Details
Lifetime Hockey School is especially designed to improve the performance of the adult beginner and intermediate no-check/no-hit player. Browse through each of the sections below or those of interest to you to learn more about our hockey school:
- Benefits
- Features
- Dates
- Location
- Cost
- Schedule
- Coaches
- Equipment
- Instructional Methods
- Register
What are the benefits of attending?
As a result of attending Lifetime Hockey School, you will gain:
- Better skating skills and agility on the ice
- Improved balance to become “strong on your skates”
- The ability to find the right teammate and hit him or her with an effective pass
- Offensive moves to make you a more effective player
- Techniques for “shooting to score”
- Practice with the “system” of good hockey offense including:
- Advancing the puck effectively into the offensive zone
- Puck possession and proper positioning
- Backing up to regroup and resuming the attack
- Practice with the “system” of good hockey defense including:
- Forechecking
- Proper positioning
- One on one hockey and finding your check
Finding open ice and executing the breakout
- On-ice instructional sessions
- Classroom instruction
- Dry land instruction
- Quality coaches and a low teacher to student ratio
- Individual coaching and problem solving
- Controlled scrimmages
- Video tape analysis of each player's skating stride
- Radar Gun evaluation of shot velocity
- Exclusive use of the ice and dry land rinks - you can leave your gear at the rink in a locked locker-room
- Complimentary continental breakfast
- State of the art sound system
Why would I attend?
Do you suffer from one or more of these problems?
- An inability to generate skating speed and lateral maneuverability?
- Weak cross-overs or limited ability to skate backwards?
- The loss of the puck to a stronger stick handler or player?
- Can't really shoot a wrist shot, slap shot or know what a snap shot is?
- Poor or weak passes that are frequently intercepted?
- Shots that never seem to have any speed and fail to score?
- A lack of confidence in your next move; panic?
- Hot potato hockey? As soon as you receive the puck you get rid of it? Especially in the defensive zone?
- Do you lack any kind of offensive move?
- Does your team have these problems?
- Poor positioning defensively to cover possible scorers?
- Problems breaking out effectively?
- Difficulty attacking the offense zone?
At Lifetime Hockey School, we understand the challenges faced by beginning and intermediate players, and our coaches can provide you with the skills and knowledge to overcome the above problems and many more.
Dates: The July 2012 school will begin on the morning of Wednesday, August 8, 2012 and will conclude on Saturday, August 11, 2012 in the evening.
Location: The school will be at the Parade Ice Garden located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, just blocks from Downtown.
Lifetime Hockey provides a list of local hotels for our out-of-town participants.
Minneapolis provides visitors with an exceptional range of activities beyond hockey. Find out more about the Minneapolis Metropolitan area.
For travel planning you should consider these general time lines:
- Wednesday morning school opens at *:30 am and on ice sessions begin at 10:00 am
- Saturday evening - school ends at approximately 9:00 pm with final scrimmage.
A typical daily schedule:
9:15 – 10:15: Power Skating
11:00 – 12:00: Dryland
1:15 – 2:30: Individual Skills
3:45 – 4:45: Classroom
5:30 – 6:30: Team Skills
7:15 – 8:15: Dryland
8:00 – 9:00 pm: Open Ice
Equipment: Please bring a full set of gear including a helmet with at least a half visor. The Airlines have recently changed the rules and costs for bringing hockey gear with you. Click here for a detailed list of equipment and other items we suggest you bring plus our advice on flying with hockey equipment.
Tom Bast is one of the most effective adult no-check coaches in North America. Based in Red Deer, Alberta, Tom has operated his hockey school for over 20 years. He has taught adult hockey players from across the United States, Sweden and Japan.
Tom Bast played Junior ‘A’ Hockey in Canada and was eligible for the NHL. He owns TBS Sports - a full service player and team sports outfitter located in Red Deer, Alberta.
Tom brings the best of Canadian hockey to the US. His staff, based in Red Deer Alberta, has extensive playing and coaching experience. Meet the All Canadian staff.
"We have compiled an impressive contingent of coaches who are knowledgeable, have extensive playing experience and are excellent teachers. This will be a fun learning environment. You will not be disappointed in this hockey experience." Tom Bast, Red Deer, Alberta.
Hockey School or Hockey Camp?
We use both terms in our advertising but we think of our offering as more of a skills school than a camp. We believe in adult education principles and deliver all of our training in a fun, challenging, and supportive manner. All of our participants have shown that they are enthusiastic learners and don't necessarily need or want a "camp" environment.
Plus, we are in downtown Minneapolis so the only camping you are probably going to do is in a four star hotel ;-)
Tom Bast and his staff use a sophisticated combination of on ice activities and classroom instruction. On the ice you will work through a graduated series of individual drills to develop improved skating, balance and stick control. Small group skills are emphasized including the breakout, passing, scoring plays, tip shots, etc.
You will learn and practice skills such as: how to approach and take a puck off the boards, how to elude fore-checkers behind your net, how the defense can control the game, spins moves and more. Finally, you will participate in controlled scrimmages where our coaches will continuously provide commentary and advice to each team and individual players. We use a state of the art sound system so all players can clearly understand the coaches’ comments and instructions wherever they are on the rink.
In addition, Tom and his staff will work with the participants in a classroom setting to discuss special issues of concern, diagram how “the system” should work, comment on what they see in the scrimmages and answer participant questions.
Lifetime Hockey schools also provide individualized consulting for each participant based on their needs. Examples include: hitting a good slap shot, finding the breakout lanes, crossovers while skating backward, and the like.
The school uses the cohort model. Each instructional group will be made up of players with similar skill levels. We will do our best to put individuals together in the same group upon request. The groups will remain together throughout the school. We will assign players to teams which are separate from the instructional groups. The teams will be selected to maintain competitive balance.
Lifetime Hockey administrative staff, Mark <last name> and Dan McLaughlin, have extensive experience with adult education where they frequently teach classes for attorneys and graduate students. Our hockey school value and apply the core principles of adult education.
Click here to view pictures from our schools that illustrate these methods.
Sounds great—take me to the online registration page.
Or, contact an administrator:
Mark: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (651) 628-9437
.