Fort Frances High School’s new Hockey Academy is well underway.
Twenty-eight Grade 7s and 8s are among the first to participate.
They are spending two hours a week on the ice with an added dry-land training compnent.
Lead instructor Jeff Ogden says it’s purely a skills development initiative.
“The idea is to keep kids engaged in school by incorporating something that they enjoy outside of the school,” says Ogden. “So by bringing that in we’re hoping that, overall, kids will be engaged in the school portion of their day more.”
Most of the students already play hockey and have a variety of different skill levels.
Grade 7 student Landon Lowes is excited about taking part.
“I wanted to be part of this Hockey Academy program because I think it very cool that instead of your regular gym class you get to go to t he rink and play hockey.
Ellayna Kabel, a grade 8 student, is also happy with the program.
“Because I like hockey and I want to get better at it.”
Ogden says students were asked to set goals they like to achieve in the program.
It will run until the March break.
The goal for the High School is to expand the program into other grades in the future.
