Warner reviving hockey school after hiatus
The school that brings hockey to the students is back again for the 2017-18 season after a one-year hiatus.
The Warner Hockey School, that caters to female players between the ages of 14-19 years old, is making a comeback in hopes of better commitment and a new regime.
David LeGrandeur, principal of Warner School, says although it was necessary to take the year off last year, school officials were eager to get the program back on its feet.
“The year off gave us some time to re-evaluate the structure of the program, and when an opportunity to partner with Dynamic Hockey Development presented itself, the Warner Community Hockey Society and Warner School jumped at it,” he says.
The Warner program was founded in 2003 by community members as a means to help develop young female hockey players with high-level training and a competitive atmosphere.
However, last year, after failing to ice a full team, the program went on a year’s hiatus to regroup and come back better than ever.
This year the program has evolved as the Southern Alberta Xtreme, where they have paired up with a sister company in Devon, Alta., called Northern Alberta Xtreme Hockey. With a new team being formed in June, the company was three months behind in recruiting when compared to other competing academies.
With their work cut out for them, the Warner Hockey School hosted an evaluation camp at the end of July where they had five players officially commit to the team.
LeGrandeur says the community atmosphere and support system within Warner is beneficial for children to learn in and the perfect place for a program to flourish.
“Warner is a supportive community. Everybody pitches in to keep things going. Kids who play hockey in Warner learn to live together, to work together towards a common goal, to support each other through successes and failures and we feel that our kids really learn to give back to their communities.”
Although there is still a long way for the program to go to reach its goal of at least 15 committed players, the school remains dedicated to the academy.
Due to its late start, the team this year will not play within a league this season, however, spend the rest of the year competing in showcase games against other academies across Western Alberta to prepare their group of elite young women for the competitive league in 2018.
With a set tuition of $33,000 for the team program, young women entered into the hockey academy will receive professionally qualified coaching, 7.5 hours of on-ice training per week and a healthy atmosphere of other young women who share the same passion for the game.
LeGrandeur says the hockey program’s pairing with Warner High School is a great combination that takes care of not only the progression in their skills for the sport, but also their education as a whole.
“It makes sense to have a professional organization like Dynamic Hockey Development oversee the hockey operations and Warner School to oversee the public education. Together we create an exciting opportunity for student athletes to further their education through hockey,” he adds.
All young female players enrolled in Grades 9 through to 11 are eligible for the hockey school, which is willing to put in the commitment to increase talent and generate scholarship opportunities for their players.
“It was the community that came together 15 years ago to develop a very successful hockey program that became the model for many other hockey academies in the province and we have always hoped to maintain a hockey program in Warner.”