Hockey and Leadership Development Camps

 Adam Herold “Pay It Forward” Hockey Development Program

There are a number of areas in our province that do not have easy access to high-quality hockey skill development and supporting programs. Many local hockey associations are simply too small to have dedicated hockey development staff or easy access to the top skating instructors, skill development experts, trainers, nutritionists or other coaching resources.  Our goal is to support these communities by providing a high-quality development experience for both players and coaches.

Under the direction of our program development coordinator, the “Pay it Forward” Hockey and Leadership Development Program works closely with local community hockey organizations to bring the top resources to assist them with the development of their hockey players, both male and female. Our program will bring top resources to targeted areas of the province with the expectation that the participants will volunteer within their communities. Host communities are encouraged to make a donation to the foundation that will help us be able to continue to provide the program to future communities in a Pay it Forward manner.  If our program has to subsidize only a small portion of the costs, we will have the ability to have a more significant impact by offering the program more broadly.

The obligation of the host community will be to: act as a local administrator and promoter of their regional program; acquire ice and training locations for program delivery; and support the social purpose of the overall program.  Our intent is not just to provide a short term hockey school, but to train the players, educate the coaches, provide on-going support for player development in between sessions and inspire participants to do what they can to improve their community and develop their ability to lead.

Areas of Focus of the Hockey and Leadership Development Program

Our “Pay it Forward” Hockey and Leadership Development program will bring top professionals to the host community in areas such as:

• Power Skating;
• Puck Skills;
• Offensive Skills and Shooting;
• Defensive Skills; and
• Read and React Skills

In addition to the on ice services we will also offer:

• Coaching Development;
• Teambuilding;
• Mental Training and
• Leadership and Social Impact Support

Our intent is to provide an integrated service that will compete with the top hockey programs anywhere in Canada for underserved areas of Saskatchewan.

Adam Herold Leadership Program

During event weekends, our program will provide leadership development seminars for program participants.  Events will be created to enhance participant’s understanding of what leadership is and how they can enhance their leadership skills.  We will call on experienced leaders both from their community and elsewhere to share their leadership experiences and insights as part of a more comprehensive leadership program.  One to two hour sessions will be provided during each event.  The program is offered to community youth, both hockey program participants and other community members.

Why Pay It Forward?

The intent of our Foundation is to have maximum social impact without any prospect of earning a profit. If our purpose was to ‘break even’ financially, we believe our smaller communities would continue to be overlooked for these opportunities. The intent of the program is not to provide the service for free, but rather in a cost effective and reasonable manner respecting the resources of the local community.

This is where the idea of a “Pay it Forward” fund originated.  Our objective is to provide the program in target communities and to leave it to the community to provide what they are able to pay towards the costs of delivery of the program. We know from experience that Saskatchewan people can be very creative when raising funds for their communities. It’s one of the many things that makes our province such a great place to live!

Previous Host Communities:

Since the Foundation was established, we have visited the following communities reaching over 1,500 participants.