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AUGUST 2019 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM // 9 assigned teams under the guid- ance of experienced coaches. Ke v i n C h a m b e r s i s o n e o f three coaches who spent his own money and gave up a week of his vacation time to be here. The sacrifices, he said are well worth it and will pay off when he returns to the ice this fall to coach his daughter Ashley's 14 & Under team. "I've learned more in the last three days than I did in my first two or three years of coach- ing combined," said Chambers, who was joined at the camp by fellow Oreg on coaches Dave Haskell and Austen Potter. "When you're running prac- tices back home you think you have it dialed in but then you come here and see what these c o a c h e s d o a n d w a t c h h o w much thought they put into it, you start to see where you can start taking things with your own practices." Even the most experienced coaches working the camp find the give and take with these mentor coaches to be a valuable learning experience as they spent countless hours shar- ing ideas and creating practice plans long after the on-ice ses- sions are done. "The neatest thing for me is the passion they have for the game. Some of these guys maybe haven't been around the game as much and they're sponges and they 're real passionate about it," said Bob Bassen, a 15-year NHL veteran who now helps bolster the Dallas Stars grass- roots efforts. "Hopefully, if they're listening to us and watching what we're d o i n g w i t h t h e k i d s t h e y 'r e learning something, just like I'm learning something. It's ignited me a little bit. We love hockey but I have more passion now just because of those guys." For the price of a plane tick- et along with room and board, t h e s e c o a c h e s n ot o n l y g a i n valuable hands-on experience and practical knowledge, they also earn their Level 4 coach- ing certification. "I think it's the best coaching education opportunity we have, bar none," Doungchak said. A n d w h i l e t h e pr o g r a m i s still in its infancy, Doungchak said it benefits more than just those coaches who come to the camp. It 's also proven to be an effective means of inf luencing ot her c o a c he s i n t hei r lo c a l associations. "If every year we can train more and more coaches and t h e y t a k e i t b a c k h o m e a n d share what they learn with other coaches, think about how many more coaches we can reach." P k The Western Regional High Performance Camp is an opportunity for both players and coaches to learn more about the game.