I recently spent a long weekend at the Weekend Warriors hockey camp in Morristown, NJ. They boast 0 players from the camp made it to the NHL which always made me laugh. It’s a 4 days weekend camp designed to help you suck less. I would very much like to suck less so its perfect! A few teammates had gone before and raved about it. Over the course of the weekend we skate six, two hour sessions, (12 hours total) get direct instruction from coaches with some pretty serious qualifications. I tried to come in with no expectations, and an eagerness to learn.
The Coaches
The coaching staff blew me away. Most were former pro or semi-pro players and high-level skating coaches. What stood out wasn’t just their knowledge, but their patience. They were humble, willing to work with you until you got something right, and quick to encourage good effort while still being constructive when you needed correcting. Which sometimes was often.
That carried off the ice too. At social events, coaches pulled up a chair at our table, talked strategy, and swapped stories from their own playing days.
Individual Attention
I found it very encouraging how much individual attention you received even in a group of 40. We did both full group drills as well as breakout group drills. If you were a bit off on any of the drills, one of the coaches would pull you aside and show you how to fix it. There was one drill I just could not get. While the group kept working on it, Coach Rob worked with me one-on-one until it clicked.
Private 5
One of my favorite parts of the camp was the Private 5. Outside of the individual attention, you get five minutes with the coach of your choice to work on anything, whether it was covered in a session or not. Coming into camp, I wanted to work on quick starts, which was covered in detail. So I brought a more advanced, specific skill to work on for the Private 5. With 40 skaters and a handful of coaches, there’s only so much private time to go around, and five minutes is about as much as you can expect without stretching the coaches too thin. I would have loved to keep practicing what he showed me, but I understand you only have time for the appetizer version. I can take home what I learned and keep practicing on my own.
Stride Analysis
Another standout part of the camp was the stride analysis. Sam filmed us skating and stopping, then broke us into small groups to review the footage together. Other than some minor tweaks, I learned that I don’t do Minnesota starts…. and also what a Minnesota start was.
Watching other skaters’ videos alongside my own was interesting to see. You start to identify what you’re doing right compared to them, and what you’re doing wrong. Since we had an ice session shortly after, you could ask the coach to help you with it as well.
As the camp went on, you do get slightly better at skating but it’s not for the reason you think. It finally clicks how the individual skills we’d been drilling actually translated into hockey. A coach would set up a drill and tell us to use a specific stride or technique from an earlier lesson. Everything was connected.
Chalk Talks
I really enjoyed the chalk talks. It was interesting to see breakdowns of different scenarios from real pro games, good habits to build, bad ones to avoid. My favorite was the analysis of our own scrimmage. It’s not often you get to watch “game tape” of yourself unless you have a LiveBarn subscription or someone filming your games. Not only rewatching the scrimmage but having an analysis as well. Seeing it from an outside perspective showed us the good and the bad, especially when they pointed out situations that we actually did in drills. Next time we ran a drill, I could picture the real game situation behind it.
The Players
Another one of my favorite parts of the camp was the other players themselves. Everyone was happy, engaged, and eager to learn, no matter where they came from or what level they played at. We shared our own tips and tricks during drills. We even scouted the other team before the scrimmage, taking it far more seriously than a weekend camp probably called for.
Off the ice, we swapped stories about our home teams and leagues, hobbies, how we each got into hockey. By the end of the weekend I’d made real friends, not just camp acquaintances, and we’re already talking about putting a team together for a tournament.
12 Hours of Skating
You’re essentially packing a season’s worth of hockey into one long weekend. I was nervous going in, but honestly, it flew by. By skate six, I was ready for more. You will get sore and tired, but at least everyone’s in the same boat. We do dynamic warmups before every session and once you get moving the soreness kind of goes away (that may have been the adrenaline). There’s so much going on between skates, meals, and chalk talks that you don’t have time to feel tired until you hit the bed at night.
Improvements
Skill Levels Breakdowns
Like our hockey skills, there’s always room for improvement. I will give credit where it’s due. It’s incredibly hard to run a camp like this with everyone at different skill levels. The coaches want everyone to feel like they are learning something, whether you started this year or, like myself, have been playing 15+ years.
At one point we broke into four groups based on “skill level” for drills. It’s self-reported, and I chose the most challenging group to really try to push myself. It was great to compete against people at a similar, or in my case, slightly higher level.
My biggest suggestion: sort players by skill level earlier, and more deliberately. Some players would benefit from hands-on basic skating instruction, others from refining skills they already have. Some were solid skaters but needed work on strategy and positioning. With five coaches on staff, each could take a group and rotate based on what that group actually needs. They do send a survey beforehand asking what you want to work on, but it’s hard to know how “honest” or accurate your self-assessment was until you’re actually on the ice.
The good thing is there’s no secret sauce to skating. A crossover looks the same whether you’re a beginner or an elite pro. The difference is just that pros do it better. Probably a lot better, but who’s looking?
Reps
My other note is repetition. With a large group and limited ice time, some drills I only got to run once, and 12 hours disappeared fast. Tighter skill grouping would help here too. I’d rather spend thirty minutes on one drill with real reps than get a quick taste of ten different ones.
That being said, I think the coaches did do a really excellent job at fulfilling the needs of not only the group as a whole but at the individual level as well.
Final Thoughts
Would I do it again? Absolutely. I’ve already signed up for next year. I picked up small tweaks I can’t wait to try in my next games, and there’s always more to learn no matter what level you’re at. Next year I’ll come in with new questions and new things to work on.
Beyond the hockey, it was just a blast getting to know new people and hanging out with the coaches off the ice.
A Few Tips
Bring a high-powered fan and disinfectant spray. You get one jersey and one pair of socks for all six skates (you can request extra socks), and by the end they’re pretty rank. A battery-powered fan definitely helped a lot. Some people just left their gear outside in the sun to dry between sessions on days we had two skates.
Pack plenty of base layers. I learned this from tournaments, bring a few sets so you can always put on something fresh and dry. I brought six and was glad for every dry one.
Sharpen your skates, or bring a portable sharpener. I brought my Sparx machine and used it constantly. The ice was in great condition, which helped too.
Take advantage of the off-ice events. The social stuff is where the trip really comes together. Optional stretching sessions helped with the soreness more than I expected.
Push hard. Coach Rob said this on day one, and he meant it. It’s okay to fall, nobody cares or laughs. If anything, falling more helps. Get a little uncomfortable and actually try to learn something.
Want to try a camp?
Weekend Warriors runs camps in about 15 cities across the U.S. each season, from Morristown, NJ and Shelton, CT to Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, Lake Tahoe, CA, and Austin, TX.
You can check future camp locations and dates and register directly at weekendwarriorshockey.com
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