Promoting Life Skills Through Hockey, News (Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario)

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Oct 14, 2016 | ALLIANCE Hockey | 2518 views
Promoting Life Skills Through Hockey
Chevrolet and Hockey Canada are bringing back the Power of Play program to help teach the positive values of Canada’s game

Calgary, AB - After a successful inaugural season, Hockey Canada is once again partnering with Chevrolet to bring the Chevrolet Power of Play program to Peewee coaches from one coast to the other.

Knowing just how important coaches are in teaching life skills through the game of hockey, Chevrolet and Hockey Canada are proud to offer to Peewee coaches a free kit to help them do just that.

The idea behind the Power of Play program is to motivate Peewee players to reach their goals – both on and off the ice – in a positive environment.

Each kit includes a premium hockey bag for coaches, filled with 20 pucks, 20 rolls of hockey tape and 20 sets of skate laces covered with inspirational words from Team Canada gold medallists.

With words like ‘Believe,’ ‘Heart’ and ‘Motivation’ covering their stick tape and skate laces, Chevrolet took a different approach to constantly remind players of what it takes for them to achieve their dreams.

“Determination. That was one of the words on the stuff we received and I used that word a lot with my team. Especially when it came to giving a second effort and things like that,” says Marjorie Steele, a Peewee coach from St. Catharines, Ont., who signed up for the program last year.

“I’m the type of coach who usually prints out inspirational sayings and stuff to hand in the room during the playoffs,” she adds. “So for a couple of games, all I had them do was look down at their hockey sticks to see the quotes.”

Each kit also comes with 20 ‘Most Inspirational Player’ awards that coaches can hand out to players who best exemplify these values either after practices or games.

Peewee hockey has long been considered as the level where players begin thinking of where they would like to go with their playing careers, and this program serves as a guiding light to the 11- and 12-year-old players.

“I think at that age they understand hockey,” says Steele. “But they’re just beginning to understand what it’ll take for them to get to either the junior or NHL levels. So for them it was just a reminder that they can still reach those levels and could one day play there.”

More than 2,600 kits were sent to Peewee coaches across the country last season, and Chevrolet and Hockey Canada are aiming to distribute another 3,500 packages across Canada in 2016-17, the program’s sophomore year.

While she isn’t back behind the bench herself this season, Steele says she’d refer the Power of Play program to any Peewee coach and hopes they can reap the same benefits she did – her team ended up being inspired (and fortunate enough) to win a league championship.

To learn more about the program, visit ChevroletHockey.com or email c[email protected].

Registration officially opens Oct. 12, and quantities are limited.
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