Frequently Asked Questions:

Hello Mr and Mrs....
Thank you for your inquiry into the SD 23 Hockey Canada Skills Academy at OKM.
I will try to give you as much information as I can from your questions 
 
Is your program quite competitive?

Yes, our program is competitive in the sense that we push  the players to work hard and develop their individual skills. Players will only improve if they want to.  We do  have a different ability levels of players as the program is designed to be accessable to all players.  It is up to the individual to challenge themselves to become better hockey players and our on ice coaches will encourgage players to compete within themselves and against  others of similar abilities. 
 
Do you only work on skills or do you have the occasional scrimmage to make it fun for the kids?

Fun is an important aspect of our program. We may not  always have full ice five on five scrimmage but will play a varietyof small area games allowing the players to practice  the skills  they learned during the drills.

Do you do any type of dry land or off ice fitness?

Each school differs in how they deliver their off-ice program. At OKM dry land days or off ice days are Fridays and there are only 7 or 8 of these day in a semester. Normally I do something fun with the students away from the game of  hockey. We will play minor games, go swimming and bowling as examples of off-ice activities.

How long does your program run September to March or all the way to June?

Again each school differs. OKM runs a semester timetable and the hockey academy  students are on the ice Monday, Wednesday and off ice Friday for a week and the next week they are on ice  Tuesday and  Thursday.  HCSA students typically get 50 hours of ice time per semester. Grade 8's typically take the program in the first semester ( Sept to Jan) and the older   students take the program in the second semester. Occasionally we allow some grade 8 players to participate in one of our second semester groups.

We also offer another program (Advanced Skills Program) for second year Bantam Rep players and above that runs all year with 100 hours.