Development Weekend (Nov)

Hockey Nova Scotia Development Programs

A Guide to Hosting a Development Weekend Festival

Developing tomorrow’s leaders…

Development Weekend: An Introduction

The premise behind the Development Weekend is to allow Minor Hockey Associations to focus solely, within a short period of time, on providing development opportunities to all of their members. Associations will not schedule any games for the weekend period, and instead would conduct several activities aimed at improving the member, be they player, coach, official, administrator, trainer or parent.

Since inception in 2003, Hockey Nova Scotia’s Development weekend has grown tremendously because of the cooperation and leadership shown by various Associations across the province. While Hockey Nova Scotia offers guidance and support, many associations have stepped forward and have taken the lead by becoming very creative and offering many different programs over the Development Weekends.

The Development Weekend typically takes place around the second weekend in November each year and is held in conjunction with Hockey Canada’s ‘Hockey Week in Canada’.

What Can Be Done During a Development Weekend?

Well, we will start by saying what cannot be done. During the Development Weekend, no teams in can participate in organized hockey games in Nova Scotia. Saying that, there are not many other limitations as to what can be done during the weekend.

Hockey Nova Scotia offers a variety of programs that associations may host during the Development Weekend. These programs include:

􀂃 Esso Fun Days

􀂃 Initiation Program Jamborees

􀂃 Female First Skills Camp

􀂃 Hockey Canada Skills Camps

􀂃 Chevrolet Safe and Fun Hockey

Hockey Nova Scotia will provide funding support to any association who hosts one of these events to aid with ice rental and facility fees. Associations should contact Hockey Nova Scotia for additional details on how to access this support.

Minor Hockey Associations have development their own great ideas that have led to countless great Development Weekend Festivals in the relatively short history of the event. Associations have held various player development clinics including:

􀂃 Goaltending clinics

􀂃 Defenseman clinics

􀂃 Shooting clinics

􀂃 Puck Handling clinics

􀂃 Power Skating clinics

􀂃 Checking Clinics

􀂃 Fun and Games Sessions

􀂃 Skills Contests

􀂃 Fun Jamborees

􀂃 Officiating Sessions

Ideas for Off-Ice Sessions:

􀂃 Parent Sessions

􀂃 Officiating Workshops

􀂃 Player Workshops

􀂃 Team Manager Workshops

􀂃 Speak Out Workshops

Hosting Development Weekend Festivals

When each association sits down to finalize what it is they hope to accomplish during the Development Weekend Festival, it will be important that they not overlook any need. This weekend, while focusing us all on developing our members, will also enable associations to do just about any other activity they deem to be important to them.

As one can easily see, the ideas for activities that can be conducted within the Development Weekend framework are endless. Associations, depending on their respective abilities and available resources, may choose to ambitiously conduct many of these activities while others may decide to tackle just a few. In either case, the fact remains that your association and it’s members will have enjoyed a weekend that focused solely on getting better at what ever it is they are doing

Staff

As each association now understands what can be done and agrees that it should be done, they ask themselves how to do it. This is the main reason why the level of detail that each association places on this weekend is up to them when it comes to what activities are held. While some associations start off slowly by holding but a few added events will, over time, increase the number of activities they hold and include more participants. Each association should assign specific contacts for each of the activities that they will hold during the Development Weekend Festival, they should also consider using their in-house expertise to coordinate additional activities.

By setting up small groups to look after each event, associations begin to skate down the road to success. When dealing with officiating programs, include the association’s referee-in-chief and utilize some of the senior officials to take the lead. For coaching seminars, you may have experts in your associations who can present workshops or lead ice sessions or use some of your more experienced coaches to help out. If you are having difficulty finding people to help out, contact other associations or Hockey Nova Scotia for suggestions.

Include your executive members in this effort. Get everyone involved, have some fun, reward yourselves, finish off the weekend with a little get together or party, put some smiles of the faces of your members, and take some time to step out of the normal stressful atmosphere that is hockey administration to enjoy yourself. It may only truly happen once a season, so make it worthwhile.

By involving everyone in some way, you begin to raise the awareness of all of your members and, in turn, they will begin to make suggestions and do new things that will make the sport of hockey better for everyone. Who knows, our members may even decide they like all this that we call hockey and may stick around for a while…a long while.

Learning to Skate!

Explaining the drill to the players!

Scheduling the Development Weekend Festival