Back to Basics Hockey School teaches young girls skills of the sport

Coaches and instructors with the Back To Basics Hockey School gather for a photo following last Thursday evening’s session at the Vollmer Centre in LaSalle.

A pair of prominent hockey coaches from Amherstburg, along with other instructors, have been teaching local girls the basics of the sport.

That’s the reason their hockey school is entitled the Back to Basics Hockey School.

Dan Pettypiece and Bill Atkinson have been running the camp at the Vollmer Centre in LaSalle due to the ice at the Libro Centre not yet being ready and are now in the third and final week of the hockey school.

There will be six on-ice sessions when all is said and done, with players on the ice for 90 minutes per night or nine hours in total, said Pettypiece.

Players were learning skills such as skating forward and backward, passing, shooting and other skills that are necessary on the ice.

“This year, there is a different dynamic,” Pettypiece explained.

Of the 35 players registered, ten of them have either never played hockey or even skated before. Pettypiece said they can see improvement in the girls, adding he told the younger players and those just learning the game to not be nervous and to come out and enjoy.

“You’ve got to be fancy when you set up drills,” he added, noting some players are more advanced than others. 

Pettypiece stepped on the ice for the camp in what is now his 50^th year of coaching, 45 of which has seen him help run hockey schools. 

While he plans on staying in coaching for the foreseeable future, he said this hockey school will be his last from an organizational effort.

“The organizational part used to be a challenge for me – a good challenge,” he said. “As the years went on, it’s not really a challenge.

There is also some anxiety he still feels even after all of these years and that has also led him to spend some time in the summer pursuing other interests.

“I’ve had a good run,” he said, noting he will still stay involved with coaching. 

Pettypiece quipped that “if someone organizes a hockey school and wants the old man to come out, I’ll definitely be there.”

The hockey school is thankful to all of their sponsors, but noted they had an additional supporter this year.

The Back to Basics Hockey School received a financial boost from Count Her In Sports and that allowed the hockey camp to hire female instructors. They had six female instructors work with the players with ten on-ice instructors helping overall.

Cassidy Atkinson, Megan Marontate and Mya Marentette were on the ice last Thursday evening. Atkinson stated she worked her way up through CanSkate and other programs and was pleased to be given the opportunity to be an instructor. She added it was great to see the progress the girls are making in the camp.

Marontate said she started coaching at a camp in Harrow and she also was happy to be asked to be an instructor. She noted the progress of the young skaters as last Thursday was their fourth skate of the camp.

Marentette added she has played hockey most of her life and she quit playing in a travel program to focus on coaching and instructing. She said it has been a great experience for her to teach hockey skills to younger players.

“I like to give back to the game,” she said.

Back to Basics Hockey School teaches young girls skills of the sport

By Ron Giofu