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Bobcats Boosting Green Bay Area Girls

By Mike Scandura - Special to USAHockey.com, 12/09/15, 1:00PM MST

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Association focuses on development starting from the first strides

For girls wanting to play or try hockey, the Green Bay Area Youth Hockey Association is the place to be.

The association is open to girls from 11 communities in Northeastern Wisconsin’s Brown County, fielding teams at the 10U, 12U and 14U age levels this season.

“In our case, the girls program in Green Bay has evolved to the point where it provides a girls-only organization,” said Andy Bradford, who in addition to being the 10U head coach is the Tier I head coach for Team Wisconsin’s 14U girls team, and is also the director of USA Hockey’s Central District tryouts.

The GBAYHA provides a place for girls to play with other girls, which the association has found is what most players want.

“For the girls, there is a strong sense of camaraderie and the sense of belonging that comes from playing on an all-girls team,” Bradford said.

The Bobcats also are taught life lessons like the importance of fitness, sportsmanship, character, teamwork, leadership and cooperation that will help each girl achieve her personal goals, which in turn enables her to contribute to the greater good of the community.

“For us, it’s really about the development of the whole individual,” Bradford said. “It reaches beyond the skating and skills and extends into the areas of teamwork plus commitment to themselves and their teammates.

“Those are the pillars of successful youth sports organizations and we try to emulate that.”

Before young girls become full-fledged members of the Bobcats, they must complete two programs: learn-to-skate and the Hockey Initiation Program (HIP).

“I think it’s important to note there are different points of entry for hockey for females,” Bradford said. “We have a very coordinated effort that’s community-based. It’s run in conjunction with the Cornerstone Community Ice Center.

“They have a tremendous learn-to-skate program that’s well attended and is designed for any child that’s interested in skating. This includes kids who are interested in figure skating, hockey or recreational skating.”

HIP is for girls aged 5 through 12, and provides a place for kids to get their first taste of what it’s like to play hockey.

“HIP is a partner with Cornerstone,” Bradford said. “Many of the coaches are retired or had their own children pass through the association and are giving back. For us, it’s another path to try hockey.”

The association also holds try-hockey-for-free events, as well as a summer skating and skills program. Both have generated interest and produced new recruits.

“This year alone we added eight new girls to our association through our summer program,” Bradford said. “We’ve renewed our commitment to growing the game.”

The GBAYHA also has been able to grow the game through its affiliation with the St. Norbert College women’s team.

“We have a successful [NCAA] Division III college in our backyard,” Bradford said of St. Norbert. “They’ve been fantastic in supporting our program in terms of providing volunteers. Last fall we held a celebration of girls’ hockey as part of the World Girls’ Hockey Weekend.

“They’ve been really supportive of our growing the game on the girls’ side. They have a new coach in Meredith Roth [who was named to the 2003 U.S. Women’s National Team] and she’s been fantastic in helping support our efforts to grow the girls’ side of hockey.”

Bradford also stressed the importance of USA Hockey’s American Development Model as well as the coaches who make it work.

“We’ve been at the forefront of using the ADM for our training and preparation for girls,” he said. “We have practices where all of our girls are on the ice at the same time and have station-based practices. We’re fortunate to be able to run station-based practices so girls are able to maximize their touches, repetitions and overall skill development.

“We utilize our coaches who we’re super-fortunate to have because some have playing and coaching experience beyond the high school level . . . We have a deep resource of coaches.”

But once girls “graduate” from the GBAYHA that doesn’t mean their hockey-playing days are over.

“Because we’re drawing from a large area, the girls identify with being a Bobcat,” Bradford said. “For kids who have aspirations to play high school hockey, we have a WIAA high school team [the Bay Area Ice Bears] that’s a co-op team in Brown County.

“These girls will play all the way through [the GBAYHA] and at the high school level.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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