blACKBURN
JUNIOR HAWKS
FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/SPORT_IP
We have children as young as 7 play in our teams, right
through to young adults of 18s – and they are all the same in
one main way. They all love to play this game. We all work
hard to ensure these kids get the chance to play, and seeing
them enjoy it so much is all any of us ask.”
Atmosphere
“The mood here at the moment is optimistic. We’ve seen
significant progress in all aspects of our operations, from
on-ice development to off-ice ice structural changes. We
are certainly not the same organisation we were 5 years ago
when I started to get involved, for the better.
We had a good season last season with good sporting
results and we expect that to continue into next season. We
expect to see significant growth in our fund raising activities
to go along with our sporting achievements, and want to
generate more interest in junior hockey from the success of
the Blackburn Hawks and Blackburn Eagles.
We plan to continue with our strategy and develop and
grow both on and off the ice. I fully expect at least two of
our junior teams to be challenging for their respected league
titles this year, and the other teams to make further progress
in their sporting development.”
Youth
“Youth development is what we are all about. We aim to
work with the children in our club to develop both as Ice
Hockey players, but also as young people finding their way
in the world. Ice Hockey teaches the children more than
just how to skate – it teaches them discipline, dedication,
controlled aggression and how to listen and learn. It is also
great for fitness.
Our coaching and management structure within the club
is designed to ensure this development. All of our coaches
attend all the necessary courses and seminars in order to
ensure we create an atmosphere of learning and progression
for the children within our organisation. This isn’t just
simply the coaching qualifications necessary for the league,
but also courses such as first aid and safeguarding, which
are really important in youth hockey.
We also foster an atmosphere of participation. We don’t
believe children develop fully if they are not participating
in training and games. As such we encourage our children
to train up with the next age group, and play for this age
group where it’s safe and appropriate to do so. We want to
maximise their ice time both at practice and in competitive
games.”
34 Issue 10