Kempenfelt Bay School Hockey Program

At the 1999 Molson Open-Ice Summit in Toronto, the delegation recommended that Hockey Canada investigate ways to support the design and delivery of school based hockey programming that would make use of facilities during regular school hours. The delegation at the summit recommended to:

“Promote cooperative efforts between school boards, local hockey associations and sponsors, to better utilize ice times and school facilities and move towards the development of sport schools.”

This recommendation is now a major priority for Hockey Canada. For this purpose, Hockey Canada has developed the Hockey Canada Skills Academy program, and is now available at Kempenfelt Bay School, in Barrie, Ontario.

A hockey academy is an institution that allows young hockey players to take part in a training program during school hours. In many European countries, hockey academies form the base of all hockey development. European hockey academies have been in operation for decades. It has long been known that to develop a talent, ability, or skill to its full potential 10,000 training hours are needed. This translates 3 hours of daily training for over 10 years.

Through cooperative ventures with the Canadian education system, this is now possible. The school system has the ability to create a timetable that will allow the students to participate in daily, semi-weekly or weekly hockey training sessions. A teacher, a coach, or a combination of both, can run the sessions. The school itself or an independent organization, such as a minor hockey association or a private group, can operate the hockey portion of the program. The training that takes place within a hockey academy is very much in line with the role of the school in other curriculum areas; enhance students’ opportunities to learn and excel academically and athletically.

The Hockey Canada Skills Academy is Now available at Kempenfelt Bay School in Barrie. KBS is an independent, co-educational elementary school with enrolment from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8 located on Bryne Drive. At Kempenfelt Bay School we are committed not only to academic excellence, but also to the total development of our students. Teaching the whole child is achieved through our integrated and challenging curriculum, a complimentary, enriched Arts Programme and the Hockey Canada Skills Academy.

The programme features several elite coaches including Paul Matheson, from Mariposa School of Skating, National Training Rink staff coaches and several professional players as guest coaches.

KBS welcomes all interested families and offers Financial Assistance.
For more information, contact Andy Rodford,
Head of School at (705) 739-4731,
or by email at
arodford@kempenfeltbayschool.ca

More information on the program can be found at
www.kempenfeltbayschool.ca