Birth Years: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Locations: Edge
Focus: Skating Fundamentals w/ Fun
Duration: 75 Minutes (each)
Days: Saturday & Sundays
Price: $225 + Processing
Locations: Foothills
Focus: Full-Ice Drills/Understanding
Duration: 75 Minutes (each)
Days: Sundays
Price: $275 + Processing
Edge Ice Arena
Dates
June 6th
June 7th
June 13th
June 14th
Day
Saturday
Sunday
Saturday
Sunday
Time
9:45 AM - 11:00 AM
9:45 AM - 11:00 AM
9:45 AM - 11:00 AM
9:45 AM - 11:00 AM
Total Ice Time
5 Hours
Price
$225 + Processing
June 6th
June 7th
June 13th
June 14th
Saturday
Sunday
Saturday
Sunday
11:15 AM - 12:30 PM
11:15 AM - 12:30 PM
11:15 AM - 12:30 PM
11:15 AM - 12:30 PM
5 Hours
$225 + Processing
*23 skater max on all summer skates
Foothills Ice Arena
Camp Name
Dates
June 21st
June 28th
July 5th
July 12th
July 19th
July 26th
Day
Sunday
Sunday
No Session [Holiday]
Sunday
Sunday
Sunday
Time
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM
Total Ice Time
6.25 Hours
Price
$275 + Processing
*23 skater max on all summer skates
**Open to 2016, 2017 & 2018 birth years
U-8 development requires focusing on building essential skills, understanding teamwork, and fostering a love for the game. NateSkate Summer Skates play a crucial role in this journey by providing an environment where young athletes can hone their skating, edgework and foundational techniques through engaging drills and games. By emphasizing hard work and fun, these camps not only enhance individual performance but also cultivate camaraderie among teammates, instilling a sense of sportsmanship and collaboration.
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All U-8 camps are separated by skill level (beginners and new skaters; intermediate and advanced). 2018, 2019 birth year skaters with previous experience should register for the Advanced camp. Most 2020 and younger skaters, along with new hockey players, should register as beginner. 2017 birth years should register for U-10 camps.
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​As always, NateSkate camps incorporate our core-4 principles:
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Skating as the foundation
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Growth through competition
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Fun by accomplishment
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Size and value​
NateSkate: U-8 Foundational Skills & Games
This camp is the pinnacle of performance improvement for our youngest of athletes. With small group sizes (no more than 23) and an emphasis on skating, edgework, balance and body positioning - as well as incorporating small area games, your athlete will fall in love with the sport and develop.
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Like all of our camps, skaters will be required to bring their own jersey (jerseys are not provided) and t-shirts will be provided commemorating your achievement of conquering one of the most challenging skating sessions around!
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Fundamental Skills
No line skating! This is a core-principle for all NateSkate camps; simply put, we want these kids utilizing and moving as much as we can while they are on the ice. NateSkate: U-8 Foundational Skills & Games focuses on teaching techniques including:
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Stride form (lengthening the stride, balance & body control, increased stride count)
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Edge control (outside edges, inside edges, transitions)
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Quickness (stop/start , change of direction)
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Puck handling (technique, linear and turning, puck control at speed)
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Backwards skating (footwork, body control, awareness)
Small-Area Games
All sessions incorporate group work, large-format stations (no more than 3 stations utilizing as much ice as possible), followed by some form of game that emphasizes the fundamentals that were worked on throughout the session. As an example, a session might look like the following:
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20-30 minutes of group edge-work featuring no-line skating patterns that optimize edge time.
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10 minutes x 3 large-format stations providing additional time focusing specifically on inside or outside edge control.
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10-20 minutes of a final game featuring stops and turns, incorporating various techniques taught through the session (i.e. hungry hippos)
Session #: | Duration | Concepts |
|---|---|---|
Session 1 | 60 - 75 Minutes | Balance and body control, stride lengthening, stride frequency |
Session 2 | 60 - 75 Minutes | Additional stride form and body control work, edge control include stops and starts |
Session 3 | 60 - 75 Minutes | Transitions and advanced edge control, slight backwards skating |
Session 4 | 60 - 75 Minutes | Quickness work with emphasis on turning and starts/stop, deception and puck control |
* Camp check-in is 20-60 minutes prior to Session 1
** Session and Concepts are example progressions
NateSkate: Full-Ice Concepts
This summer skating session focuses on one of the hardest transitions in youth hockey - the graduation gap between U-8 half-ice practices and games into U-10 full-ice. The difficulty of this transition is amplified by moving away from 2 minute "buzzer" shifts into requiring fluid, on-the-fly, line changes. To make things even more complicated, U-10 introduces offsides and icing - as well as penalties and other infractions. At our NateSkate: Full-Ice Concepts, we provide the opportunity for graduating U-8 players (as well as soon-to-be graduating, and second birth year U-10 players) the opportunity to learn about the expectations of the U-10 level in a high-intensity development series of skates.
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NateSkate: Full-Ice Concepts specifically works on flow-drills that utilize the majority of the ice rink, all while providing instruction that will align with the expectations of U-10 hockey.
​Like all of our camps, skaters will be required to bring their own jersey (jerseys are not provided) and t-shirts will be provided commemorating your achievement of conquering one of the most challenging skating sessions around!
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Full-Ice Concept Drills
Players need a better understanding of the fundamental positioning and expectations of the game. Drills are put together to work on full-ice breakouts, forecheck, neutral zone positioning, and more. These drills will be high-paced and push kids into understanding more advanced concepts.
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During our sessions, we not only work on the concepts, but also the fundamental skating techniques required to perform these concepts. This means we don't just tell skaters where to go, but we also teach them how to best get there [i.e. breakout concepts with emphasis on opening up and transitioning quickly). Core elements of this camp include:
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Contextual Skating Development: Linear speed, transition mechanics, angling
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Positional Literacy: Breakout patterns, point/blue-line and zone entry
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Spatial Awareness: Understanding filling lanes, eliminating tunnel vision, finding space
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Conditioning with a Purpose: High-tempo transitions and full-sheet flow drills