The Vickerman Family Happenings

Vancouver Giants Camp - day 1


What an amazing day!  I don’t want to forget what happened -so I’m blogging:) 


WARNING: a lot of rambling ahead…


We arrived at the Ladner Center Ice arena at 3pm  as we were walking in we noticed a player dressed up in slacks etc.  TV was wearing shorts and a polo shirt and immediately we both got a little nervous that he maybe should’ve thought about dressing up but much to our relief all of the other boys were dressed similar to TV:)  we entered the building through a short narrow hallway with exercise bikes lined up along the wall, just past that was several staff members that introduced themselves to TV and then we really didn’t know what to do… until 1 gentleman asked if he had brought his gear (he hadn’t carried it in b/c he wasn’t going on the ice until the next day and had no idea what was gonna happen next) the gentleman suggested that he bring in his gear and put it away in the locker room.  He got his gear and disappeared in the “players only” locker room and left me standing in the short crowded hallway not sure what to do next.  There is a fine line of just letting the boys go and also wanting to know what’s going on and if the parents are involved in anyway… luckily just as we were walking in with his gear another mum (Canadian for mom:)) walked her son in and looked just as clueless as us!  We introduced ourselves to each other and ended up hanging out the entire session - we ended up meeting a couple other “solo” mum’s :) it was great conversation - when we usually come to Canada we hang out with our team so I’ve never got a chance to really visit with other Canadian mums - I love their vocabulary and I have to admit by the end of the evening I thought I sounded a little Canadian - hahaha.  One even mentioned that she was surprised that I was American and didn’t hear much of an American accent -  I was shocked to hear that Americans have an accent - I’d like to hear more about what that is from them - hopefully today)


Ok - sorry - I got off topic!  While TV was putting his gear away and changing into his workout clothes, we were then informed that we were supposed to follow the bus to the high school, sit and listen to the high school coordinator talk about education, ask him questions and then the boys would go out on the track to do some fitness testing… we were then invited in to the locker room to sit next to our boys.  I walked in and felt so incredibly proud of my boy! He was sitting in front of his locker stall dressed in some pretty sweet workout clothes (all of the boys had the same outfit on) and directly behind him was hanging his jersey with his name on it (I’m assuming the jersey is just for him to use for the camp and will stay here but it was a super sweet sight) My heart also broke for him - the look on his face was the look of a super nervous little boy:( I think that he was glad that I got to come and sit next to him - I know I was:)  The staff all introduced themselves to us and explained a little bit about the facility and the weekend.  Afterwards, we had a bit of time before the bus came to take the boys to the high school so, we walked around a bit and introduced Taylor to my new friend and her son (who looked just as nervous as TV!)  we got to talking so much that I glanced around and noticed that we were the only mums left in the locker room! We quickly left and the boys were right behind us heading to the bus…

We arrived at South Delta Secondary School and listened to the high school coordinator speak.  A few interesting things I learned was that we are definitely on the right track with having TV take some online courses this summer to lighten his load later on (it was recommended that the boys “front load” like that) and I asked him what his experience was with USA kids and he only really had 2 options for us: 1 - take all his courses online through a US curriculum or 2 - graduate from BC - not too sure how I feel about those options… we’ll have to pray about it…


At 5:30 the boys went out on the track for some agility  & speed fitness training.  Us mums later snuck out at watched from afar with some other dads:) they ran laps around the track, ladders, jumped over agility hurdles, ran with parachutes and had some races - TV won the sprint race!! Super proud of him!! They had the races amongst age groups (96, 95 & 94 birth years)  Afterwards, they were bussed back to the Ladner center where I picked him up.  He was starving after the 2 hr fitness test! (I was too:))


Day 2


I think that we were both glad that the boys had a little bit of time to bond during the fitness but you could tell that there were still some nervousness…  the boys each had their own session (goalies, defense & forwards)  the forwards was the last session before the scrimmage.  Don Hay was running the practice sessions with help from his son Daryl & Yogi.  TV did good and fit right in with the 94 & 95 - couldn’t tell that he just turned 15!  During their ice session, I had the opportunity to meet and visit with Terry Bonner (head scout and father of GM Scott Bonner).  After the practice session, the boys went back to the Ladner center for lunch.  While they did that I stayed at the rink and had lunch with my new Canadian mum friend;)  The scrimmage started at 1:30 and ended at 3:00  there was only 2 lines so the boys really had to pace themselves and take short shifts… TV did great!  He has a few things to work on but who doesn’t, right?  He did have several shots on goal and 1 finally went in!  He definitely sticks out on the ice with his red helmet and red pants!! 


After the scrimmage, the boys had white spot burgers waiting for them but TV was still hungry so we went and had some pasta - it was a nice dinner - just the 2 of us;) I love my boy :)


Day 3


Unfortunately, I didn’t write down all of the details immediately after the third day and so, it will be brief:)  The boys had 1 more ice time where they did a few drills with Don Hay and then scrimmaged again.  It got pretty physical but not too bad… The boys were then whisked away to quickly change and then taken to  a dry land work out where they ran TONS & TONS of stairs! I didn’t go and watch this workout - I stayed at the Ladner Center to try to get some pics of the “wild” rabbits that hang out and live at the park area there.  Too cuteJ  Taylor did said that he was the first one in his age group to finish and stayed at the head of the pack overall.  When he was done, we headed home for the 6 hr drive!

Here's a few links of video from the Giant's organization about the camp:
http://www.vancouvergiants.com/video/index/id/ead66f86f9333cc94aad10c33bf70fff