photo courtesy of Metro Creative Graphics

More than 40 aspiring hockey players took to the ice of Cleland indoor skating rink June 15 through 19 to enhance their skills and improve their chances of becoming the sport’s next big sensation.

Sport International Hockey Academy and the Fort Bragg Youth Sports Office held a five-day hockey camp that allowed participants to receive instructions from four instructors from the northern U.S., which is known as a hotbed for USA hockey.

On June 19, many parents were able to witness the improvements, as the camp sponsored a scrimmage game, which pitted the Red Team against the Black Team, marking the end of the camp.

“I think it’s an excellent opportunity for the kids to grow their skills at hockey,” explained Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Herlihy, whose son Shawn attended the camp. “There are a lot of kids here. This is five-days long and they’re putting a lot into it so they’re getting a lot out of it.”

He said the camp’s instructors have stressed that concept to the kids who attended, “the more you put into the camp, the more you’ll get out of it.”

Herlihy, who just relocated to Fort Bragg from Fort Carson, Colo., said throughout the five-day camp, he has noticed a difference in the skill level of the camp participants, as they seem more advanced than they were on the first day.

“In just these five days, a lot of them are more aggressive, they’re working more as a team and they’re passing,” he said. “You can tell by this last day here that they’re going to work well as a team during the upcoming season, once they’re on their individual teams.”

Herlihy said he has played hockey for 29 years and admitted the he is a former member of the Dragons post team from 1992 until 2003.

He said he was pleased that his son has an interest in the sport.

“I think it’s great,” Herlihy said. “Since he was three, he could hold the stick. He’s been running around this rink since he was a little kid and I used to play here.

“We have a hockey net in my garage he will sit there and shoot all day long, while his two older brothers play video games.”

Herlihy added that the Youth Sports hockey program is, to him, the best program on post.
“Normally, in any other hockey program, no one provides equipment,” he explained. “In this program, Fort Bragg provides equipment so Families that don’t have the money to pay for equipment, all they have to do is go down and sign it out and return it at the end of the year.”
One of Herlihy’s friends, Danny Tabraham, whose son Nolan also participated in the camp, said he was also pleased with what the program and, particularly, the camp offers its participants.
“It’s great for the kids, it keeps them local and it really helps out with the military guys being deployed, but more importantly, it’s establishing hockey here in Fayetteville and keeping the kids from having to go up to Raleigh,” he said.

The five-day camp was conducted by Sport International Hockey Academy, based out of Rochester, N.Y., features four instructors, who provide valuable instructions to camp participants, based on each individual’s skill level.

According to Paul Gagnon, head instructor for the Fort Bragg camp, it was important to conduct the camp at Fort Bragg.

“It gives them an opportunity to skate a lot during the summer, they get about 40 hours of ice time per week and it provides them some hockey instruction to help improve their skills,” he said. “Down south, there’s not a lot of quality hockey instruction, so it gives them a good opportunity to develop some skills over the summer and get in shape for the next season.”

Gagnon said in addition to providing quality instruction to the kids who participated, SIHA also tracks their progress and provides a video of drills, performed by several well-know pro hockey players, paired with a split-screen of the individual camp participant doing the same drills.
“It’s pretty obvious there are some kids who are more advanced than others and we try and challenge those kids to help them get to the next level,” he explained. “We try to challenge everyone to get to the next level, whether it be just learning how to stop or improving game movements. We really try to hit all the moves and make sure that all the kids are getting there, regardless of where their skill level is in the beginning.”

Gagnon, a Michigan native, said the youngest kid in this year’s camp was seven and the oldest was 13.

SIHA travels to different cities throughout the summer, some of its stops include Hampton, Va., Louisville, Ky., Nashville, Tenn., Richmond, Va., Cincinnati and Raleigh.

He said he was impressed with the talent level of some of the participants, despite the fact that hockey has yet to catch on in the south.

“Most of the kids are pretty average for their age groups,” he said. “There are some that have a lot of talent, but it’s going to be tough for them as they get older because it’s going to be hard for them to get into that more competitive hockey area because there’s not that much interest down here. But there are definitely some kids that are really good players.”

Gagnon said he enjoyed serving as the camp’s head instructor and looks forward to coming back to Fort Bragg.

“It’s been fun,” he said. “It’s been a great week, hopefully the kids got a couple things out of it and we look forward to coming back next year. Obviously, we encourage everyone who is interested to come out and participate.”