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c thursday nov 28 2002 17 economist sun stouffville tribune sports goals for hockey camp must be clear by jerome watt staff writer parents should take the same care choosing a hockey school for their children as they would selecting a day care i research things for my sons hockey school said johnny misley vicepresident of hockey operations for the canadian hockey association i have a right as a consumer parents and children should talk about the camp before the child is enrolled it depends on what the child wants and what the parent wants he said what do you want to shop for mr misley said parents should look at the ratio of instructors on the ice to students a seventoone ratio is ideal he also suggested parents con sider how long the hockey school has been operating and its phi losophy a lot of hockey schools adver tise famous players teaching at the camp but thats not always an indication of the quality of instruction provided he said theres two types of schools ones that hire educators and oth ers that hire hockey players but do they have any experience teaching he said theres a big difference between playing and teaching not everyone agrees on the effectiveness or usefulness of hockey schools joe arruda a peewee aaa coach with the richmond hill stars said hockey schools can improve a childs skills there are a variety of hockey schools he said it all depends on what parents want some are more focused on skills some camps have more emphasis on fun mixed with hockey mr arruda said kids who attend camps that emphasize fun dont usually come back with improved hockey skills some of these kids that come to me from camps that teach spe cific skills i see a vast improve ment in their skills he said kids from fun camps i dont see a vast improvement thats not what they go for mr arruda said young chil- staff photobill roberts mike mayo 9 skates warmup laps with other goalies during goalie school camp at national training rinks in richmond hill dren should go to schools that emphasize skating if they want to improve their hockey he said many coaches in minor hockey are simply parents volunteering to coach their childs team while these volunteers have the best of intentions mr arruda said they dont always teach basic skills properly i feel at the younger age the base of hockey is individual skills he said i feel skating is one of the most important a lot of parents dont know the impor tance of skating stride the quality of coaching at that age group is poor i see a lot of kids being pushed through and not being developed as children get older schools become more specialized including schools that focus on goalie or defence skills mr arruda said its up to par ents to find the right school for their child as a parent you have to do a lot of research on the internet and grab brochures he said look at who the instructors are and if they are qualified instruc tors paul de haas learned the hard way he thought he was sending his fiveyearold son luke to kids of canada hockey school to improve his onice skills according to mr de haas his son started the day watching movies one of the movies the youngster watched goonies was inappropriate for his age and frightened him even wayne gretzky is quoted as saying he had the summer off the more sports kids play the better the camp didnt deliver what it promised in the brochure mr de haas said and the experience led him to wonder what criteria a hockey school has to meet he checked around and all he found was the richmond hill arena association required schools to have liability insurance and pro vide proof of first aid training to use their arenas what governing body is in place to monitor hockey schools he said obviously there is no professional criteria to own and operate these facilities the owner of the kids of canada camp corey shiner refused to comment but in a letter to mr de haas he said he made a mistake show ing the movie and would ensure it didnt happen again mr misley said his association has looked at the issue of stan dardizing hockey camps i think its an area we need to look at a little more he said this has been bantered about mr misley said any regulation of hockey schools would be diffi- see kids page 18 mike adler s- been there done that aquafit not natural fit for most men aquafit makes your turkey sandwich taste better though it must be eaten hurriedly as you hunch over your desk at work you are hurrying to eat the sandwich because you spent the last 45 minutes the time most people use for lunch in a swimming pool strapped into a flota tion belt while in that uncomfortably tight belt a wellmeaning aquafit instructor named charlene walton relentlessly exhorted you to kick more rapidly all the while reminding you to breathe when people dont breathe their faces turn red and their teeth puff out she shouted from the pool deck as you squinted myopically at ms walton straining to imitate her many movements you were grateful for absence of the pointer sisters after all you are a man doing a form of exercise still dominated by women naturally they choose the music translated that means no one ever performs aquafit to the soundtrack of reservoir dogs and no recreation centre in the world you are certain of this would per mit a bunch of tubby middleaged male swimmers to do wide leg circles to led zeppelins immigrant song f- still the music wasnt terrible during your 5 workout at the centennial community centre in markham you were the only man in the class you had braced yourself against an onslaught of abba that never came anyhow you were too busy swallow ing water and jogging across the pdol while trying to keep your back straight see aquafit page 18 mmm located in the garden basket plaza 9275 hwy 489052019811 mwmmm 4- a s