编者按：
6月15日星期四，加拿大奥克维尔游骑兵冰球俱乐部总裁John Verdon和董事Scott Stevenson将在北京宏奥冰上运动中心与中国冰球少年家长见面，解答中国家长关心的问题，包括什么是真正的加拿大冰球理念、如何为孩子铺就冰球成材之路、冰球与学习的关系、以冰球为敲门砖留学北美的机会有多少等。
奥克维尔游骑兵冰球俱乐部是加拿大最大的青少年冰球俱乐部，同时也是一家把孩子的成长放在首位、以帮助孩子得到最好的教育和实现成材价值为核心理念的非盈利机构。奥克维尔游骑兵培养了包括中国著名冰球运动员宋安东在内的一大批优秀选手，同时借助当地优秀的教育资源，也有一大批冰球少年在保持冰球爱好的同时，步入了世界一流大学。
借着奥克维尔游骑兵俱乐部高管近期访华的机会，奥克维尔游骑兵俱乐部、北京宏奥冰上运动发展中心、“冰球家”（ID：icehockeyplus）特别举办此次中国家长交流会，欢迎各位家长参加。
请直接扫以下二维码进群，群内会公布本次家长交流会的更详细信息。
此外，我们近期采访了奥克维尔游骑兵冰球俱乐部总裁John Verdon，帮助大家更好的了解加拿大青少年冰球运动员培养的理念、方法和目标。请阅读下文，您一定会有新的收获。
Q
What makes Canadian minor hockey different than most of the world?
什么使得加拿大的少年冰球与世界其他地区有所不同？
A：
Canada is famous for producing numerous great professional hockey players. Also, many of the world’s best hockey prospects come to Canada for training. However, the biggest difference is that in Canada hockey is part of the culture – it is a lifestyle. From playing as a kid, to playing in high school, playing university and then playing recreationally as an adult - a significant percentage of Canadians play organized hockey for over 75% of their life. Hockey has a long history in Canada, and we have gone through a long journey to understand how to best introduce and teach the game to kids so that they develop a life-long love for the game.
It has been a long road to get where we are today. We now fully understand how to effectively teach the game at every age group and skill level in a way that improves skills, improves understanding of the game, develops mental toughness, protects enthusiasm and prevents kids from burning out/quitting.
Controlling parent behaviour is another area where we have made great strides to protect players, game officials and other spectators from disruptive/negative parent behavior. Over 600,000 kids play hockey in Canada every year. Some grow up and become professional hockey players but most just grow up to love the game. They look forward to coming to the rink, to seeing their friends and to playing the greatest game in the World. We hope to share our experience, our success and also our lessons learned with Chinese families.
答：
加拿大因培养了无数伟大的职业冰球运动员而著称，许多世界上最优秀的冰球选手前来受训。但加拿大冰球最大的不同在于我们的文化——它是一种生活方式。孩子们自幼开始打球，冰球贯穿高中、大学生活，甚至在成人阶段人们还参与娱乐性质的活动，相当比例的加拿大人在一生75%的时间里参与有组织的冰球运动。冰球在加拿大具有悠久的历史，我们花费了很长时间学习如何向孩子们介绍和传授冰球知识，以便他们可以终生享受这项运动。
这是一个漫长的过程。现在我们完全了解如何有效地针对每一个年龄阶段和不同的技能水平的孩子教授这项运动，以确保他们提高技能，改善对比赛的理解，开发强有力的思维，保护他们的热情以及不会因为倦怠（burn out）而退出。
引导家长以避免不恰当的行为对运动员、比赛官员以及观众造成困扰是我们取得巨大成就的方面。每年加拿大有超过60万人打冰球，其中有的孩子发展成为职业运动员，但多数长大后单纯保持着对冰球的热爱，盼望着前往冰场，和朋友一起享受这项世界上最伟大的运动。我们希望能够与中国家庭分享我们的经验，成就以及我们走过的弯路。
Q
Where is Oakville located in Canada?
奥克维尔在加拿大的什么方位？
A：
Oakville is a small town with a population of approximately 200,000 people. We are located in the Greater Toronto Area, 30 minutes to Toronto downtown, 20 minutes to the International Airport and about 1 hour drive to the famous Niagara Falls.
答：
奥克维尔是一个20万人口的小镇。我们位于大多伦多地区，距离多伦多市中心30分钟车程，20分钟到达国际机场，驱车大约1小时的时间可达著名的尼亚加拉大瀑布。
Q
What makes Oakville a special place with Canadian minor hockey?
加拿大少年冰球是如何塑造奥克维尔成为一个独具特色的城市的？
A：
First of all, Oakville is a great city with amazing sports facilities, high average family income, top schools and a great climate. Our governments invest both on municipal facilities and subsidizing recreational player hockey development programs, and we have a stable sponsor network with our community supporting the sport which makes hockey affordable and the most popular life style of our residents.
Kids learn to skate before putting on their first hockey gear on ice. We offer club hockey programs to children from 4 years old, however it is never too late to start with hockey. Some of the kids move up to junior teams or even become professional players, and most of us keep the sports as a hobby and get together on ice regularly with our friends since we were teenagers.
Many of us volunteer to come back to coach young players. All this makes our community a unique place compared to other places in Megacities.
Oakville is a very friendly city with lots of diversity. Our mayor, Mr. Rob Burton prints his Chinese name on his card. The town attracts an increasing numbers of Chinese families due to its high quality education resources. We are also getting more Chinese family background players. In our young age group teams, players with Chinese family names last season tripled compared to the year before.
Another nice coincidence makes us special is, the famous young Chinese hockey player, Andong Song, Beijing Winter Olympic Ambassador, drafted by NHL in 2015, just being admitted by NCAA Cornell University, spent his minor hockey years with us, and his family is still living in Oakville. We are very proud to have him connecting us and our city with 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Game.
答：
首先，奥克维尔是一个拥有令人惊叹的运动设施、高家庭平均收入、顶级学校以及宜人气候的美好城市。我们的政府在基础设施以及普及冰球运动发展项目上都有很大的投入。我们拥有自己社区稳定的赞助商网络以支持这项运动，使得冰球对于我们的居民来说不但是一项负担的起的运动，更是一种最受欢迎的生活方式。
孩子们在第一次穿上护具上冰之前参与滑冰课程，他们中的一部分会进入青年队甚至成为职业选手，但我们中的大多数都会把这项运动作为一个爱好，并且很规律地与我们青春时期结交的朋友们在冰上聚会。
我们之中的很多人会回到冰上义务为孩子们提供指导和教练。所有这些都使得我们的社区非常独特，不同于那些巨型都市。
奥克维尔是一个非常友好而多元的城市。我们的市长Rob Burton把他的中文名字“荣宝廷”印在自己的名片上。我们城市的高质量教育资源吸引了越来越多的中国家庭，我们俱乐部也接收了更多的华人运动员。在我们的低年龄组球队中，上一个赛季拥有华人姓氏的孩子是前一年的三倍。
另一个使我们独特的“标志”是中国著名的年轻冰球运动员，北京冬奥会大使，2015年入选NHL并且刚刚被美国康奈尔大学NCAA项目录取的宋安东，在我们这里度过了他的少年冰球时光。他家至今还居住在奥克维尔。我们为他成为连接2022年北京冬奥会与我们俱乐部以及我们城市的桥梁而感到非常骄傲。
Q
How do you compare Oakville Rangers and GTHL which are also well known by Chinese hockey families?
您能否对比一下奥克维尔游骑兵（Oakville Rangers）和同为中国家庭所熟悉的大多伦多冰球联盟（GTHL）的不同？
A：
First of all, GTHL consists of over 50 small, independent hockey clubs of various sizes. Each club has different strengths, culture and ability. The Oakville Rangers are one very large club with one set of consistent policies. Some GTHL clubs are doing well in certain age groups as they are implementing an aggressive recruiting strategy. We invest more on player development as we focus on serving our local community.
Secondly, Oakville is a city managed like a town, and people are living like in a village. Both our municipal government and our community invest more on player development especially in the recreational areas, which makes the sports very popular and our club with the highest minor hockey player number all over Canada, and overall our standard is high, taking the example our select teams are requested to play against rep teams when they are in away tournaments, and our players are often invited to play in best teams in GTHL. Being an independent club, we continuously contribute NHL players through the years, and each year we have NCAA players entering best universities in US or winning scholarship from famous Canadian schools.
答：
首先，GTHL是50多个小型且规格各异的独立俱乐部组成的，每个俱乐部都有独特的优势、文化和不同的能力。奥克维尔游骑兵是一个拥有统一政策的大型俱乐部。一些GTHL的俱乐部由于实施激进的球员招募政策在某些特定的年龄组表现出色，而我们出于服务于本地社区的目的对运动员发展进行投资。
其次，奥克维尔是一个按照城镇进行管理，人们按照乡村方式生活的城市。我们的市政府和自己的社区在冰球运动员的培养方面不惜重金投入，特别是在娱乐性质的冰球方面，使得这项运动非常普及，并且将我们成就为全加拿大运动员数量最多的少年冰球俱乐部，并且保持一个整体的高水准。例如，我们的选拔（select）水平球队参加巡回赛的时候被要求必须与其他城市的竞技（rep）水准球队比赛，并且很多我们培养的运动员被GTHL邀请参加效力于他们最杰出的球队。作为一个独立的俱乐部，我们成立以来持续为NHL贡献球员，每年俱乐部都有运动员被美国顶尖大学NCAA项目录取，还有运动员获得加拿大知名大学奖学金。
Q
We have many discussions in China about how a good game should look like. Players, parents, schools and clubs all want a best score out of the game.
我们在中国经常讨论如何定义一场好的比赛。运动员、父母、学校以及俱乐部都希望在比赛中获得最好的成绩。
A：
For me, a good game is fun, and gives all the young players a great experience to enjoy. To make sure all the team players will enjoy it, there will be some rules, such as an average ice time throughout the game, not only on recreational levels, but also in the majority games of rep teams.
To make sure the average ice time a fair strategy and effective in games, an annual proper player evaluation and team categorization is necessary. This makes sure the teams playing against each other are competitive, player skills are at the similar level, and the quality of the games will be guaranteed. Absolute deviated scores only show that the players are to be rebalanced cross the teams, even the winning team will not be motivated to improve in long term.
Of course all above arrangements should be based on a reasonable volume of players within the organization, thus both schools, clubs and the communities should try to make hockey attractive and affordable in order more kids could participate. Scale is one of the essential factors for a good team sport.
答：
对我来说，一场好的比赛首先要充满乐趣，并且让所有的年轻运动员都能够享受一次美好的经历。要确保每一个球队成员都能够享受其中，我们需要设定一些规则，例如在整场比赛中实施均时上场的政策。这一政策不仅要在娱乐性质级别的比赛中予以坚持，甚至在绝大多数竞技性质的球队比赛中也要如此。
为确保平均冰时是一项公平而有效的比赛制度，所有运动员都要参加年度的评估和分级分组，以确保球队间的比赛是具有竞争力的，并且双方球员的技能水平相仿，这样比赛的质量才能得以保障。绝对的大比分差距说明球队的球员需要重新进行分组调整，这样即使获胜的球队也不会被激励并保持长久的进步。
当然上述的安排是基于一个组织内有足够数量的球员才能实现，因此无论学校、俱乐部还是社区都要努力使冰球成为一项吸引人且负担的起的运动，使得更多的孩子能够参与其中。规模是一项好的团队运动的决定性因素之一。
Q
What is a proper ice time for the young players?
如何评估年轻运动员合理的冰上时间？
A：
For recreational level players, we offer one game plus one team training every week during the season. On one hand, the program design fits into the development of youth in different age group. On the hand, such an arrangement makes the sports affordable for most of middle class families. Over the years, the kids with a reasonable ice time will catch up in techniques when in teenage with those with a high load training in young ages. The risk of high training load is “burn out”, while we experienced a common problem that the teenagers refused to keep playing hockey due to high volume of ice time in their childhood.
To motivate young players enjoying hockey as a life long sport, we encourage the kids to have a second sport when the season is off. Multi sports will develop different muscle groups and build different skills which they players will benefit in hockey games. Many great hockey players play more than one sport. Wayne Gretzky, the greatest NHLer, was also a good baseball player. To encourage a second off season sport, we partner Oakville Soccer Club, also the biggest minor Soccer club in Canada, to offer a special membership package to Oakville Rangers players.
答：
我们为娱乐级别的冰球运动员赛季内每周提供一次比赛以及一次球队训练。一方面，这样的项目设置适合年轻运动员在不同年龄阶段的发展特点，另一方面，这样的安排不会为多数的中产阶级家庭带来经济负担。随着时间的发展，拥有合理冰上时间的孩子会于青春期在技能方面赶上那些自幼进行高负荷训练的运动员。高负荷训练的风险是会导致＂倦怠＂（burn out）。我们遇到的一个普遍的问题是在幼年经历大量冰时训练的运动员在进入青春期的时候拒绝继续冰球运动。
为了激励年轻的运动员终身享受冰球的乐趣，我们还鼓励孩子们在赛季后从事第二项运动。多项运动有利于发展不同的肌肉群，并且培养运动员的不同技巧以使他们在冰球比赛中受益。许多伟大的冰球运动员都从事超过一种运动。格雷斯基，史上最伟大的NHL运动员，同时也是一名优秀的棒球手。为鼓励运动员季后发展第二运动，我们与奥克维尔足球俱乐部合作，为游骑兵运动员提供特殊的会员价格。奥克维尔足球俱乐部也是加拿大最大的少年足球俱乐部。
Q
How do you see the minor hockey activities in China? And what is your plan? I mean what is the purpose of your visit in Beijing this time?
您如何看待中国的少年冰球运动，以及您这次北京之行有什么计划？
A：
Hockey also has a history in China as far as I understand, which was a popular sport in the northeast area where the climate is similar to Canada. We have also observed the successful application of Winter Olympic Games as well as the impact on the rapid growth of hockey players in Beijing and other cities.
Along with the strong economy growth of China, more and more families are paying more attention to the sports in addition to academic educations. As the volume base of the players is increasing, the sport will become more and more affordable. We hope hockey could be popular here and a life-long sport like what it means to Canadian kids.
答：
我了解到冰球在中国也有相当长的历史，曾在东北地区是非常普及的运动，那里气候也与加拿大相仿。我们也观察到成功申办冬奥会对北京以及其他城市冰球运动员的快速增长带来的积极影响。随着中国经济强有力的增长，越来越多的家庭开始关注孩子学术教育之外的体育运动。随着运动员基数的增加，也有越来越的家庭能够负担的起这项运动的花费。我们希望冰球能够在中国得到普及，并像加拿大的孩子那样，冰球成为他们的一项终身运动。
Q
How do you evaluate the talent of the young players?
你们是如何评估年轻运动员天赋的？
A：
Kids are different. Some of them show talents in early years, such as speed, however most of them gradually develop their skills and game sense to a higher level in teenage. As above mentioned, what we do is to improve young player skills, understanding of the game and mental toughness development, to protect their enthusiasm and prevent them from burning out/quitting.
Being the biggest minor hockey club, we have the most developed team categories, and we offer maximum 8 skill levels for those players born in the same year. We design different curriculum to make sure each team practice is effective, and throughout the season, specific skills and team strategies are addressed according to the age and skill group they fit in. An annual evaluation and close monitoring of each player's progress is essential to make sure the teams are competitive and each player plays in the right team and level. Team re balance happens during the season when changes considered necessary.
For those young players with outstanding capabilities comparing to the best players in his age and skill level, we offer them to play up in different year groups in order they could develop at own pace. In short, we pay attention to both team and specific player development, and we have an effective administrative system to make sure each player plays at the right age and skill level.
答：
孩子们的发展是不尽相同的，有的很早就展现出天赋，比如在滑冰的速度上，但绝大多数孩子的技巧与比赛感觉是逐步发展的，并在十几岁的时候达到更高的水平。如前面所述，我们的责任是帮助年轻的运动员在技能、对比赛的理解、以及思维强度等方面发展提高，以保护他们的热情，并不因过度训练而产生逆反甚至退出。
作为最大的少年冰球俱乐部，我们拥有最完善的球队分级制度，在某些年龄组为同一年出生的运动员提供8个不同技能级别的比赛等级与训练内容。我们设计的课程用以确保每个球队的训练都是切实有效的，并且一个赛季下来，每个运动员都能够在适合自己的年龄与技能组别内学习到特定的技能与团队战略。此外，俱乐部每年进行一次评估，并且关注每一位运动员的个体发展，以确保参与对抗的球队在比赛中与对手都是势均力敌的，并且每个球员也在适合他们的球队与级别上参加比赛。需要的时候，赛季内运动员在球队之间也会进行重新调整。
对那些与在自己年龄组里技能最高组别的运动员相比能力表现依然突出的孩子，我们为他们提供向上至不同年龄组别的机会，以使他们能够按照自身的进度得以发展。简而言之，我们针对团队以及运动员个体的发展同样关注，我们有效的管理体系将帮助每一个运动员在适合自己的年龄以及技能组别参与这项运动。
Q
How do you help hockey kids to apply for high schools and universities as international students in Canada? Would you recommend schools for those kids with plan to play hockey in Canada?
你们如何帮助冰球运动员申请加拿大的高中与大学进行留学深造，并且能否为希望到加拿大打球的孩子推荐学校？
A：
We are looking forward to set up a Canadian standard minor hockey platform in China to offer games and player development programs locally in China. As part of our plan, we encourage the international communications and will work with our local schools to host Chinese players to customise international school programs for our future players from China.
There are plenty of high schools and universities with both great academic and hockey programs in North America, and we have great network to access these programs due to the high admission rate of Oakville Rangers players and alumni every year. We are looking forward to meeting the Chinese parents in Beijing on June 15th and listen to their requirements in order we could work together to find best solutions for our own players in China.
答：
我们希望能够在中国建立一个加拿大标准的少年冰球平台，在中国本土提供比赛与运动员发展项目。作为规划的一部分，我们鼓励国际交流，并将在加拿大与我们自己的学校共同为我们自己的中国运动员定制国际学校项目。
在北美有多所在学术以及冰球项目方面都非常出色的高中与大学，由于奥克维尔游骑兵现役及前任运动员每年都以很高的比例被这些学校录取，我们拥有非常好的网络以与这些学校项目展开合作。我们期待能够于6月15日在北京与中国家长见面，并且聆听你们的需求，以便我们共同为我们中国的运动员找到最好的解决方案。
奥克维尔游骑兵俱乐部总裁John Verdon
John has been developing young hockey players in Oakville for over 8 years. He has coached house league teams, rep teams as well as tournament and 3 on 3 teams – as many as 5 teams a year. He has primarily coached for the Oakville Rangers – Canada’s largest hockey club but he has also coached in other leagues including the GTHL. Since 2015, John has been and elected Board member and was elected President last year. He has introduced many changes to the club and has greatly improved member satisfaction.
John为支持奥克维尔的年轻冰球运动员发展服务超过8年，一年内执教的娱乐性质、竞技性质以及巡回赛、三对三等队伍多达5支。他主要执教于奥克维尔游骑兵——加拿大最大的冰球俱乐部，但也执教于包括GTHL的其他联盟。2015年以来，John当选俱乐部董事，并于去年当选总裁。他为俱乐部带来大量改变，并极大提高了会员的满意度。
John runs his consulting agency as a full-time job and also coaches and serves as President of the Oakville Rangers Hockey Club.
John在全职经营自己的咨询公司业务之外，执教并服务于奥克维尔游骑兵冰球俱乐部，同时担任俱乐部总裁。
John is a big supporter of Canadian minor hockey and is very interested in helping to grow the game outside of Canada.
John是加拿大少年冰球的支持者，并热心帮助在加拿大以外地区推进冰球运动的发展。
奥克维尔游骑兵俱乐部董事Scott Stevenson
Scott has volunteered to coach teams and develop young players from house league to the highest level rep team programs in the Canada’s largest minor hockey club for over 10 years. Since 2014, he has been an elected Board member for the club where his focus is marketing and coaching development.
Scott在加拿大最大的少年冰球俱乐部义务从事从娱乐到最高水平竞技项目的球队教练以及运动员发展工作超过10年。2014年起，他当选俱乐部董事并专注市场与教练发展项目。
Scott began his minor hockey career over 40 years ago and is a life-long hockey player who is enthusiastic about promoting Canadian minor hockey philosophies around the world.
Scott于40多年前开始其少年冰球运动生涯，并成为一名终身的冰球运动员。他热心向全世界宣传加拿大少年冰球理念。
Being a successful entrepreneur, Scott is strong in strategies and business operations。
身为一个成功的企业家，Scott擅长战略及业务运营。
本次家长交流会活动，
将由Sioeye作为直播方案赞助商，将提供全程直播。
更多后续消息，
请关注“冰球家”或“北京宏奥冰上运动发展中心”微信公众号
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