Joey Payeur
Bill Daly has been involved in plenty of new ventures in his time in the education field.
He has an unshakable belief this latest one will be a big hit.
The principal at Fort Frances High School will help oversee the implementation of a hockey academy there this fall, with a parent information meeting being held at the FFHS library tonight at 6:30 p.m.
The academy will include Grade 7 and 8 students registered at Fort High for the new academic year starting in September, and will feature participants receiving two hours of on-ice training and one hour of off-ice training each week during regular school hours.
“The initiative started last year, with [Rainy River District School Board Director of Education] Heather Campbell making the original suggestion and [Sturgeon Creek School principal] Shane Bliss doing most of the legwork to get the application in place,” Daly explained.
“We’re putting it in for students to not only ensure they keep coming to school, but to teach fitness and nutrition, as well as helping them increase their hockey skills,” he added.
“I am confident it will be an excellent program and an opportunity for kids to learn new skills,” Daly noted.
“If we see an increase in enrolment, then we should see an increase in academic achievement,” he reasoned.
“That’s our goal.”
The local concept for the academy, which follows strict guidelines as laid out by Hockey Canada, actually is modelled after a similar program run throughout the Keewatin Patricia District School Board in Kenora that currently has more than 1,000 students from Grades 4-12 taking part.
“We followed what worked well in Kenora,” said Daly.
“We have to be conscious how many times we put the students on the ice when we have so many other curriculum matters to take care of, as well,” he warned.
“We’re starting with the Grade 7-8s, but our intention is to move it into the high school [grades] at a later time,” Daly added.
“We thought it would be easier to work with a smaller group to start.”
Board employee Jeff Ogden will take three days of intense training from Hockey Canada officials to ready himself to be the instructor for the academy, which Daly emphasized is not just for elite-level players at those age groups.
“We want students to already be able to skate to be part of this, but it’s not just for those at the rep team level [the ‘AA’ Canadians squads],” he stressed.
“It’s for all of them.”
Along those same lines, Daly said there will be a nominal–but not exorbitant–fee for those signing on with the academy.
“The fee is not set yet, as it depends on the numbers we get,” he remarked.
“Ice time is cheaper if you have 25 signed up as opposed to 10.
“We want to make it accessible to all students, regardless of their [family’s] financial ability to pay,” he noted.
A maximum capacity of students that will be allowed to register for the program also has not been determined yet.
“We’ll see what the interest level is,” Daly said. “Like anything, you have to cap it somewhere.
“Who knows where it can go from here?” he added. “We’ll start small and get all the I’s dotted and T’s crossed.
“Jeff is really looking forward to doing it,” Daly enthused.
“If there’s any challenges, we’ll address them as they come.”
