INNISFAIL - The Innisfail Eaglettes are in full flight to showcase their talent.
The Eaglettes, coached by Bernie Vanderham and his son Logan, are four-year-old skaters learning all about hockey.
"I run this group with my son Logan. He's my main assistant coach and I use (volunteer) parents to help coach each year," said Vanderham.
This season there are 27 Eaglettes, both boys and girls, being introduced to the sport of ice hockey.
It's been a good season so far for the young skaters, noted Vanderham, adding that they learn a variety of skills and techniques in the program, including passing and shooting the puck, turns and skating techniques. The regular season runs from mid-October to mid-March.
"We just learn to walk first, that's the basic thing. Once we get walking, then we move into a little faster walking, then into a slide," said Vanderham. "We're trying to get some forward motion going so we can learn to slide on two feet first before we learn to slide on one foot, to get the stride going."
"We're working on our puck skills right now, trying to get our stride going and we're working on stopping," he added.
The Eaglettes practise one day a week on Friday evenings, and once a year in late January the young players showcase their skill and what they've learned in the program during first intermission of the Innisfail Eagles' last home game of the regular season.
"We bring our teams out, the kids are split into four teams and we have two cross-ice mini-games," said Vanderham, noting the spare goalies from the two teams help out and participate in the showcase.
It's the first time many Eaglettes have played before the public.
"They're starting to get excited," he said, noting that he wants to help instill a lifelong passion for the sport of hockey as well as teach them some important life lessons.
"To see players from the start to now, it's amazing," said Vanderham. "We just keep progressing every week.
"If we can make it a challenge for them, then they're learning some life skills," he said, noting they learn such things as perseverance, determination, teamwork and hard work through the program.
"If we can teach them some life skills then it becomes rewarding for them at the end after the struggles. They become efficient at something and feel like they've achieved something," said Vanderham.
Bernie Vanderham
"To see players from the start to now, it's amazing. We just keep progressing every week."
