The Boston Shamrocks girls hockey program is excited to announce the first year of our Foundations program.

This innovative program partners with town programs or families to help players move up to higher levels of hockey either within the town program and eventually have the skill and ability to make their HS teams at a younger age. It's also an opportunity for new players to get the extra training that they might not otherwise receive in their current program.

Program Highlights:

• Pre-arranged schedule to minimize conflict
• Teams at Mites, Squirts, PeeWees
• 24 week program that runs from September to February
• Games: 15 additional games (through Tournaments and scheduled games)
• 3 Included Tournaments with warm up games for preparation
• Weekly 1.5 hour block training in the StrideRight Skills Intensive Program
• Team practices monthly
• Players are trained by our professional coaches
• Parent coaches can join our mentoring program and are assigned a coach from our staff to help them with their team practices and team development plan throughout their season
• Parent coaches can serve as assistants to the professional coach assigned to their team during the extra games.

This seems like an innovative program. What was the thinking behind it?

Our owner had a child who was spent years on the lower teams with parent coaches and well-meaning volunteers. For those years, he wasn't improving as fast as his friend.

Becoming frustrated seeing his friends improve and move up while he was stuck on the lower teams, he discovered a hockey club with an exceptional skills and player development program that he used as a supplement to his town experience.

Within 3 years he went from "C" to "B" to "A" and then went on to an enjoyable HS career. Even when he made the "A" team he continued to keep his skills fresh. He was able to make his HS team which is something he always wanted to do.

This experience prompted our owner and staff to talk to dozens of parents and town hockey officials about this model and the results of those discussions have led us to formalize the Town+ program for 2023. After a successful first year, we are ready for year 2.

Who is it for?

Players who want a supplemental program for accelerated skills development, to play extra games, and receive professional coaching in order to improve their place in a town hockey program and eventually get ready for HS hockey and midget hockey.

How are rosters developed?

We build each roster carefully to make sure they are playing a level that will help them grow as players. Rosters will be a combination of players from a single town or multiple towns combined.

How does this benefit the town hockey organizations?

Town Hockey is a very important part of a player's development. However, through no fault of their own, Town programs lack the resources for the extra player development needed to drastically improve a players skills, particularly for those not on the top team, or the true resources needed to consistently move all players to higher levels within their town. We see many players who are not the top players are typically the forgotten players and are desperate to improve but have no means or opportunity to do so.

This leaves frustrated families leaving the program to find a way to accelerate their child's development. They typically go to clubs that want your child to commit to them full time and not play town hockey or not prioritize it. Not with us. This program is symbiotic partnership with the town organizations so we they can have someone provide resources to help these lower-end players without worrying that they will be taken out of our program.

Costs

Our base tuition is $2,100 (exclusive of uniforms) and is designed to make it affordable and also support the town program. It includes:

• 24 weeks of skills
• 3 tournaments (published by July 1st)
• Team Practices before each tournament
• Game before each tournament

What about conflicts with our Town or other club schedules?

Last year we found it very unwieldy to coordinate with every town and level to avoid conflicts. This year we will publish our Town+ tournament schedule ahead of time so you have plenty of time to notify your Town program if there is a conflict.

Since we only do 3-4 tournaments, we ask that you take advantage of those as part of our program. We ask you make the commitment because we don't want our tournament teams going without enough players.

How Many Players Do You Enroll?

Since the program is in high demand, we cap each team at 15 skaters and 2 goalies. We offer extra slots as fill-ins only in emergency.