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Off-Ice Training, Coaching Integral at Girls U-18 Camp

07/10/2015, 11:45pm EDT
By Jayson Hron - USA Hockey

If wishes came true, everyone would be an Olympian, but Pistol Pete Maravich said it best when he said, “you don’t get here by just wishin’.”
 
That’s the message at USA Hockey’s Girls Under-18 Player Development Camp, where 180 of the nation’s best are learning what it takes to turn wishes into reality. And as they’ve seen since stepping off the bus in sunny St. Cloud, Minnesota, it all begins off the ice, where strength and conditioning measurements set the tone for a week of focused improvement.
 
“We test the players and track their long-term off-ice development,” said Kristen Wright, who manages girls hockey player development for USA Hockey.

“It’s a great experience for them to start seeing what we do at every level for all of our players, all the way up to the national team. And those test numbers stay with them, so we can measure their upward progress, because we always want them to keep improving and come back as even better athletes than they were when they got here.”
 
The off-ice testing included chin-ups, 300-yard shuttles, vertical leaps and bench press challenges to help quantify the campers’ performance. A world-class collection of coaches and camp staff, assembled by USA Hockey's Marissa Halligan, also led educational sessions to provide players with training in elite-level strength building, conditioning, recovery and nutrition habits. That teaching staff included former U.S. Olympians, who helped convey the U.S. women's hockey program ethos of being team-first, being active students of the game and being part of something bigger than themselves.
 
“To get where they want to be, it takes more than talent,” said Reagan Carey, USA Hockey director of women’s hockey. “Strength, conditioning, nutrition, mental toughness – they need all of those elements to get there, so that’s a huge emphasis at these camps. We want to give them all the support they need to help them reach their goals.”

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Tag(s): 2015 Camps Central  Girls' U18 Select