When we got there, we picked up skates for Carter and then got him all suited up. The coaches were walking around helping us make sure we got all the gear on correctly. One of them taped up Carter's stick so it would be easier for him to pick up.
I have to say I was really nervous for Carter. I knew it was going to be harder than he was thinking it would be.
Here Carter is getting onto the ice for the first time (I split the video into 2 shorter ones so it would upload):
I could see in Carter's face that he was so scared. But he eventually started moving again and made it across the corner to another wall. He didn't spend much of that time on his feet though. I saw some lip quivering but no tears. Carter did tell me afterwards that he cried a little.
Giving me a weak smile :)
The session was 45 minutes. The first 10 minutes was spent evaluating the kids. They were just sent out on the ice with no instruction. The coaches came around and put colored tape on the kids' hockey sticks based on their skill level. The program is for kids aged 5 to 8 so there were a lot of different ability levels out there. Some could confidently skate around with no problem while others, like Carter, could barely stand up.
One of the coaches tried helping Carter during this time. He started doing it ... and then fell on his butt again - ouch!
After that first 10 minutes, the kids were told to gather together. Carter had to go pretty far so he figured out a way to get there as quickly as he could!
It was a little hard to pick out one kid in this mass of matching kids!
Next the kids split up into several small groups. They had to skate from one end of the rink to the other and back with the help of one coach per group.
Here is Carter starting his turn ("I can do this, I can do this ... not really!):
Carter did get better as he went. He was going at a snails pace but could go several yards without falling.
About to head back ...
Carter was one of the last few and I think a coach brought him the last several yards because the kids were back into a large group before splitting up one more time. This time the kids worked on improving their skating. They were grouped by ability so some were learning very basics and some were doing more (I didn't really pay attention to any groups other than Carter's).
Carter was with one of the girls we've seen at Lil Sluggers that started coaching this session. I talked to her for a minute before the session and she said hockey was actually her background. She was awesome with Carter's group. (Carter is on the right in the picture below.)
She taught the kids how to stand up, how to use their stick to help them balance and not fall, and gave them lots of tips that I couldn't hear from outside the rink. The kids went back and forth across the ice from one side to the other practicing skating. That was the goal of this session - just to learn how to skate. Carter got better and better each time across. I wish I took videos at this point. He would fall maybe once each time across. The last time across Carter even started to try gliding instead of just taking little steps. He went so fast that time!
I was super impressed by the program and how they worked with the kids. There were a lot of coaches out there helping and they were so nice. They seemed to have a great system of handling so many kids at so many ability levels. Carter improved so much in 45 minutes.
I am SO PROUD of Carter too. I know he wanted to leave more than anything at first but he didn't give up and didn't even ask to stop. He was so brave and stuck with it.
Afterwards Carter told me all the different things he learned (and figured out on his own). He told me when he feels like he's going to fall, he leans forward so he doesn't fall on his butt (because that hurts). He explained how he learned to use his stick to help him stand up. And he showed me the right way to hold it. He did a great job listening to the coaches and doing the things they told him.
Carter said that next week they are going to have pucks and he's scared of that. He also told me thought that after the 4 sessions are over, he doesn't want to play hockey again :)
No comments:
Post a Comment