USA Hockey Level 5

Thanks to the February support of our community at the 35th Anniversary Family Skate at Wollman Rink, North Park was in position to sponsor our professional coaches to attend the 2023 USA Hockey Level 5 Coaches Symposium in Falmouth MA in May. To be on the ice or bench, all North Park pro + parent coaches must follow a multi-step USA Hockey certification process. Level 5 is the highest certification offered by USA Hockey and is held by less than 5% of the 60,000 certified coaches in America.  

North Park's six attendees represented the largest number from any one organization. Over the four-day symposium, the North Park coaches attended 25+ hours of on- and off-ice sessions and interacted with 450 attendees and presenters from across the nation, including:  

- 1998 USA Olympic Women's gold-medal winners from Nagano;

- head women's + men's NCAA college coaches from Boston University, Boston College, Air Force, Northeastern, Providence, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale;

- head coach of USA U18 Women's National Team;

- head coach of USA Hockey U18 NTDP;

- assistant head coach of the Detroit Red Wings;

- Boston Bruins NHL alumni group;

- multiple Stanley Cup winners + NCAA National Champions;

- both Hockey and USA Hockey Hockey Hall of Famers;  

- Executive Director of USA Hockey;

The coaches also spent follow time with our fellow NYC youth hockey organizations, including the NYC Skyliners, Ice Hockey in Harlem and Aviators Hockey Club. USA Hockey is incredibly supportive of our individual and collective efforts -- stay tuned on future developments in the 2023-'24 season as we work to create opportunity for the kids in NYC.  

Many lessons were shared with the Level 5 attendees, as the coaches were encouraged to incorporate "more free play" into practice planning to build player creativity. The presenters discussed methods to break a top-level hockey player's on-ice movement into 339 separate and discrete actions which can be optimized one-by-one. At the same time, they also agreed that the "best skater" + "best stickhandler" + "best shooter" is often not the "best hockey player"! And as always, all the top players emphasized how crucial it is to be a multi-sport athlete.  

The symposium ended with the same theme that started the proceedings: this should all be fun for everyone.  We look forward to the rest of the spring, a restful summer and a fun 2023-'24 upcoming season to follow.