This past weekend we hosted the third annual Weekend Warriors Adult Hockey Camp in Sun Valley, Idaho. Attendees included high school best friends John and Colin, originally from Maryland, who met up to have a mini-reunion and play some hockey. We had a 72-year-old Vietnam War veteran, Phil, from Chicago reviving a dormant adult hockey passion. We even had something I’ve never seen before, a husband-and-wife goaltending tandem from nearby Boise, Idaho!
I am not sure who had more fun at the Overspeed Hockey Weekend Warriors camp, the attendees or the staff. I give the campers a lot of credit for coming from various locations as far away as Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and Long Island, to put themselves out there to learn new skills or to sharpen up old ones. Most of our attendees play in an adult hockey league in their hometowns and several play on more than one team. Some were inspired to resurrect their hockey careers, some to try hockey for the first time, mainly because their kids play.
I think adult sports camps are just what many of us Has-Beens, Used-to-Bes, WannaBes and Never-Weres need to activate our inner child. On my own bucket list is to attend a golf camp with my wife and/or kids. Think about it. You get to spend quality time with family or friends swapping old war stories while learning new skills and creating new friendships and new memories.
It’s been a year since my wife, Heidi, and I retired and made the difficult decision to move from one SC (State College) to another SC (South Carolina). As with any major life milestone, there were equal parts excitement and trepidation. Most people would agree that change is never easy, especially when you retire from work and move from a place that’s been home for 40 years.
We have learned that being active and attempting new activities is paramount for a successful retirement. It’s never too late to pick up a new hobby or activity, or to revive an old passion. For some it’s learning a new skill, traveling to a bucket-list destination or donating time to a worthy cause. My wife and I are very passionate about our new church, playing pickleball and trying new activities. It’s healthy, mentally and physically.
I grew up around baseball and competitive slow-pitch softball in my younger days in Pittsburgh. I continued playing competitive softball until my mid-20s and then recreational and church softball until my early 40s. A shoulder injury and spending more time with my own kids’ activities put an end to my days as a softball player until this past January when I picked up senior softball on the weekends in Sun City, South Carolina. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed the game and now it’s a regular part of my activities once again. The new friendships alone make it worth it and so are some of the hysterical moments watching myself and others try to recapture the glory days of our youth.
I’ve been very fortunate to work with long-time hockey friends from Overspeed Hockey (based in Newport, Rhode Island) here in this paradise called Sun Valley, Idaho for the past six years. Overspeed Hockey owner Toby O’Brien, former coach and general manager of the Johnstown Chiefs, assembles a group of instructors to host camps and clinics at the Campion Ice House in Hailey, Idaho, where his son Chad is the director of hockey. This year’s staff includes two of my former Penn State Icer’s assistant coaches, Matt Bertani and Ty Newberry. Another staff member, Kirk Golden, was roommates in junior hockey with one of my former PSU players, Luke DeLorenzo. Pat Norton, the current head coach at Tufts University in Boston, played college hockey with Mark McGinn, who I coached at Culver Academy.
One of the best parts of our adult camp was just getting to know the participants on a personal level between sessions and at the social activities. After our last Saturday on-ice session, we had a pizza social at Wiseguy Pizza Pie and all got to talk about our hockey experiences and learn more about family and careers. Seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces made the whole experience that much better, especially seeing the camaraderie spill over to the on-ice sessions where they encouraged each other to get better while having fun.
Janea and Byron Walker were the goalies in our Weekend Warriors Adult Camp. It was so much fun watching their interaction with our goalie instructor, Evi Johnson, and the competitiveness each displayed trying to outdo their spouse. Janea grew up in a hockey-loving family in Denver while Byron grew up in Twin Falls. They have two children who played youth hockey as, you guessed it, goalies. Talk about investment of time and money!
Janea graduated from Utah State with a degree in corporate communications and was in a bit of a stifling corporate job when she decided to give it up and become a banquet chef for a hotel. Byron graduated with a degree in construction management from Boise State and is a project manager for a large structural steel fabricator in Boise. They play in separate adult leagues in Boise but occasionally sub and end up playing against each other. Byron told me they call those “date nights” and all their friends think they’re nuts.
Colin Slark left D.C. years ago and became a ski enthusiast working at some of the top resorts in the Rockies. He now calls McCall, Idaho home. John Ferris just moved to Salt Lake City from the D.C. area and is a video/media producer and digital strategist. The high school buddies grew up playing mostly street hockey and their shared passion for hockey brought them together in Sun Valley to catch up on old times while developing their skills. I spent a good part of our camp getting to know John and Colin and their enthusiasm for hockey. Seeing them getting better as players made the camp that much more enjoyable for me.
Kathy Griswold is a Massachusetts native who now calls Long Island home. She has a degree in electrical engineering and an MBA, but her real passion is hockey. She is a head coach in the town of Oyster Bay and a Level 5 USA Hockey-certified coach who recently spoke on mindfulness at the NHL Coaches Association Annual Clinic. Kathy has a passion for helping women t pursue careers in hockey and to improve her own game.
We’ve been so fortunate to work with the Sun Valley Suns Youth Hockey Association for the past six years. The girls team won the Idaho state championship and the boys U-18 team won the USA Hockey Tier II National Championship in Minneapolis.
The next two weeks we get to work with kids 5-18 at the Campion Ice House. The odds of any of the kids making a living playing hockey are not very good. But we are teaching them valuable life skills right alongside their hockey skills. We are helping to grow their passion and love for the game of hockey that they can continue to play the rest of their lives.
So, whether your passion is hockey, softball, soccer, golf, pickleball, cooking, art, woodworking or even writing a book, challenge yourself to get outside your comfort zone and learn new skills or sharpen old ones. For those would-be weekend warriors who want to continue to play a sport, get on the internet and find a camp, clinic or academy for you and your family and friends. You’ll get better at your chosen activity, and you’ll have a blast in the process!
