ZURICH – The International Ice Hockey Federation announced the details for this season’s Camp Program, which will be held at the Vierumäki Sport Institute in Vierumäki, Finland from 15-22 July, 2012.

For the first time, two camps will be held in the same place and at the same time. In the summer of 2012, the IIHF Women’s Hockey Development Camp will be held in conjunction with the Women’s U18 High Performance Camp.

Entering into the second phase of the road “To Sochi and Beyond” – the strategic plan for the improvement of women’s hockey – the IIHF is expanding its efforts from addressing just the women’s nations ranked 1-14 to encompassing the entire hockey world. The IIHF will now look at the women’s hockey nations ranked lower than 14 while still continuing many of its programs for the top nations for the development and improvement of women’s hockey towards and beyond the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.

Each camp will operate its own schedule and programs, but use the expertise and experience present at both camps to create valuable crossover opportunities. The High Performance Camp will see athletes from the top nations invited, while the Development Camp will feature athletes from any eligible IIHF member nations wishing to participate.

Hockey Development Camp

This season’s camp will be the fourth Women’s Hockey Development Camp. This season players will be girls born in 1996 and 1997.

More than 250 participants from five continents representing 30 nations will be taking advantage of this unique development and educational event for players, coaches, instructors, managers, administrators and directors.

The 2012 camp will feature programs for:

1. Player Development
2. Team Coach Development
3. Team Manager Development
4. Equipment Manager Development
5. Game Officiating Development
6. National Association Women’s Learn to Play Instructor Development
7. Goalkeeper Coach Development

All the programs are guided and lead by selected IIHF Mentors and Instructors.

High Performance Camp

In its first season, the IIHF’s Women’s Hockey program focused its efforts on the nations ranked 1-14 in the IIHF Women’s World Ranking. Programs included a Senior and U18 High Performance Camp, a Women’s Coaching Symposium, the IIHF Athlete Ambassador and Coach Mentor Program (AMP), the IIHF 12 Nations Invitational Tournament Series, among others. You can read about these programs here.

Now, entering the second season of these programs the 2012 U18 High Performance Camp will focus on player development both on and off the ice.

2012 World Girls’ Hockey Weekend

At the same time, the IIHF announced that next year’s World Girls’ Hockey Day, a global opportunity for girls to try out hockey as a new sport, will span an entire weekend. After the overwhelming success of this year’s World Girls’ Hockey Day on October 2nd, it was decided that next year’s World Girls’ Hockey Weekend shall take place on the weekend of October 13-14, 2012. Stay tuned here for upcoming registration information for next year and click here for the coverage on the 2011 event.