He has been to the ShoWare Center to see the Seattle Thunderbirds more times than he has fingers and toes to count.
Monday afternoon, however, 12-year-old Matt Soldano was able to receive an entirely different view of a handful of players he’s looked up to since the team officially moved to Kent last season.
Soldano, along with a host of other youngsters, was taking part in the first Rob Sumner Hockey Camp at the ShoWare Center, a clinic that was held from Monday through Wednesday and essentially aimed at anyone who ever had a desire to lace up the skates, grab a stick and get on the ice.
“My family has season tickets, so we watch them all the time,” said Soldano, a goalkeeper and center for his youth team. “It’s fun just being here to talk with the players.”
As luck would have it, one of Soldano’s favorite Thunderbirds — goalkeeper Calvin Pickard — was one of two Seattle players working hand-in-hand with the kids.
Asked what he learned, Soldano responded: “To keep your stick firm and make sure your eyes are on the puck at all times.”
The three-day camp proved to be a nice success for the Seattle franchise, which moved into the ShoWare Center midway through last season. More than 60 hockey enthusiasts of all ages showed up and were divided into four groups based on age.
“This camp is a chance for us to work on the basic, fundamental skills (with the younger guys),” said coach Rob Sumner. “It gives us a lot of opportunities to work one-on-one, which is awesome. But the bottom line is, we want to grow hockey and get the word out into the community.”
The camp also proved to be a good opportunity for the Thunderbirds to re-introduce themselves to Kent.
“It’s big to be able to do this,” Sumner said. “Other teams have been able to do this and now we can because we have a real setup (at the ShoWare Center). We’re in a community that really embraces us and we embrace the community.”
The camp, however, wasn’t all about being on the ice. Campers were able to use the same locker room and training facility as the T-birds themselves. In addition, campers also were run through an off-ice strength and conditioning program specific to hockey.
The high point for many of the campers and for the staff, however, was simply working with one another.
“It’s definitely good to work with the kids, just being asked to help out with them is a compliment to me,” said Pickard, a goalkeeper who played a total of 47 games and 2,694 minutes last year in his rookie season. “Getting a chance to work with the kids is great and, hopefully, it will help hockey grow in the community.”
It certainly worked for 11-year-old Briana Baker.
“I just like skating,” she said. “I like the fun out here. I’m having a wonderful time.”
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