What an exciting month October has been for the girls at RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna. Managing through the unique times the world is in can be difficult. The U-18 Female Prep girls choose to look at the brighter side of things & think of how grateful they are to be able to continue to play the game they all know and love.
Throughout the month the RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna has kicked off their inaugural season as RHA Kelowna. The team has learned to adapt to their coaches and celebrated both, Thanksgiving and Halloween!
The team has been busy travelling for cohort games to Delta every weekend. For the team, life has been busy on the road, but makes for a lot of great bonding experiences! To pass time on the bus, the girls participate in activities such as; watching movies, cards and playing board games.
The teams season opened up cohort play with Delta, Trinity Western University and University of British Columbia. The team is being pushed with great competition and seeing terrific results with 2-2-1 record vs University teams. It is a unique experience for the girls to be playing against University teams, it gives the girls insight into what the life of a University athlete is like along with experiencing their facilities.
Before jumping into game play, the team had many practices to prepare for their cohort games. Some of their practices include flow drills, skill development sessions and even on-ice testing to make sure they are at their peak performance going into their games! The team is lucky enough to be enjoying all the skills and expertise from coach and team Canada standout, Micah Zandee-Hart. It is great for the girls to have Micah as a coach to hear about her journey to be a national player. The girls look up to Micah, striving to follow her same successful career path.
Asking any of the girls, they would say the on-ice beep test that Dr. Jeff Leiter from RINK Testify Performance in Winnipeg, MB, was the HARDEST thing they have ever done! Just look at the pictures of them following the beep test!
Thanksgiving was a fun time for players to go home and enjoy time with families or stay in town and build new memories with billet families. It is always a great time to be able to spend some time with loved ones and reflect on being thankful for all that they have.
Not only was October an exciting month for the girls, it was a spooky month with the team doing several Halloween activities. Including pumpkin carving, a haunted corn maze and a team Halloween costume party in the hotel. The team made the best out of Halloween given the current circumstances our world is experiencing!
The girls are excited to grow as a team while adapting to the changes and new ways of life together during these next couple months, while continuing to play the game they love!