From 1999- 2004, Tom Ricketts did what many of his peers thought was impossible.  He re-built a university club team and led them to the National Championships.

In his final season as General Manager of the Oakland University Grizzles Hockey Club, Tom's team won the Division II title.  The Grizzles dominated New York University 5-1 in the final game of the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournament.  The Grizzles have since won two more national titles in 2006 and 2007.  Tom was also inducted into the Oakland University Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006. 



After stepping down to be with his family, Tom found himself back on the ice.  Two of his three sons, Joey, 8, and Adam, 6, began playing hockey for the Royal Oak Hockey Association.  Tom immediately took on the role of head coach and hasn't looked back since.  For this reason, Coach Ricketts is our Weplay Coach-of-the-Week.

During his inaugural season coaching, Coach Ricketts and his assistant coach Robb Bolio, lead the "Mini-Mites" to a league playoff title.  Last year they faced a much more competitive league at the "Mite" level.  Now in their third year as a coaching combo, they are hoping to lead the 9U Royal Oak Rebels to another league championship.

Coach Ricketts and Coach Bolio's Keys to Success:

• Make sure the kids have fun

• Build a strong foundation for skills

• Encourage player sportsmanship 

Coach Ricketts recognized his hockey family writing, "Royal Oak Hockey is a great community of coaches and parents and I have a lot of fun being a part of it."

Congratulations Coach Ricketts!

To nominate your coach, send an email with a link to his or her Weplay profile: nominate@weplay.com

All-Sports Vision Training Program
by SlowTheGameDown
Twist Conditioning
Vancouver , BC
Oct. 23rd-24th

Seminar

Learn the tips and tricks to taking your game to the next level.
This seminar by Visual Performance Trainer Ryan Harrison will teach
you what the pros are doing to see their game at a higher level.
It will be a interactive seminar with methods and techniques that
you can  immediately apply to your game.

Training Session
(4-6 athletes per Session)

Each athlete will learn and train the visual side of their game and
improve  their ability to see and process quicker in the game.
Ryan will evaluate each athletes Visual Skills and teach how to
train these skills.  He will also teach valuable Visual Concepts,
including how to see and react more efficiently.  Each athlete will
receive a SlowTheGameDown Sports Vision Training KIT valued @ over
$100.

Email me @ ryan@SlowTheGameDown.com for more info
www.SlowTheGameDown.com

SlowTheGameDown

Trained Athletes and Teams

 

professional teams

Atlanta Braves

Washington Nationals

Cincinnati Reds

Los Angeles Angels

 

collegiate teams

Long Beach State  -  Baseball

Kentucky -  Baseball

Wichita State  -  Baseball

Kansas State  -  Football

Arizona  -  Softball

Ole Miss -  Softball

Florida State  -  Softball

UCLA  -  Softball

 

Individuals

Mike Sweeney  - MLB

John Baker  -  MLB

Carlos  Beltran  -  MLB

Jack Cust - MLB

Carlos Delgado -  MLB

Brad Snyder  -  MiLB

Howie Clark  -   MiLB

Matt Davidson  -  MiLB

Brad Boyer  -  MiLB

Jill Craybas -  WTA

Alexa Glatch  -  WTA

Dan Ellis  -  NHL

Tim Thomas -  NHL

Heath Voss  - Supercross

Nicky  Hayden  -  MotoGP

BJ Penn  -  UFC

And more

 

SlowTheGameDown

has been featured in:

 

USA TODAY

GQ Magazine

Los Angeles Times

Collegiate Baseball

 

Good Morning To You All,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

I will need all the bottle drive money, hole sponsorships, and foursome money NO LATER THAN Sunday, September 27^th .  As I need to headcount and get signs made for the event.    I will give you all the details next week if any volunteers are needed and what they will be working.

 

Thank you for all the support.

This is now up on the Community Pages at WYCD.COM:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

http://wycd.com/pages/443045.php

 

Hope to see the OLP2002 at our Potluck on Sunday September 27th @ 11 am

The greatest challenge I face each fall is during tryouts for the fall team my husband coaches.  This is also the team my son plays on--and to be honest, my husband never accepts the position to coach a team that my son does not belong on.  We play travel hockey.

It may sound rather selfish...I am not trying out for any position, I am not picking kids for a team...why is this such a challenging time for ME ?  During fall tryouts, this is when I learn the lesson of who are truly my friends, and who were simply my "friends for a season".  Each year there may be a few players that do not make the team that my husband coaches.  This is not a personality contest...this is travel hockey, typically at the AA division.  Because of this, talent, determination, skill, and other traits that the coaches feel are necessary are the determining factors that go into the decision making process.  And yet, each fall after the teams have been selected, I learn that there are some people who no longer wish to speak with me, who have rather negative things to say about my husband and his ability to spot talent, and won't even look my way.

As travel hockey parents, we "travel".  We spend a great deal of time on the road with our team families, and getting to know one another and developing strong friendships is usually one of the great benefits of the program!  And yet, I do feel that in many instances, the friendships I make are tentative one's.  I never go into these friendships with this mindset, and perhaps this is why I am always so disappointed when the end result is usually the same by mid-September.  In the end, all I want to say is, "I'm a mom with a player on this team--don't you see that?!"  But all the other moms seem to see is, "she's the coach's wife". 

I am happy to say (I think I am happy, we'll see) that this fall should be different.  My husband has chosen NOT to coach a team this fall as his professional role will require much more travel and less flexibility for coaching.  I am curious to see how the parents react when teams are chosen--whether players do or don't make a particular team--and who will remain my friends from last season...or will once again join the list of friends "for a season", who I regrettably am no longer close to. 

Today there's a mandatory meeting on campus for hockey, I have no idea where on campus it is.. just that's it's somewhere on campus and I'm supposed to arrive 5 minutes early. Tomorrow the real fun begins. We have camp from 9:00 am to 9:30 pm. Even meal breaks we are supposed to go to as a team. That's a heck of alot of team togetherness on the first day! I hurt my wrist badly at work on Thursday, I'm wearing a brace on it. it feels a little better today only because I'm not at work.. hopefully one day is enough rest to get me through camp tomorrow without crying. It's my stickhand wrist so I'm really hoping everyone shoots to the glove side... I'm not sure how well I'll be able to hold on to my stick if it gets hit with a puck :(