym
• 8 am- 9:45, We do dryland training with the kids.
• Run back to the rink and dress out for our first ice time POWER SKATING drills! woot.
• Run back up the hill to the gym, eat lunch and then I coach ball hockey for an hour.
• Run back to the rink for chapel and then our second ice time
• 3:45 pm, Kids go home, we have a staff meeting, then we’re back on the ice from 4:30-5:45 for a staff scrimmage.

I’m coaching the older age group at this camp, we call them the Oilers age 12-16. I am in charge of the six girls we have and I love them soooo much. First of all, I would like to brag that in every dryland session so far, the girls have vastly outworked the boys. These girls are very driven and fun to coach.

In other highlights so far:

• My ball hockey team, Team Egypt, was considered the underdog going into the tournament, but we are 2-2 and are now favored to win the semi-final game tomorrow and we will then have a chance to upset the top-seeded team in the final.
• At the staff scrimmage tonight I scored two goals. The first was a real beauty :)
• I love my new gloves provided by our sponsor, Harrow.

I promise another post soon, one in particular about one of the girls this week who has totally inspired me. But right now I need to get some rest because I’ve been sick, or maybe I’m just allergic to everything in Pr. George, but either way, I need to get some shut-eye. Thanks for checking in, and don’t forget to leave a comment!

It’s a very Grand Prairie indeed

My great Canadian adventure started with a little missadventure when my cab driver had trouble finding the West Jet departure gate in Newark, NJ and we ended up in the economy parking lot, but after my savvy navigation I made it to my gate with plenty of time to spare before my flight to Calgary.

Check it out, West Jet decorated for my trip to Canada:

According to this map, I must have boarded the world’s largest airplane. It’s almost as long as Saskatchewan!

I arrived in Calgary in time to witness the Stampede –essentially  a giant festival of cowboys. This is what greeted me at the airport in Calgary:

My dear friend Shauna picked me up and put me up for the night. She also treated me to brunch at this adorable cafe. The food was AMAZING. Then it was back to the airport for two more flights.

I also visited Edmonton for the first time….. well I sat in the tarmac there for a few minutes…

Once I arrived in Grand Prairie, Heather’s mom picked me up and took me to the ice rink where I met up with the team just as they were sending all the campers home and then we played a staff scrimmage. I love playing in Canadian ice, it’s somehow better I swear. Anyway, I met up with the mother of a girl from the Calgary camp last summer, and we caught up over coffee and then I devoted the rest of the evening to posting this blog entry since the internet connection here is dreadful. It’s raining like crazy here, and tomorrow we will drive all day to Pr. George for our camp there. Check back soon for an exclusive video of the the HSOS team gone good samaritan…

Canada Bound

The long wait is almost over…as many of you already know, I am heading back to Canada to coach hockey camps with YWAM hockey and Athletes in Action this summer. I’m thrilled to announce that I leave in just a few days. In fact, I leave in three days and 22 hours to be exact.

I managed to injure my foot last weekend when I went for a run, and I strained the ligaments below my right ankle. It’s been swollen all week, and today is the first day I’ve been able to walk on it without limping — so that’s exciting news.

All the other staff have already assembled and the first camp begins tomorrow in Grand Prairie. I’ll join the team on Friday. Here is a pic of the team, minus me, but I am so excited to join up with them. OK, I promise to blog frequently while I am there so you can keep up with all my adventures :)

2011 HSOS team L to R, Heather, Stu, Ancel, Mike, Collin, Kristina, Tim, Kevin and Chris.

Guns and Roses

Well, mostly just guns.

I’m sorry for not blogging more regularly. Now that the NHL season is dwindling down, I hope to blog much more frequently. It’s kind of like a new year’s resolution, only my new year starts when the NHL season ends. But in the meantime, I went to visit my parents in Northern Virginia this week and I got to hang out with my dad at work. It was a blast (literally) and I learned how to shoot a hand gun for the first time ever. Check out my video:

Also, I learned a lot more about what my dad does at his job. It’s pretty cool. He is in charge of the training for the Department of Energy’s security forces… and as part of that he helps facilitate training of their SPOTC team that competes in an annual contest. I watched the 3-man team practice for a while, and I made this video for them: