For the second summer in a row, I ran a set of frisbee workshops during the Hockey Alberta player camps in Calgary, Alberta. Last year was with a younger group of kids and this summer was with a group of older, more elite hockey players.
My goal was to make the frisbee workshops fun, active, challenging and instructional. I wanted to teach the kids the basics of throwing and catching, introduce them to disc golf, show them Guts and get them running after some throws. I’m a physical literacy champion and I’m reaching out to more groups who support the idea of multi-sport athletes as well.
Here is a testimonial from Jesse, the Manager of Hockey Development:
We have had Frisbee Rob out on a few occasions during our player programs to utilize as on off ice session. As we are a big supporter and believer of physical literacy we saw a ton of value in the lesson plans Rob executed. They were challenging but also fun for all levels of athletes from 6 yr old grassroots athletes up to 17 yr old midget AAA players. We will definitely be reaching out to Frisbee Rob in the future.
It’s important for kids to be multi-sport athletes and not be so focused on one sport. I know this from experience, having grown up playing every sport possible as a kid. It’s made me a much better athlete and more well rounded mover in life.
Being able to throw, run, jump, catch, dive, slide, skate and swim are so important to living a healthy, active life. Too often we throw kids into a sport and have them playing & practicing 5-6 days a week.
And for what purpose? Kids should have fun and sure, if they have potential, they should be given opportunities to improve and see what they can do with those skills. But, not at the detriment of their health and not at the detriment of their childhood.
Building good hockey players requires more than just teaching skating and shooting. Being able to move in all directions and have a body that’s capable of dealing with stress is important to preventing injuries.
Frisbee is an amazing cross training sport because there are so many flying disc disciplines. Anyone can throw and catch and it gets kids moving and away from screens.
I’m looking forward to working with Hockey Alberta again!