STARBUCK, MB.-- Back in the day, Val Voth was one of Manitoba’ s great volleyball players. From her own personal experience, she understands athletes. She knows the discipline required to be successful and she knows that if athletes want to advance to the next level, they have to dedicate themselves.
These days, Mrs. Voth is one of the teachers at Starbuck Hockey Academy. Every day, she works with young athletes striving to get better, athletes who are working to become better hockey players and better students.
If there is one thing that resonates with a visitor during a trip to Starbuck Hockey Academy it’ s the concept of“ School First.”
“ They work so hard,” said Mrs. Voth.“ Most of the time, they are working above grade level. If they finish their course work, they just keep going. Last year, my Grade 8’ s were mostly doing Grade 9 work and this year, my Grade 7’ s are doing work above grade level.”
“ I can push them hard. Our day is set up in a way that our classes are longer and because I know they’ re busy in the evenings, we use every minute. From the time they get in, to the time they finish, they work hard.”
That pretty much describes the approach of the 73 student-athletes currently enrolled at Starbuck Hockey Academy. Athletes who have traded gym time for ice time, but have not traded a minute of classroom time.
In a nutshell, the Starbuck Hockey Academy is a unique opportunity for students in Grades 5 to 8, both boys and girls, to attend a school“ where strong leadership, integrity, commitment and character are instilled in our young student-athletes.” The focus of the program is“ to engage and challenge the students in their academic learning through their enthusiasm and passion for the game of hockey.”
The school is located in a beautiful small-town setting, just 12 minutes southwest of Winnipeg on Highway 2. The academy offers students one hour daily of Hockey Canada certified professional hockey skills instruction provided by Ketchen Hockey School for 100 school days, between late September and March.
The academy is open to students from outside the Red River Valley School Division catchment, with the majority coming from Winnipeg and surrounding areas. Transportation is available at cluster sites in Winnipeg and meets in Oak Bluff where the students travel to the academy.
“ We have Starbuck School and the hockey academy is a program within Starbuck School,” explained principal Mark Wiehler.“ This year, the hockey academy has a Grade 5 / 6 split, a grade 7 and a grade 8 class. However, the class breakdown will change annually based on enrollment numbers per grade.”
“ The program started 17 years ago, and was the first of its kind in Manitoba. It was started out of a desire to see some hockey being integrated into the day-to-day school program. The students have their regular classes and they spend one hour a day on the ice. We run one hour of ice for 100 days of the school year.”
“ We’ re a certified Hockey Canada Skills Academy. Our program is governed by our agreement with Hockey Canada. There is an academy fee for the students and that fee goes to hiring the coaches, renting the ice and a few smaller expenses like jerseys and skate sharpening.”
“ This isn’ t a team though. We don’ t play games against other teams. The kids all play on their own club teams. We provide 100 hours of extra practice time for individual skill development during the school year. When some students go for their gym times, the Starbuck Hockey Academy students have their ice time. The Hockey Canada Skills Academy goal is for skills development, it’ s not to form a team.”