AMP taking the scientific approach
New minor hockey organization pushing top level coaching, conditioning for kids
Its preteen players will undergo neurological assessments, vitamin and blood analysis.
Those are only two facets of a new private minor hockey league being created in Calgary that its organizers say could help revitalize Canada’s supremacy in the game.
Not satisfied with the more amateur, volunteer approach of the well-established Hockey Calgary, AMP Youth Hockey is set to inject science and lifetimes of experience into the game for kids aged five to 12, said chairman Brad Layzell.
“All we’ve learned over the years we’re wrapping into this,” said Layzell, once a member of Canada’s national team.
Young players aren’t receiving the kind of top notch coaching and conditioning during their most formative years, something AMP is determined to deliver, said Layzell.
Those are advantages people like him only received at an older age.
“We’re flip-flopping that. All our kids will start with that knowledge. It will all go down to the entry levels,” he said.
Full-time coaches, many with national team backgrounds, will shepherd their young charges through a 28-week program that’s scheduled to begin in September, with the expectation it will attract up to 1,000 players.
For a per-player price tag of $2,950, it will employ a multi-sport approach to enhance youngsters’ motor skills and dexterity, infused with a scientific approach to elements like skating, body contact and injuries, said Layzell.
That, and a serious focus on hockey fundamentals, should lift the level of Canadian youth play in the international arena — if the model extends beyond Calgary, he added.
“Oh, 1,000 per cent, if you look at USA hockey in the last 10 or 15 years, the results speak for themselves, and this is a step ahead,” he said of the league that will play out of WinSport.
“The long-term aspect of it is to grow and strengthen the game.”
While the league will compete to some degree with the city’s minor hockey establishment, it should be even more complementary “by providing the approach to other associations,” said its chairman.
AMP does represent some competition to Hockey Calgary, said the body’s executive director Kevin Kobelka, whose organization oversees 14,300 young players.
And he said those running the new body have some good ideas, like emphasizing cross ice hockey, or using the rink’s width instead of its length, for younger players.
But, he said, the nearly $3,000 price tag is high compared to a $700-$1,100 base fee for regular minor hockey that does come with fundraising activities.
“It’s very expensive,” said Kobelka, who’s met AMP organizers.
He also said AMP’s use of a single venue, WinSport, makes it inconvenient for players in most of the city.
Kobelka defended Hockey Calgary’s volunteer basis as imperfect but generally sound.
“The fabric of minor hockey in this country is volunteerism,” he said, adding that coaches are improving their qualifications.
Some Hockey Calgary players will be lured away by the new league, but many youngsters will likely play in both organizations, said Kobelka.
Layzell said he doesn’t expect AMP teams to ever play against Hockey Calgary squads.