Czech Hockey Camp

The past 6- months or so, there has been a stagnancy in Andrew's play. Surely, he has attended 2-Gary Tan camps, and 1 Indonesian hockey tournament in Bintaro,…but the development of his game has been a direct reflection of at home disturbances. Let us say, that the direct correlation has not only affected his hockey, but his personal growth, his school, and even his classical guitar playing. So, it isn't just the development of hockey that halted. In other words,…he's a boy FIRST, and issues outside of hockey took a front seat. As Andrew is trying to find his way through (things), we have decided to enter Andrw into this winter's Czech International Hockey Camp in Nymburk, Czech Republic.

Andrew met new hockey buddy at airport in Prague

Lukas Tramba and his dedicated staff are going to train Andrew (and the other boys) and we certainly hope that he learns the game better, makes friends and has a great time.

We will keep everyone informed during this Nymburk trip and hopefully this encourages other boys to come join Andrew next year.

The Boys Are Catching Up To Andrew

As Andrew is working on parts of his skating skills it is quite apparent the last month and a half that some of the boys have gotten better and in some parts of the game (stick handling, puck handling) have actually surpassed Andrew. Andrew, the past few weeks has been taking lessons from an American: Jayson Daze Blatt. He is helping Andrew with his stick handling and skating. Jayson has a very calm demeanor and Andrew likes learning from Jayson. With this week as an "off week", and Andrew focusing on exams and guitar, he'll get back on the ice next week. It is now over a year since Andrew took up this wonderful sport, and he absolutely loves it. I don't have to push Andrew to go on the ice….just to focus on improving his ability. The next few months will let us know a bit more of Andrew's growth and desire. Do they match? Is his desire as strong as his growth? We shall see. But, in the meantime, Andrew has moved back from Bintaro to Taman Anggrek due to Jayson and due to the fact that WE,…the parents are tired of being TIRED. So, let's see if this move works. Talk to you soon.

Gary Tan-Hockey Camp-#2….In The Books

Whew…..only 2 days this time. So, was it just as tiring for the parents? YOU BET. I was so exhausted after last night, I could barely see straight. But, it was all worth it when you see a smile on your 9 year old boy from "ear to ear".

Let's go over GT2-2014 (GaryTan Camp #2 for 2014…easier to write).

There were 15 to 21 boys that showed up. 21 in the evening both days. 15-16 for the morning sessions, and slightly more than that for the off ice training.

As the Camp kicked off, I was at home working while Natalie and Andrew made their way from Kuningan to Bintaro at 6am. I didn't get a whole lot of what was being done (by way of sms reports or photos from Natalie), other than saying the camp was 1/2 of last time, and that everyone looks "asleep".

Post by Giovanni Barricelli.

By the afternoon, people looked a little more refreshed. During the "off ice training" Gary did a lot of stick handling drills. VERY much needed. Then around 5:30 the boys were released and Andrew had to run downstairs and get ready for his 1st private lesson with Gary. He worked on controlling his speed by proper body movement. Andrew skates by using so much force…in other words, he works too hard to skate fast. You could see that his drills were helping Andrew. He needs to continue skating like that. A late break for dinner Then back on the ice again as the boys spent a little "fun time" playing on the ice before their 8:30 evening session. Ice time is so important for kids. Friendships are developed, skating is strengthened. It's a wonderful time for the kids. The evening session was ALL drills. By the time 10:30 rolled along we saw 21 tired boys. We raced home to do a double load of wash and to get some sleep. (3 hours for me and 5 hours for Andrew). I returned with Andrew the next day by Taxi. We got to the rink well before 7 am. To my surprise, there were boys there well before 7:30. Very few came late. Only 15 showed up for day 2 early morning session. Skating drills, puck handling and shooting drills. Nothing escaped these kids. Gary,as Andrew so poignantly pointed out, "PUSHED US more than the first camp". He actually liked Camp #2 better than Camp #1. They started camp at 7:30 on this day rather than 8am. So, morning session was over by 9:30. All I could think about was where I could lay down and "crash out" for an hour for I was exhausted. Andrew?…he wanted to skate around with the other boys and play on the iPad with Jeff and Kevin and his new buddies. Perfect opportunity for me to find a corner somewhere to sleep………ahhhhhhh, to close my eyes. When I woke up, I had a brief conversation with Gary and the other parents. What I realized is the parents who had opinions that were voiced to me and Nat, were all of a sudden either not present at the meeting, or they didn't back me up when I spoke. Result? Ideas got "shot down" and "downgraded to…'that's not important'. " You go around telling the parents the past 2-3 week you seek to have a "top 8 forwards…top 15 to go to Malaysia",…and the best we got out of that was there actually is no reward system for doing well….We'll simply bring everybody from Bintaro and Jakarta to make up a team,...and we'll spend millions of Rp so the kids can play 2-4 minutes? Wait,..there's more. Then they are going to seek sponsorship for this event,..and I would have been one of the parents to sponsor this team? I'll have to double think that now. Andrew was so excited,"I made the team". It took a whole lot of nerve for me to keep quiet, for I wanted to say, "Yeah,…so did everybody else." But, I didn't want to crush his excitement. In addition, I had a meeting with Gary. He said that Andrew acts differently when he knows that I am watching. I understand what he means…however, what Gary didn't understand was,…I wasn't watching Andrew primarily. I was watching Gary. What's he teaching? How are the kids responding? I wasn't watching in an over-judgemental manner,…just observing. I even observed his correcting of Andrew's misbehavior. I was actually pleased to see that. However, getting back to the point of Gary and his consultation with me. What did I pick up on that conversation? Gary thinks I'm an overbearing parent? Not sure what else to think. Oh well,… let that roll off my shoulder. NEXT... Afternoon session…..bring on the fog. The fog was gone for 1 1/2 days and it returned in the evening of the final day of practice. Same heavy hitting of drills. By the end of that session, I was more eager to go home. Players were all given notice to be at practice on Wednesday for TEAM practice. The GOOD: All the kids felt wonderful about camp and where their team is heading. The BAD: Not a whole lot. (However, I am exhausted today). The INDIFFERENT: Where's the TEAM heading? WE'll see in the next few weeks to months in order to see how Indonesia (especially Bintaro) responds. More camps? Tournaments?

Post by Giovanni Barricelli.

Camp #2 2014 Starts Saturday

Last Sunday our family made a trip to KL. During this trip, Andrew was able to go to Sunway Pyramid Mall and play at their ice rink. When we first got there, we thought maybe the rink would be like the 2 in Indonesia and be upstairs. But, to our surprise it was on the basement level. As we looked on to the ice, we saw big puddles of water because of the hundreds of people on the ice without a Zamboni running over it. By 8:30, that Zamboni made a good whip around the ice or two,…and presto, the ice was back to normal.

However, I'm getting ahead of myself. Andrew was able to meet a boy there named Austin that he quickly became friends with. It was nice to see that he was making friends with the Malaysian boys.

Andrew with his new buddy Austin just before taking the ice.

Andrew thoroughly enjoyed his experience. What I, as a parent got to see, was just how far behind Andrew was in comparison to the other boys.  This may be near the start of his 9th month of skating, but 7 months of it were simply learning the basics of skating. 

These boys are learning stick handling, cutting moves, toe drags, shooting and carrying the puck in proper body zones…..and much much more.

This Saturday, Andrew will head to Bintaro for his 2nd camp with Gary Tan. We look forward to what  Gary has to bring. Andrew is going to have to do a few changes in his equipment. Shorten the stick, change the T-Blades to the normal runners,….simple things like that. We'll see what else the coaches recommend for Andrew as the two days progress. Plus, Andrew has 2 private sessions with Gary. Skating, skating and more skating. In addition, we know that Andrew has to get better at his stick handling. Even Andrew will tell you it isn't very good. This should be a good weekend.

Bintaro Jaya XChange hockey practice

Andrew's birthday was actually friday, but we were celebrating his birthday with his new teammates this Sunday. Why? Well, a patient of mine designed a birthday cake much larger than I had thought it would be, and when I say it was huge,…it was HUGE.

Andrew's birthday cake

Post by Giovanni Barricelli.

There are usually about 8 kids that show up to the Sky Rink in Jakarta, but there was about 26 kids and 5 instructors at Bintaro. The instructors were pretty much following a protocol. It looked a lot like Gary Tan's protocol. This is what the players need. They need this weekly systematic format in order to get better and improve.

Andrew ready to hit the ice.

The coach said that shortly he will be selecting his "traveling squad" to Malaysia for the Jr. tournament in August. We hope that Andrew is on this team. I think he personally deserves to be on it. Hopefully there isn't any "politics" behind their decision making…yes, even in Indonesia, we have this going on. Haykal, Edbert, Refa, Andrew and a few other boys (Arthur, Dominic, Kevin, etc…), should be on this team. We definitely are going to allow Andrew to stay at Bintaro. It is a much better environment there. Better coaching, more players, and he'll improve much faster.

Andrew Tries NEW Skates to improve Feet Speed

We are off to Bintaro Jaya Xchange today to see what Andrew can do with his new skates. We got Andrew a pair of GRAF Supra G35 Jr. skates…with a twist…we got him the T-Blade system. What we are hoping to accomplish here is to get Andrew to improve his speed, his cross over speed, and to move his feet faster in all directions.

Graf Supra G35 Jr Ice Hocky Skates w/ T-Blade

In addition, Graf skates were chosen because I think this will help with with "feet fatigue" due to his flat feet. You can actually see the arch inside the boot. NICE!!!

Post by Giovanni Barricelli.

HE ABSOLUTELY LOVED THEM!!! He said he was able to cut the ice much smoother, and in his words, "the skates do whatever I want them to do". Nice!

Andrew Participated In First Hockey Camp @ Bintaro Jaya Xchange

This was a very long weekend. Hockey was the central theme of the entire weekend. Gary Tan of Malaysia came to Jakarta per request of many to help a starved hockey program. Andrew got to get his "first taste" of real hockey. He has been wanting this for a long time, and because of my new job adventure where I just recently quit my job and need to save money,…I am unable to send Andrew to the Czech Republic for summer hockey camp. His cost for 3 full days was very reasonable. It was 1,400,000 Rp cash. What was unexpected was the amount of people that showed up for this camp. Over 30 people signed up to his camp. Even Gary himself was surprised. The late night start with horrendous traffic didn't slow anyone down. Everyone was there. 9:45pm on May 2nd was the beginning of hockey for over 70% of these young boys and Andrew was part of that strong percentage. Gary separates the little kids and the big kids. The little kids are chasing a soccer ball and wouldn't you know it,…Andrew gets into it with Joshia. Now, there was a parent spreading rumors that Andrew started this whole mess….WRONG. I have the entire sequence on video. Andrew didn't start anything. This is a little incident, but it is fun to show you the competitive spirit Andrew has. The problem is that my girlfriend hears about Andrew all the time from the other parents. "Andrew is too rough". "Andrew is too loud or too mean." (okay, I will admit that we have had to clip his wings when it comes to being too loud, or shaking a stick at someone if he gets angry, but of late, I don't see him heavily checking anyone, or misbehaving. Not really. Remember folks, this is hockey. You want your little kids to grow up wearing a dress go figure skating!!!. Anyway,…that was the last of Andrew and his tough attitude. Coach Gary pulled player-x and Andrew aside (an incident I didn't see) and told them to get along or he would take them off the ice. I had a talk with Andrew that he needs to make a GOOD impression,…not a bad lasting one. This attitude adjustment he changed immediately. He didn't want to be punished. Well,…the strong coaching and the kids listened to Gary. It was wonderful!

Post by Giovanni Barricelli.

Andrew went home that day exhausted. He could barely move. We got home by nearly 12:30 and had to get right back up at 5:30. I was exhausted as well. 5 hours of sleep. My girlfriend and I took cat naps all day long all weekend long in order to catch up on any sleep. The drills were very heavy on the second day with an additional off ice training in between. Whew did Andrew's equipment…and himself stink by the end of the day. I was forced to stay up and wash 3 loads of wash and dry them before I hit the bed. That left me only 3 hours of sleep.

Post by Giovanni Barricelli.

Post by Giovanni Barricelli.

Day 3 was a KILLER. Andrew had practice in the morning. Then he had to fly on over to Taman Anggrek for some dancing thing performed by the junior hockey players, then rush back for the final practice. This was killer on everybody. We got to meet hockey parents just like us (well, maybe not just like us, for I'm a bit biased), who were very enthusiastic parents and had absolutely lovely children. Also got to meet a few adults who participated in the camp. They were exhausted, as well. Imagine being that exhausted and so happy to be so.

Post by Giovanni Barricelli.

Post by Giovanni Barricelli.

Gary Tan and his Indonesian Coaching Team

Andrew waiting to enter the ice.

Indonesian Hockey Camp 4 May 2014

The dancers at T.A. between hockey camp sessions

Gary stayed on Monday to sharpen players skates. He said , "over 70% have never sharpened their skates before".

After the 3rd day was complete, it was agreed upon by the parents and Gary that he would come to Indonesia MONTHLY for 3-5 days. THIS is exactly what the kids need if they wish to someday compete on an international level. We are honored for Gary and his team to do so. Any issues?…The fog. The fog was so high that the kids couldn't play a final game. (I do think they would have loved it, but they were so exhausted anyway. No big deal.) Need to stay at a hotel if we do this again. The travel was killer. Other than that, I didn't see too many other obstacles.