Two professional women's hockey players were in town last week to lead a week-long camp for girls at the Olds Sportsplex.
The Calgary Inferno's Erica Kromm and Jenna Cunningham were the instructors tasked with coaching 34 girls aged eight to 16. It's believed that at least half the campers were local.
A lot of focus was placed on basic skills, with players twisting, turning, skating with pucks on their sticks on the main ice surface.
"Even us, at our level, we're always working on our skating, always working on stickhandling, always working on shooting. As simple as some of the stuff might seem, kids definitely need to work on (it)," said Kromm during a quick break.
"It takes practice and these girls have shown that they're willing to work hard."
When it comes to young players, Kromm finds that their attentions tend to wander. However, it didn't take much to get these kids to refocus.
"I think the kids are really great. I've done a lot of hockey camps … we were talking earlier and we were saying that these kids are soaking in what we're saying," she said.
"All we have to do is tell them once, 'guys focus,' and they're in and they're good to go."
The Inferno play in the five-team Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). They are the defending champions, winners of the 2016 Clarkson Cup, which was brought to the camp on the final day, Aug. 19.
In December, the Inferno and Toronto Furies played a game at the Sportsplex. Kromm said that game turned out to be a crucial point in their season.
"It was actually a pretty big game because we were down 5-1 or something, came back, turned it around and proved to ourselves we could score as many goals as we wanted if we really worked hard and really cared. For us, that game in Olds was a crucial step in going to the Clarkson Cup final and winning," she said.
"It was awesome. It was really great. We had a big crowd, we had music going, it was a lot of fun. It was really fun to get out of WinSport and do something different. We couldn't have asked for a better atmosphere for that game."
That game also led to the partnership between the team and Olds Minor Hockey to hold this camp. The two parties will split proceeds from it.
“Bringing female athletes into Olds is just another tool to make the sport appealing and demonstrate to our girls the level of hockey they can strive for," said Olds' atom and pee wee coordinator Murray Pound in a joint statement with the Inferno.
"We were talking earlier and we were saying that these kids are soaking in what we're saying. All we have to do is tell them once, 'guys focus,' and they're in and they're good to go."ERICA KROMMPLAYER CALGARY INFERNO
