A poster blitz covered the walls — inspiring, exhorting, educating in large block letters:
"Take a hit... Get involved... See the ice... Take charge."
The 60 students in last week's Hockey Specific Skating School held at Centre ICE also checked out the longer sayings: "Remember the game is supposed to be FUN!" And "Say little when you win, less when you lose." Not to mention the lists: ten stupid things players do, coaches do and parents do.
The hundreds of posters and thousands of words that filled the meeting room walls were the brainchild of educator and hockey coach Ian Robertson of Toronto. In town for his third annual stint at the skating school, the soft-spoken, laconic Robertson brims with wisdom.
"I have 10,000 of them, I could cover this entire arena ten times over," said Robertson of his meticulously lettered, low-tech visuals.
Working with skaters ages 8-14, Robertson described himself as a "decent" hockey player who is proud of being the oldest player (51) in some of his men's leagues.
"That's my NHL," he said. "It's all about having a passion."
His vocation, however, is teaching and Robertson teaches grammar and physieducation in Toronto.
Hockey, however, is his passion: he brings a reverence and joy to the game that he imparts to eager listeners. His talks stop short of a lecture, are not dialogues and lack the flash of a pep talk. Nevertheless, students hang on his words.
"Hockey is not a career, it's not a job: it's something that we do and every time that you play it should be a special moment," said Robertson. "Skating is what makes hockey the greatest game in the world; if it were played on running shoes it wouldn't be that great — it's the stainless steel blade that makes it great!"
Robertson met a kindred soul in Kurt Froese, founder of the Hockey Specific Skating School and a local coach for the past six years. The two connected via Dave Harvey and Froese quickly know he wanted Robertson on his team.
"Ian is a unique person, an interesting, interesting person," said Froese, an area chiropractor who closed his practice for a week to run the school. "He's inspiring to everyone."
One of the few Level 5 coaches certified by USA Hockey in the area, Froese started the school three years ago at the request of parents. With no marketing and only word of mouth buzz, the school grew from 24 the first year to where he had to cut it off at 60 students this summer. About 60 percent of this year's crop of students are travel hockey kids and 80 percent of last year's 28 students returned.
Stirring an hour of Robertson into the daily mix of dry land and on-ice training rounds out the school's approach and philosophy perfectly.
"The off-ice stuff is that your attitude in life determines the quality of your life," said Froese, whose two sons play hockey and attended the school. "So what we really stress is attitude to getting the most out of life."
Attitude drives the school's numeric motto: 1 20 20 9 20 21 4 5. This series of numbers, when decoded by matching letters to numbers with A as 1 and B as 2, spell out "attitude." As an added bonus, they also add up to 100.
"It's hockey and life's magic number," said Froese.
The partnership is filled with mutual admiration. Robertson described Froese, who grew up playing hockey in Canada, as having "magic feet" on ice and a magical approach off of it.
"The first year we did this, I could not believe how much they improved from day 1 to day 5," said Robertson. "You have the greatest instructor in the world right here in Traverse City, his whole philosophy is to challenge them constantly."