Wildcat Youth Hockey July 2013 Newsletter General Club News:

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1 Wildcat Youth Hockey July 2013 Newsletter General Club News: Registration is open, online payment available, $50 early bird discount by 8/18/13: Registration is open on the Home page for the 2013/2014 season. It is really important to register early or at least inform a board member if you plan to return or not. We need to secure ice based on the number of teams we will have and if we have changes we can end up not having enough ice or paying for ice we would not use with fewer teams. There is also a $50 discount for levels Squirt, PeeWee and Bantam if you register before August 18 th. We have added an online payment option also so you can pay via a credit card or bank transfer through Paypal. Please help us out and get your skaters registered. Call for Coaches: We have added an online Coaches Registration to the web site. This will allow you to enter your information once and it will save it for future years. You will need to register with USA Hockey to complete the coaches application. If you are interested in coaching this season please head over to the website and fill in the application. Beat the Heat Camps: Get signed up for the WYHA Beat the Heat Camps as these camps fill up fast. This is the perfect way to get back on the skates and ready for tryouts. Don't be left out in the Heat. For information contact Pete Bachman at WYHAHCE@gmail.com Squirt/PeeWee/ Bantam Camp: What: Combination of ADM / Full Ice drills / Full Ice games. Where: The Ice Pond, Waunakee. When: Four Sundays: 08/04, 08/11, 08/18, 09 /08. Off (08/25 & 09/01). Time: Squirts 10:50AM Peewee / Bantams 12:00 PM Cost: $50 / per skater for all 4 sessions. Registration Deadline: Thursday, August 1st, or the first 30 skaters per time. Mite Camp: What: Combination of ADM / Full Ice drills. Where: The Ice Pond, Waunakee. When: Four Sundays: 09/22 10:50AM, 09/29 11:30 AM, 10/06 12:00 PM, 10/13 12:00 PM. Cost: $50 / per skater for all 4 sessions. Registration Deadline: Sunday, September 15th, or the first 30 skaters per time. Steps to Register: 1. Please WyhaHce@gmail.com your intent to sign up. 2. Please complete the form below and send your check (Payable to WYHA) to: WYHA, PO Box 156, Waunakee, WI WYHA 2013 Goalie Nights / Camp: WYHA will once again be offering free goalie practices to skaters interested or currently playing goalie. We provide equipment for all part time goalies to use during the season. We are also upgrading some of the old equipment and purchasing additional sets for this season. The practices are typically Friday Nights starting November 8 th at 6:30pm.

2 Parades: The Wildcat Youth Hockey Association will be putting a float in the Waunakee's Waunafest and Lodi's Suzie the Duck Day parades. We are looking for Wildcat skaters to either ride the float or skate (roller-blade) alongside or behind the float. The goal is to raise awareness to the youth hockey program. Parents and skaters of all age levels are encouraged to participate. We have secured a few skaters from Waunakee High School as well as the DPL Team to skate along with our youth. If you and/or your skater are interested in participating in any or all of the parades, please contact Terrisa Mulder, Director of Marketing and Recruitment to R.S.V.P. This will give us an idea of how many skaters to anticipate for each parade. The more the merrier. Terrisa can be contacted via at terrisa_mulder@yahoo.com. The parade dates are below: Waunakee Waunafest Parade - July 28, 11:00 am Lodi Susie the Duck Parade - August 10, time TBD Wildcat Zamboni in the Deforest Fourth of July Parade

3 Coaches Corner: (News from your ACE director for families) USA Hockey presented some material at the 2013 WAHA Annual meeting on having kids play up being detrimental to their physical and emotional development and hurting them as a player long term much more than any benefit gained from it. WYHA does not allow skaters to play at levels not defined by their age. We have in the past allowed double rostering when numbers were very low on a team but only do this as a last resort. Goalies are the only exception where they are double rostered at the higher levels due to the uniqueness and shortage of goalies overall. Here is an article related to rostering players up: Does Competing Against Better Players Make You Better? Being challenged is a very important part, and a very healthy part, of every sport, and of life for that matter. Many people, when not challenged, quickly become bored and disinterested in what they are doing. Individually, most players are not capable of really challenging themselves and have to rely on their coach to put them in situations where they are challenged. Team-wise the only way many coaches challenge their players is by whom they are competing against. Ultimately, it s the competition that becomes the challenge. A strong opponent presents a challenge, a weak opponent probably does not. Most parents want to make sure that their kids are challenged playing hockey. Their thinking is that if their son or daughter is on the ice with better players, they will push themselves harder to become better players themselves. In reality, many players do play to the level of the other players on the ice. It happens all of the time. Very often, a more talented team has difficulty when playing a team that is clearly inferior in talent, yet plays up to the level of a team that is better. Playing up Individually as well, many players tend to step up to meet the challenge presented by stronger competition. As a result, many parents try to push their kids to play up a level, in age or classification, so they are always playing against better players, and to always be challenged. Is this a good thing? It can be. But it can also be very counter-productive in terms of a player s development. Year after year, if a player is always pushing just to keep up or be in the middle of the pack on a team, he or she is probably not developing as they could or should. While it is good that they are on the ice with better players, and are pushed to be better by their teammates and the competition, it can also hinder them. Physically, if they are pushing themselves as hard as they can just to play at that level, they will sacrifice development just to survive. They won t experiment, they won t try new things, they will avoid their weaknesses and do only what they do best, what allows them to play. While there is something to be said for knowing your strengths and using them to your advantage, to really develop a player also has to know his or her weaknesses and strive to make them better. If not, development will be limited.

4 The confidence to make mistakes Mentally, it is a great thing to be the best, or one of the best players on the ice. It is essential to a young kid s confidence. It allows them to be creative, to try new things, to experiment and even to work on weaknesses that they might have, knowing that if they make a mistake, they will have the opportunity to get back on the ice and make up for it. You don t improve and learn if you don t make mistakes and if you don t have the confidence to try things that might result in mistakes, your growth will be limited. As I grew up playing the game, all age classifications were two years. It allowed you to play with older kids your first year, and most likely be one of the weaker kids on the team, as they were a little bigger and stronger and faster. You had to push yourself to keep up. But the next season, you played with some younger kids, which meant you were probably one of the stronger players. You were relied on by the team to be better, you felt confident, were put in different situations where you could try new things and develop new skills. Gradual development At the junior and college levels, my first year was a whirlwind. The game seemed so much faster, the players so much bigger, stronger and more talented. In my first few games, I always wondered how I would survive. But you were able to develop because of the system. The first year or two you pushed yourself to keep up and just play on the third or fourth line. You learned from the juniors and seniors what it took to be the best at that level. And by the time you were a junior or senior yourself, you took on new roles, and developed the confidence to hold onto the puck longer, to play on the power play, and be on the ice in the last minute of the period. A friend of mine, Mike Donnelly, played high school hockey in Detroit, then after a year of junior hockey walked on at Michigan State. In his first year he played minimally and scored 7 goals. His second year he played more and scored 18 goals. His third year he earned more ice time and scored 26. His senior year, he consistently played on the power play and in all key situations and scored 59 goals. That didn t happen by accident. Over the years, he gradually improved his physical and mental skills and developed his game. There wasn t a chance that he would have scored 59 goals as a freshman, even with twice the ice time he had as a senior. Ultimately, he played professionally for ten years. But if he hadn t been allowed to develop gradually, over a period of years, it would never have happened. At the professional level, each NHL team has a minor league system where they can develop their prospects at a level where they can taste success. There isn t that much difference between a fourth line NHL er and a first line minor leaguer. What s important is that they are in an environment where they can be the best, play in key situations and develop completely. Not the way we do it Many players have had their careers ruined by being rushed into situations where they had no chance to survive because they didn t have the confidence or skills to compete at that level. In terms of development, I think we make a big mistake in the way the current A, AA and AAA system is structured in Michigan. By having age groups comprise of only one birth year, we are not allowing our players to completely develop into what they could potentially be by not allowing them to play in different situations. Posted by State of the Game

5 The Equipment Locker: (Equipment Information) Rental Equipment: WYHA has rental equipment available for first year skaters at U8 Mite and below. Consult the Fees on the website for deposit amounts and rental costs. The Equipment can be used for the season and must be returned clean. Equipment Donations: Wildcat Hockey is always looking for donations of used equipment, especially goalie equipment. There is a drop box in the rink or contact Steve Lindley slindley@hoopercorp.com to make your donation. Club Calendar: Important Dates 2013/2014 Season (watch for times to be posted later): Waunafest Parade (10:30am) Sunday 07/28/2013 Lodi Susie the Duck Parade Sunday 08/10/2013 Ice Goes In at The Ice Pond 07/28/ /03/2013 PW/Squirt Beat the Heat Camp Start Sunday 08/04/2013 Pre Tryout 1 (Bantam) Wednesday 09/11/2013 Pre Tryout 1 (Squirt - Peewee) Friday 09/13/2013 WYHA Mite Welcome Back Day Friday 09/13/2013 Mite Beat the Heat Camp Start Sunday 09/22/2013 Pre Tryout 2 (Squirt - Bantam) Sunday 09/22/2013 Tryouts Day 1 (Squirt, PW, Bantam) Sunday 09/29/2013 Concussion Baseline and Seminar Wednesday Oct - TBD Tryouts Day 2 (Squirt, PW) Friday 10/04/2013 Learn to Skate Starts Saturday 10/05/2013 Tryouts Day 3 (Squirt, PW) Sunday 10/06/2013 Tryouts Day 2 (Bantam) Sunday 10/06/2013 Coaches Clinic Tuesday 10/08/2013 Goalie Clinic Starts Tuesday 10/08/2013 S, PW, B Practice Start Monday 10/14/2013 U10/U12 Rec Starts Tuesday 10/15/2013 LTP, U6 Mite Start Week 10/21/2013 U8 Mite Start Week 10/21/2013 Try Hockey for Free Day Saturday 11/02/2013 WYHA Photo Day Sunday 11/10/2013 Mark Your Calendars and see the website for additional events!

6 Monthly Board Meeting Minutes Topics discussed July 7 th, 2013 Board Meeting. Treasurer: Reviewed Current Bills and Statements. Approved outstanding bills. Learn To Skate/U6 Mite/Learn To Play: Check with Kurt Johnson for an update on Capital Skating School. U8 Mite ALD : Squirt ALD: Pee Wee ALD: Bantam ALD: ALD General: Equipment : Discussion on deposit amount, table until next meeting if needed. Fundraising: Schedule the concussion seminar and baseline testing with UW Sports Medicine either October 2 or 9 at 7:00pm at Waunakee High School. Apparel: Nothing to report Registrar- Nothing to report Ice scheduler- Nothing to report Marketing- Internet Updates working with Clarity on updates to the web page to make it easier to find information especially for new families. Marketing fliers working on a small flyer to hand out at parades. Parade update/committee discussion Parade went well, Zamboni float was awesome. Amy Luebke made a motion to grant volunteer hours to the families who built the float for the parade. Matt Stafford seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Tournament Director: Director of Concessions: Ace Director: Tryout Format and Timing reviewed process, need to make revisions if needed and publish. Review plan for number assignment. President Elect: Old / New Business: Registration Open Registration is open for the season. Locker Room Monitoring Team managers will Assign 2 parents per practice and game to the locker room, if a person cannot make it they need to find a replacement. Subcommittee to determine guidelines for when, how long, etc. (Amy Luebke, Bill Ripley, Mark Stewart, Mike Thompson). See if Ice Pond can add signs specifying no phones, cameras, or any other electronic devices in locker rooms. Approve Budget / Fees Amy Luebke made a motion to approve the budget and fees for the season. Mark Stewart seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Banners Amy Luebke is looking at options and costs to produce banners for 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd, and consolation state winners to hang at the ice pond.

7 Executive Board President Wade Hansen Past President Amy Luebke President - Elect Mark Stewart VP Fundraising Kelly Lyle Treasurer Matt Stafford Secretary Kevin Fons ACE Director Kevin Ducat ALD Bantam Mike Thompson ALD Peewee Jerry Reynolds ALD Squirt Heather Nett ALD U8 Mite Janine Gumley ALD U6 Mite / LTS / LTP Cammi Wolfe Appointed Board Members Apparel Manager(s) Jen Boyer Sue Pasinato Equipment Manager Steve Lindley Director Recruiting/Marketing Terrisa Mulder ACE Director Emeritus Bill Ripley Head Coach Elect. Pete Bachman Ice Scheduler Bill Paradisin Registrar Kevin Fons Tournament Director Christine Gruetzmacher Director of Concessions Kim Dubois NEXT WYHA BOARD MEETING Thursday, August 8 th, 7:00 p.m. TBD Open Forum Members will be allowed to have a 10-minute open forum at the board meetings to bring issues to the board if they are not resolved with their ALD. Please let a board member know ahead of time so it can be added to the agenda