Last Friday, 17th February 2012, the Kilkenny City Storm’s Juniors travelled to Cork for a fun day of hockey. 22 Junior Storm members met up with the Cork Wolfpack Junior Ice & Inline Hockey Club at the Little Island Sports Complex in Little Island, Co. Cork.
Things kicked off at 10:00 am with the kids brought through some warm-ups followed by some skills training, both with and without the puck. Later, they took part in some passing and shooting drills and finished up the morning session with some penalty shootouts.
After a quick lunch break, the juniors were given a run down and demonstration of the rules, regulations and penalties by the Coaches of both clubs and also the IIHA President, William Fay, who had made the trip to Cork to support the Junior InLine Hockey Day.
After letting their lunch settle, the juniors prepared themselves to play some games. First, the Storm’s U10s faced off against the Wolfpack U10s with both clubs having 2 lines out and sending their 6 – 8 year olds out on the first shift to play against each other and then their 8 – 10 year olds out on the second shift to play each other. Then it was the U14s turn with the coaches using the same system to keep the sides as even and as enjoyable as possible for the juniors. Each game was 2 x 15 minute periods and both age groups got in 2 games on the day. The day finished up at 4:00 pm with all the juniors receiving certificates for the day.
A huge thank you must go to the IIHA and IHI for supporting the Junior InLine Hockey Day and for their ongoing support of both Junior Clubs. Thank you must also go to the Cork Wolfpack Junior Ice & InLine Hockey Club and their Coach, Victor O’Brien, for hosting such a fantastic day as well as to the Kilkenny City Storm Junior Ice & InLine Hockey Club and their coach, Paul Cummins, for making the trip down along with all the other senior club members for helping out with the coaching on the day.
A special thank you also goes to Mick Cummins for all the photographs on the day and for putting together a promotional video of the day which can be viewed on both clubs’ facebook pages and on YouTube.
To view the video from the day go to this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mnkJ8bTzgm4