St. Anthony’s School and the Drumheller Dragons have teamed up to get some quality instruction and ice time, coupled with a good breakfast.
In the coming school year, they will be offering its Breakfast Academy hockey skills program. The program is based on developing skills for hockey players and growing them as members of the community.
Vice-principal Celeste Schrock said the school and the Dragons have been working on developing this program for a few months.
“The Dragons came to us to explore the possibility of a hockey academy, and when we looked at it we thought it would suit our elementary best because we have a lot of kids that play hockey,” she said.
The program will run from September to January and will feature a once a week morning ice time with instruction from members of the Drumheller Dragons and coaching staff. This will run from 7:15 to 8:15 a.m. After that, they are transported to the school with time to participate in the breakfast program.
“There are lots of kids that will take ice time whenever they can get it, and to have a morning a week where they can go down and skate and be instructed by the Dragons, that is a huge opportunity,” said Schrock.
The program has a cap of 24 students from the novice to Peewee, age groups, roughly from Grade 2 to Grade 7 and the Dragons will be using a selection process to make sure they have dedicated players. They are looking for student-athletes that are attentive and willing to listen to instruction, who is a positive influence on the classroom is respectful and disciplined and stays on task.
Schrock adds that physical activity also has a positive effect on the students in the classroom.
“They are more focused in the morning when you come to school because you are up and active,” said Schrock.
She explains this is a pilot project for the coming school year and if successful there is a possibility of continuing and expanding it.
“This is a starting point for this year because that is where we see our numbers fitting the program, but as those kids get older, we hope to expand this, and there are lots of possibilities,” she said. “There is lots of room for growth of the program and lots of directions it can take.”
