WWFHA Assists

Washington Wild Email Newsletter:
April 4, 2016

Thank you Volunteers!

WWFHA thanks all our volunteers for another amazing, record-setting year. Without the donation of your time, energy, blood, sweat and tears… we wouldn’t be able to provide such great opportunities for girls to play the sport of ice hockey! Thank you!!

Thank you Host Family & Billet Sisters!

WWFHA thanks the Miller host family and billet sisters for a great season!



















If you are interested in hosting a player, please contact info@wwfha.com
 

The U.S. National Team Visit

Photo by Chris Colgan
The U.S. Women's National Hockey Team visits Western WWFHA’s Washington Wild teams during the National team's preparation for the IIHF Worlds in Kamloops, B.C. Canada.

The US National team held a pre-camp at Xfinity Arena for a week and took some time out to practice with the all-girls association. The first session was with the Washington Wild 14U, 12U, 10U and 8U teams with National team players Kendall Coyne, Nicole Hensley, Kacey Bellamy, and Megan Bozek.

The second session involved the 19U Rep, 19U Travel and 14U Rep teams with National team players Dana Trivigno, Annie Pankowski, and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson.

An autograph session was held with Alex Carpenter, Jesse Vetter, Shiann Darkangelo and Monique Lamoureux and Haley Skarupa where all players were able to meet some of their hockey role models.

Annual General Meeting

Congrats to the Wild in Tournament Play

WWFHA and the Washington Wild family enjoyed success at the 2016 Richmond Ice Classic tournament. Each team performed well and improved over the weekend – and the 8U team left undefeated! Check out the team pages for photos of the tournament.
 
For the first time ever, the five Washington Wild teams attending the Richmond tournament convened Saturday night for the nearly full-association dinner. 185 people enjoyed each other’s company and a pasta and salad bar at the Vancouver Airport Marriott, along with cookies and cake. It was a great evening!

Girls' Try Hockey for Free Event

Please help spread the news - send an email, 'share' a social media post, or call someone up and tell them about the April Girls' Try Hockey for Free event!
 
We also need on-ice and off-ice volunteers! Contact us at

Hockey 1 and Hockey 2 Beginner Classes

Register for Hockey 1 and Hockey 2 spring/summer beginner classes, May 1 – July 31. This program exists for females ages 4 to 12 years old to learn to skate and play hockey at Highland Ice Arena - Shoreline. These classes mimic USA Hockey's American Development Model. Each class can be taken repeatedly until the player feels she has mastered the basics, and is ready to progress to the next level. These classes are required for beginners prior to being assigned to a team in the fall of 2016.

Train with Engineered Sports and the Washington Wild

Looking for a training partner? Consider training with a group of Washington Wild players and Engineered Sports. Players meet with Wild graduating senior, Lauren White, on Mondays and Wednesdays at 4pm to train together.

Call Bob at

Register for Camps, 3v3, and More!

Sign up for these spring and summer opportunities before they fill! Note some deadlines for free t-shirts (WWFHA Camps).
 
Olympian Lyndsey Fry’s Camp

• April 29 – May 1
• Registration closes soon
• Free t-shirt if you register by the deadline!
• To Register: http://www.FryHockey.com

• 8U/10U - http://www.wwfha.com/10u-3v3
• 12U - http://www.wwfha.com/12u-3v3
• 14U - http://www.wwfha.com/14u-3v3
• 19U - http://www.wwfha.com/19u-3v3

• May - http://www.wwfha.com/may-camp
• June - http://www.wwfha.com/june-camp

• Wednesdays starting June 1
• Email Coach Miller at miller014@comcast.net
• More info at: http://www.wwfha.com/elite-camp

• The #1 scouted event of the summer – Beantown Classic Tournament – July 22 - 25
• Tryouts are June 18-19
• More info and to register: http://www.wwfha.com/beantown

• Spring and Summer training starting April 18^th
• Selection for 2 tournaments will be made
• To register email Coach Wood at jkm.wood@gmail.com

• July 12 – 15 at Highland Ice Arena.
• Click here to get more information and to register http://www.wwfha.com/ian-gordon-camp

Shoot and Score Club Award

Congratulations to Abby O’Neil for the Shoot and Score Club Award for March!

 
Log shots for April and aim for the following targets to earn awards:

• 19U Rep,19U and 14U Rep: 1500 shots per month
• 14U and 12U: 750 shots per month
• 10U/8U/6U: 250 shots per month

Stick and Puck Sessions

Check out these Stick and Puck Sessions in your local area – a great time to work on the Shoot and Score Club, and acceleration!

NOTE: be sure to check days and times with each rink's calendar / website.

• Highland Ice Arena
  • Monday and Friday: 6:00am – 9:00am
• SKAHA Kirkland
  • Monday: 11:30 – 2:45pm
  • Tuesday: 4:00pm – 5:45pm
  • Saturday: 9:30am – 11:30am
• SKAHA Renton – small ice
  • Monday – Friday: 6:00am – 6:00pm
  • Saturday: 10:15am – 11:15am

This Week’s Wild Meme

Spring Hockey Sale

Check out Play It Again Sports Lynnwood's Spring Hockey Sale:

• Select Bauer Supreme Skates: 15 - 20% OFF
• Select Bauer Vapor Protective: 20% OFF
• All Easton Hockey Product: 20% OFF
• GRAF Gloves & Skates: 20% OFF
• TRUE Gloves: 20% OFF

Acceleration: More Important than Speed
[From Michael Caples, USA Hockey]
 
Darryl Nelson likes to remind people that in hockey – or any other team sport – a player’s top speed doesn’t really mean anything.
 
That’s why working on a player’s acceleration, not their speed, is a crucial focus for offseason training.
 
“Acceleration is important in all team sports,” said Nelson, USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program strength and conditioning coach. “People talk a lot about speed, but the reality is you don’t ever use top speed in team sports because you’re always starting and stopping. There are lots of changes of direction; you’re always involved in some kind of hit or body contact. What you’re really doing is accelerating. Speed, really, is only in track and field and speed skating. That’s why the ability to accelerate is important.”
 
Separating the Good from the Great
 
Nelson said that hockey can be a difficult sport to gauge acceleration speeds, so he likes to use the example of the NFL Combine to explain how acceleration separates good players from great players.
 
“We know from football, they have great numbers because they do 40-yard sprints – the 40-yard dash – at their combine, but they also do split times,” Nelson said. “They do a 10-yard split and a 20-yard split, and the differences between the fastest and the slowest guys at the combine is always in the first 10 yards. From Yard 10 to Yard 40, there’s less of a difference. The fastest players are always the players that can accelerate and get up to or near their top speed the most rapidly.”
 
How to Improve Acceleration
 
Improving upon one’s acceleration is a year-round activity, but players can achieve the greatest growth during the offseason.
 
“Really, you need to work on it year-round, but especially in the offseason,” Nelson said. “Improving strength and power is the No. 1 way, so, a strength training program – a lot of single-leg squatting and deadlifting exercises. Even upper-body – pulling and pushing exercises – are very beneficial. You can generate a lot of power from your upper body. When you think of the fastest skaters or football running backs or track-and-field sprinters, they always have really big shoulders and necks, because you generate power when you drive with your arms. A good strength training program, lots of repeated short sprints and change-of-direction type of sprints, plyometric type of progressions where we’re really emphasizing the work we do within the first three to five steps – the sprint.”
 
Sideways Starting Position
 
While working on sprints or other training exercises during dryland workouts, Nelson likes to have his players start sideways to better mimic a hockey stride.
 
“We start from all different positions, but we start sideways because it mimics the hip rotation that you get when you skate,” Nelson said. “One of the differences between skating and running on dry land is that, when you skate, you push off and you rotate your hips so you can push off of your inside edge. Obviously you don’t have edges when you’re on dry land. The way you mimic that type of hip motion is that you either start standing or kneeling but in a sideways direction, 90 degrees to the way you’re going to run, so that it more closely mimics skating mechanics.”
 
Hard Work Rewarded
 
Through his work with the NTDP, Nelson has seen many notable players put in the offseason effort necessary to improve their acceleration, and be rewarded for it on the ice.
 
“We do a 10-yard sprint as one of our tests that we do with our players, and I would say always, across the board, every spring and summer, the whole team is faster,” Nelson said. “The good example right now is Dylan Larkin, because he won the fastest skater event, but he’s a guy who worked really hard in the offseason. Jack Eichel is the same thing. You can go through the board of all those guys, good college players like Louis Belpedio, another example, Tyler Motte – they really worked hard and came back a lot faster in their second year.”
 
Nelson reminds players that there are two main goals to offseason training – improve your acceleration and power and strengthen your entire body to help prevent injuries.
 
“Our two primary goals are to increase power for speed and explosive ability, and we always want to promote proportion or muscular and strength balance from the left and right side of your body, the front and the back, the top and the bottom, to try to reduce the likelihood of injuries,” Nelson said. “Non-contact injuries – sore back, sore hip flexors, torn ACL – those kinds of things, most of the time you can reduce their frequency and their severity with a good strength training program.”

As the season ends, what should we be doing this spring to continue my child’s development?

Thank You to Our Partners

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