The camp in Jasper has gone really well. 36 kid's on the ice from 6-16. They play games in 8 teams. 2 groups of 8 older kid's and 2 groups of 10 younger guys. 2 nets on each goal line and 4 playing areas. I also have the older kid's giving individual instruction to the younger ones. Basically it has been half skill work and half skill games each session. They will end up with 6 hockey and 6 power skating sessions. They are on the ice 3 times a day.

For 3 nights I also did a coaching seminar with 12 coaches. 75 min. on the ice and an hour classroom session. Some local midget and jr players also came on the ice for the model practices. Because I coach so differently it is important for the coaches to experience on ice sessions. Instead of 12 min. or moving and 48 of standing like in a standard practice it is opposite in the ABC style. So one practice has the movement of 4.

Last night they each coach got a book and they were very enthusiastic about the upcoming season.

I finish the hockey school today and leave tomorrow for the Czech Republic.

Pops, in the skating Gaston also has Doctorate in Body Mechanics, was Swiss Champion and feature skater for Ice Capades and Holiday on Ice. His son is one of the best skaters I have ever seen. Gaston uses balls for ryhthm. He has a figure skating group there as well and they are on three times a day. He was the Olympic figure skating coach for Switzerland. I agree Dr. Bracko does a lot of good things but although the techniques may be different the results are still far above average for both coaches.

I am going there cold, not knowing anyone; so doing video isn't an option. I wish I could have got video of the Jasper camp as it was a great success with the players.

Here is the outline for our last session. They had 3 ice times a day except Wed. when they white water rafted in the morning. So in the week they got 6 hockey sessions and 6 power skating sessions.

About half the kid's stayed in the dorm at the arena and half at home or camping with their parents. The figure skating groups was about 9 girls and they were on the ice 3 times a day. Everyone had a off ice conditioning session with Gaston just before dinner.

13 min. Older players partner with younger players and work with them on puck handling, passing, shooting. Check their grip. I gave a quick review of keypoints while all were on one knee in the middle circle. I did this peer coaching the last 3 of the 6 sessions.
7 min. 3 big figue 8's, one in each zone skating down the ice and finish with a shot then come back down the boards. Goal is to loosen the shoulders. First 8 the puck is only on the forehand part of the blade, second 8 only on the backhand. Third 8 quick hands and feet facing the far end all the time.

15 min. D7 formation with 4 small nets, two on each goal line. Rink is divided into 4 areas. Smallest kid's game of 5-5, kid's up to 12 game of 5-5, bantam and midgets at the far end one game of 4-4 and one of 5-5. Players had to take the puck outside of the zone and everyone get onside on transition. Players must follow the rules or the other team gets the puck. at least 2 passes are needed.

Game one: only backward skating.
Game two: bantam and midgets-skating on one leg only. Younger groups-flat footed scootering.
Game three: you must take at least 3 hard strides before a pass or shot.

We used many rules throughout the week. 2" only, only forehand passes, you must make an escape move when you get the puck. We also did some D400 transition games with the older groups.

Last 25 minutes. D100. Two younger groups combined and played 10-10 full ice and the older groups combined 9-9 with the rule there must be at least one pass in each zone. Shifts were one minute and they left the puck where it was on the whistle and everyone changed on the go. We did the full ice game the last 3 ice sessions first 15 min. then 20 then 25 min. The passing rule causes players to skate hard to get open and the big teams cause players to move to open space quickly when they get the puck.

The $100 you spent on cab fare will be nothing compared to what it will cost you to go to Coney Island for the day. Are you in Newark or Queens? If you are at JFK (Queens) you can rent a car for the day and go into the city or you can take the jitney over to the ballpark and take in a Mets game. If you are in Newark don't stray too far from the airport. Out of towners and tourists stand out like neon in the middle of the night. Take it from a guy who grew up in New York. However....there is a Portugese restaurant only minutes from the airport there that all cab drivers will know about. The normal tourist attractions ie Science Center, Statue of Liberty are also close. Hope this get to you in time. I've been in airports for 12 hours and longer. I'd rather be in direct sunlight. Hope the rest of your trip gets better, Tom. Take care.

http://www.hcdukla.cz/fotogalerie.asp?zobraz=kategorie&kategorie=402 is a link to photo's from the Czech hockey school.

I will give a summary of the practices. I have 4 top asst. instructors and one goalie coach. 22 skaters 96-01 born and 4 goalies. One instructor speaks english and translates for me.

I met the parents and my staff. We did an off ice stickhandling session and on ice we repeated the session and played a lot of cross ice 1-1 games to practice the concept.

I am staying in the GM of the team's place in a little village outside of Jihlava. Beautiful contryside. Now to sleep. I will take some pics.

The facilities are really run down. The gym is from the communist era when this was the Army team and won almost every year. Now there is a hole in the ceiling where the rain comes through and many of the light fixtures are broken with wires hanging down. The rink is about 60 years old but the ice is good. They are building a new practice rink this year and then tearing down the arena and replacing it. The communist era from 67-97 kicked the h-ll out of the country but they are revitalizing everything. There is a lot of unemployment in this city as the huge Bosch plant is working at half capacity making car parts.

Monday we had dryland and I led them through passing technique and they were in 4 skaters groups each with a coachand the goalies did goalie things with there coach. Petr Svoboda played for Toronto and in the American league so he can speak english The other coaches don't speak the Queens language.

We did the same things on the ice as in the dryland and focused on passing technique, passing games and a shootout. We have 4 goalies and 22 skaters. I use 4 large nets and 8 small tires.

After the second ice time Petr set up a 13 station circit that they went throug with 20 " at a station. They did tumbling on gymnastics mats before that. Tomorrow; shooting.They gave me a stick with a huge banana curve so I don't know if I hit anything.