ROCKY MOUNTAIN DISTRICT
2012 - PLAYER DEVELOPMENT/EVALUATION
CAMP
The 2012 Rocky Mountain
Development Player/Evaluation Camp will be held from May 2-6, 2012 at the
Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City, Utah.
History: The 2012 Camp marks the District’s 30th year
of involvement in player development. It
began several years ago as a method of evaluating where our district’s top
players were relative to each other. It
also provided an opportunity to see, in one location, which states were
developing skilled players. Initially,
the small staff was made up of predominantly volunteer coaches from the
Coaching Education Program. The camp
was held over a 2-day weekend for 16 and 17 year old boys. One or two would be selected to attend a
National Development Camp in Lake Placid, NY.
We later felt it was important to bring more credibility to this camp
and enjoy broader affiliate participation.
In 1991 the USA Hockey Youth Council decided that they wanted the
district camps expanded with an increased emphasis on skill development. We took on the job of District Director of
Player Development because we truly believed in the concept. Skill development continues to be the main
objective in this camp and in our Coaching Education Program. The player pool has also been expanded to
include girls 14 thru 18 as well as 14 and 15 year old boys.
In 2001 USA Hockey added a
national Select 14 Boys camp. The national 14 boys camp has been eliminated and
replaced with a Western Regional Multi-District High Performance Boys Select 14
Camp. This means that affiliate selected 14 boys (1998 birth year) will NOT be
coming to Salt lake City for the district camp. Instaed they will be invited to
attend a different camp at Colorado College June 26-July 1, 2012 which will mirror
a National Camp but give more participants an opportunity to have the
experience.
Strict accounting practices
now allow the camp to be self-supporting with net income used to help fund
Affiliate Workshops. Skill Development grants are offered to each affiliate on
and annual basis. Some funds have also
been used in support of District Coaching Development. All allocated funds must be pre-approved by
the District Player Development Committee and the District Council of Affiliate
Presidents/Directors.
Since the seven Rocky
Mountain States (AZ,CO,ID,NM,UK,TX,UT) are not in traditional “hotbeds of
hockey”, we expanded the coaching staff to include career coaches from
colleges, juniors, prep schools and Tier 1 programs. Though we try to have each Affiliate
represented, we have selectively invited evaluators and coaches that will work
together for four arduous days. On-ice
teaching of skills has been supplemented with off-ice strength and conditioning
sessions and classroom seminars on topics of interest. Seven years ago a parent awareness program
was added. Player exposure has been
greatly broadened by inviting scouting personnel from outside the
district. We provide the staff and
scouts with biographical and statistical information on attending players. National interest in our players continues
to increase every year.
Successes: An impressive number of District Camp alumni are
currently playing at the Junior A level or higher. Since 1995 more than 160
boys have advanced to Junior A, National and or Division 1 College programs. Players have made their first contact with
many colleges, prep schools and Tier I programs at this camp. To date, numerous
Rocky Mountain District players have been selected to attend the USA Hockey
National Team Players Development Program.
The girls that advanced to National Development programs have performed
well and several have moved on to college and prep school hockey. One such
success story is Julianne Vasichek a 1983 defenseman from Great Falls; MT. Julianne
attended the District Camps in 2001 and 2002. From there she advanced to the
National Women’s Camp in Lake Placid. Later she obtained a scholarship to
Minnesota Duluth. In 2004 she was named USA Women’s National Team. The
performance of our District Girls Team at the Chicago Showcase verifies our
girl’s ability to participate on the national stage.
Administration: The USA Hockey Youth Council along with the
National Player Development Committee administers the entire National Player
Development Program. They set the
guidelines and expectations for the District Development Programs and appoint
the administrators and directors. Our
Youth Council representative and District Player Development Administrator is
currently TC Lewis. In 2003 the Rocky Mountain District formed a District
Player Development Committee. This committee, chaired by T C Lewis, now administers
this camp and directs all district player development activities.
Why should District players attend?: With several
select camp opportunities available to our players, we cannot tell you that
participation in the District Camp is the only way a player can be recognized,
evaluated and promoted - but it is a very
good and proven way.
It provides an opportunity
to:
Have
fun
Make friends
Skate with and against the most
skilled players in your
birth year
Be challenged
Learn and develop individual
and team skills
Be taught and evaluated by
career coaches
Attend off ice informational
seminars
Learn conditioning techniques
Demonstrate your talent to
scouts from outside our District
Be selected to represent our district at the National
Boy’s Select Camps, the National Women’s Camps and the District High
Performance Camp
Prior to the camp, we will
contact the Affiliate Presidents to notify them of their state’s player
allocation - determined by total 14, 15, 16 and 17 year old registrations
during the current season. Each state
is given the responsibility to select their best representatives by gender,
birth year and position. To be eligible a player must be a U.S. citizen and
his/her family must be a permanent residence in one of the seven Rocky Mountain
District states. A player may be
registered and participate on an out of district team, but his/her parents or
guardian must be Rocky Mountain District residents. Selections will be made and
forwarded to District Camp personnel for team assignments. There is always concern regarding the
allocation and selection process. I urge you to participate in your affiliate
process. Each year there are surprises. If you participate in the affiliate camps and
you can compete at the district tier 1 level we will find you. A schedule of
Affiliate Selection Camps and the respective contacts will be posted on the
district and affiliate web sites.
One of the questions often
asked is about turnover. All boys 14 are
new to the District Camp. For boys
15-17, since 2001, there has been an average turnover of 50%. In other words half the boys 15-17 selected
to move on to national camps were not selected in the previous year. This
analysis shows that the same boys and girls do not automatically advance from
year to year.
I hope the above will answer
your questions about the Rocky Mountain District Camp. If not, please feel free to contact T C Lewis
or me.
Hope to see you in Salt Lake
City.
Tom Lampl T
C Lewis
Camp Director Rocky Mountain District Director
Associate Coach in Chief Chair Player
Development Committee
Rocky Mountain District
tom@svsearch.com
