Beauties, Beasts & the Belt v.6.0

“Its time to aim top cheddar and put away the cheese whiz,

If you’re not getting better everyday then someone else is!”

We kicked things off in style with a little Twitter #TwistRap2013 and brought it hard all summer now it’s time to look back. Wait, what? Summer is over? Wow, that was fast. That means is now officially our favourite time of year; HOCKEY SEASON!

Congratulations to all of the athletes who put in the time, the energy and effort this summer. Now it is time to show the coaches, parents and yourselves how you have evolved as athletes, what you have learned as hockey players and how much better you are after the summer.

Each year we are humbled by the players who put their trust in us and driven to make sure we get better as coaches. It is a privilege for our Twist Whitby coaching team to work with such amazing athletes and such great people. You are all Twist Beauties!

We had an amazing roster of athletes on and off the ice in all of our groups from Pee Wee to Pro. Aside from conflicts about who has the best flow, whether to play Country music, hip-hop or Miley (whatever category that is?!) during the workouts, a certain player who will remain nameless (BMc) remembering to bring shoes every day, and hunting for someone to translate Russian for us, everything went off without a hitch.

Check out the 2013 High Performance Camp Slide Show to see all the Twist Beauties in action!

Injuries, Sminjuries

With the exception of an ill-timed dental incident, a couple of wayward playful punches and a few tight hips and creaky shoulders, this summer was by far our healthiest in terms of accidents, injuries and other health issues (Knock on Sherwood). This can be partly attributed to the experience and connection of the athletes and coaches, the detail and focus of the small group coaching (most groups had a 1:4 coach to athlete ratio), the integration off on and off-ice programming, the daily pre-gen and re-gen work and the addition of Oshawa Generals Athletic Therapist Matt Leech to our regular camp programming to help with specific issues along the way.

Thanks to our coaches and our athletes, there is no doubt that our 6^th summer in Whitby was our best summer so far in every way.

Every athlete worked hard. Every coach gave their energy, knowledge and expertise. Every day. Everyone got a little better. Every day. Everyone battled to take home the coveted BELT title for hardest worker of the year and get their name carved in the annals of Twist History. Unfortunately, there can be only one.

The Beauties and the Beasts

Before we get to the real hardware we’d be remiss if we did not take a minute to single out a few unique characters that help keep smiles on everyone faces every day; sometimes intentionally and sometime accidentally. The Twist Beauties.

Beauty – BEW-TEE (noun): Describes a person (generally a hockey player) that is pretty frickin’ amazing, does unique things for no apparent reason and is, most often, oblivious to their own level of Beautician-ism. TWIST Beauties are well liked, may or may not be talented but always work hard and love to have fun.

(adjective)*can be used as an adjective as well: Eg. “Beauty flow, Bro.”

The Beasts: There may be only one true belt winner in every group but there were a lot of beasts. Beast show up; every day, on time, ready to train. Beasts don’t complain about drills or lifts they don’t like, they put their hard hats on and get to work. Beasts come to Twist focused on getting better every minute of every day.

Not everyone can win the belt, but everyone can be a Beauty and a Beast. In no particular order this year’s Twist Beauties and Beasts were:

All of the Pro Group (straight up killas) with special shoutout to Misty for being Jesse’s boyfriend; the Dunn Bros for making the drive in from Lindsey for an 8am workout 5 days per week; McCann (fuelled byBROtein and CarBROhydrates), Brats, Scott; (Erin, Darelle, Michaela & Ally – the She Beasts!); Ariel; all the Matts, Kyler, Gauldy, Son of Bear; Professor Emerson (who would have been an odds on belt favorite if it wasn’t for a wayward clapper off the thumb); and Sarris (not just because he managed to tie the Plyo Jump height that Morgan Riley did at Twist Vancouver.

If you were not mentioned it does not mean you are not a beauty or a beast it may mean you won THE BELT (see below) or it just means you need to step your game up just a little more next summer!

Coaches can be Beauties Too

Before I unveil the season long Belt winners I’d like to personally thank all of our Twist Whitby coaching team for their dedication, passion and energy every day. We challenged the coaches to take the individual level of coaching for each athlete to a whole new level this year by breaking into smaller groups, holding each athlete accountable to what they were doing outside of their training in terms of nutrition, sleep, etc. and we made some changes to our training progression to ensure that we were focusing on the areas that truly needed the most attention for the players. We have an incredible team of coaches that has gotten better every year. With the addition of a couple of new elite hockey minds for this summer, all of them helped make the TWIST camp experience for each athlete better than ever.

Thank you Jesse, Kristin, Adam, Phil, Steve, Kyle, Cam, and Yogi Heather !

Ok, this is it, the moment you have been waiting for. It is time to reveal the winners of the THE BELT for 2013…..after the break.

Congratulations to all the weekly belt winners, (you know who you are) but it is time to unveil the Hardest Workers of 2013:

Major Junior/College Group: Aidan Wallace (Oshawa Generals)

Pure beauty, beast and belt winner. Aidan brought it every day in the training centre and on the ice but he sealed his victory by actually completing TWO dryland sessions AND an on-ice session one day. Why the extra dryland? “The first one didn’t have squats.” Aidan loves him some squats. *Ed Note: Twist Whitby coaches do not encourage or promote 2 dryland sessions per day unless you are a complete lunatic.

Pro Group: Ben Parker (Alaska Aces ECHL) Ben is one of the original Twist athletes. He has been training at Twist since our first summer (2007) when he made the jump from Junior C to Junior A with the Bowmanville Eagles. since then Ben has gotten better every year, earning an NCAA-D1 scholarship at Canisius and has now signed his first Pro deal with Alaska. Every year we have Pros in the group with NHL/AHL and Euro pedigree but Ben defined hungry and humble this summer as he came out of his successful NCAA hockey career determined to do whatever it takes to become a successful pro.

Bantam Group (1998-2000): Sarah Gundry . No athlete of any age was as focused and interested in learning why she needed to do what she was doing and as willing to do it every day. Maybe it is because she is a goalie, maybe it is because she is an academic minded student/athlete; either way Sarah was dialed in mentally and physically every day. This group included players who were willing to fly in from Israel and Russia to train at Twist so the competition was tough, everyone was motivated and focused but Sarah was the clear belt winner for this group.

Midget Group: Will Ward (Whitby Wildcats ’97; Belleville Bulls prospect) Twist athlete since 2009, Will is a straight up stud. As one of the top players on the 1997 AAA team he helped lead them to Back to Back OMHA Gold medals in 2011 and 2012 and a Silver in 2013. In the weight room Will has become a silent assassin with a laser-like-focus on his training, his nutrition and his lifestyle habits along the way. Also, beauty flow!

Tier II: Krista Yip-Chuck (Whitby Junior Wolves; Yale Bulldogs NCAA) Captain KYC is another special Twist athlete who has been with us almost since the beginning when she was a Pee Wee player. Since that time we have watched her jump from Bantam to the Junior Wolves and help them win their first PWHL Title last year (while she won the scoring title), Captain Team Ontario to a Gold Medal in the National Championships AND earn herself a scholarship to Yale. Not too shabby. All of this comes from her athleticism, work ethic and GREAT attitude. Winning the Belt comes naturally.