Andrew Preparing For Skills Competion @ Bintaro

Jayson Daze Blatt, the coach of the Jakarta team,…has his challenges set ahead of him.

1) His biggest challenge is to not let parents intimidate him into HOW he should run his team.

2) Visa issues (just like all of us Expats), it can be tedious and quite eventful (to say the least).

3) Getting children motivated enough to play. Some will start,…then quit within a few weeks or months.

4) Encouraging a new batch of kids to play? Where do they get the equipment from? How do they avoid traffic to come to practice 2 days a week?

I'm certain there are more challenges, but these are the 'striking' challenges…especially #4 and #5.

Getting hockey equipment isn't as easy as going to your local pro-shop and buying them. There is a pro-shop in Bintaro Jaya Xchange run by Sherly who does her best to supply the shop with decent equipment and supplies. But, …..be prepared to pay double of what you would normally pay in the States (maybe, even more than double).

Fortunately, I have an entire setup for a youngster who wishes to play. However, that interest since May for Andrew's old equipment has been ZERO.

We are not merely going to give it away, but we will certainly offer a fair deal so that a parent isn't overwhelmed with the initial expense.

Andrew has been taking a few private lessons since his return from Nymburk, but what has peaked his interest, is the Skills competition, similar to the NHL's version prior to the All-Star game.

Andrew has bene practicing and we shall see how he does. I'm not really worried about him doing well or not well. That isn't going to alter his progress, what I am interested in , is the fairness of the event. How much political nonsense goes into this?

There is supposed to be a tournament in Hong Kong (I believe it is in May), but there are a lot of factors on whether Indonesia should participate.
* quality of the team
* the coaches
* cost
* is it worthwhile?

At this time, it appears that Gary Tan isn't going to be doing any other camps in Jakarta. I don't know what the reasoning is behind this, but the boys did really well with this camp. If Gary isn't the coach, hopefully they can replace him rather than simply eliminate it from their spring and summer repertoire.

Skills Competition at Bintaro will be on the same day.

Czech International Hockey Camp Was A Success

As Andrew wraps up his first international hockey experience, we have learned a few things.
* This camp was more vital to his growth "as a young boy", than it was to hockey.
* He absolutely adores hockey.
* He is very sociable and loves making friends.
* He is not TOO far behind the European boys, despite only skating for 15 months.

Lukas Tramba and his group of very qualified coaches, taught 16 10-U boys (oh…1 young lady)

to play the game of hockey.  5 of the days (except for the initial Grand Opening Day and the last day), the children could be on the ice for up to 3 times. Morning session, Afternoon session and late night Free Ice time. Wow,…that's a lot of ice time. 

This enjoyable experience allowed Andrew to do a few things.

* experience SNOW…he's from a warm tropical country,…snow and ice are foreign to him.

* experience a different country and a different culture. 

* allowed Andrew to have a break from the hectic Jakarta life he's been experiencing of late.

* Allowed his mother (Natalie) to have a nice solid break…as well as getting to see her son succeed at something that he enjoys.

Andrew has areas of growth, and it was shown on his report card. 

*Average skating and his hands with the puck are average.

I think a small percentage of that problem were his T-Blades. Wonderful for zipping around the ice, but terrible for hockey maneuvers. Due to the little amount of blade, if the cuts aren't perfect, it will knock Andrew off his edges quickly. We would see that throughout the year where he was falling due to trying to stop in the corners. Bamm! There he'd go. Falling. Well, lucky for this little boy, he was given a wonderful X-Mas present in Nymburk…Bauer MX3 skates. (Damn those things are expensive). With continual practice on ice and roller blading, by next winter, he should be another level ahead. (please don't grow out of those skates too soon!!!)

Certificate and Report Card

The next 3 days Andrew will get to experience Prague with mom. I want him to soak it all in. I'm certainly hoping he has another level of "drive" when he returns. He has already told the boys,… "See you next winter".