The Lloydminster Public School Division has just wrapped up Shadow Days for their Hockey Academy.
The Hockey Academy is an after-school program for students at Bar Colony and Bishop Lloyd, promoting physical activity, getting kids staying active and improving hockey skills, in particular. Shadow Days allow students that aren’t currently part of the program to see what it’s all about and decide if they’d like to participate.
At Hockey Academy, students in grade 4 to 9 play hockey or train for an hour after school.
According to the Director of the Hockey Academy for the LPSD, Lance Ward, a typical day for Academy students has them getting picked up by the school bus at about 1:30 p.m., and transported to the multiplex. Some days are “on-ice days,” and when it’s an “off-ice day” for students, a separate group will participate in training exercises to aid in their hockey abilities as well, or they will play a different sport, like badminton, which was being played by the students in the field house at 2 o’clock on Tuesday, March 22nd, during the second Shadow Day.
Ward, who currently runs the program, is a Lloydminster-native and former NHL-er.
“Technically, we’re consider a hockey academy, where half the time spent is on the ice, so roughly 2 days a week we’re on the ice, and roughly 4 hours a week that we’re in the gym. So we do split it. We’re not just focused solely on hockey. We do believe the cross-training and training in other sports does develop athleticism. So we push sports in general, we push healthy-living, and we push just general athleticism,” says Ward.
The program has 20 students registered in grades 4 and 5, 20 in grade 6, and 20 more in grades 7, 8, and 9.