At OHA they tell you that your son really has what it takes and its usually a lie. They show you their program including Junior B Summerland Sting and Junior A Port Alberni Bulldogs. They tell you they will handle your son's career and advance him through these steps, dangling Jr. B and Jr. A in your face. They announce at the yearly banquet that their goal is to advance your sons to Jr B and Jr A levels. They talk about college scholarships and they bring in a few chosen boys to rave about the OHA program.Now that you are drowning in OHA Kool-Aid........
A) They take your $$$
B) They use your $$$ to develop the owner's sons, coaches sons, nephews and friends.
C) They don't develop your son
By the way, Summerland Sting is at the bottom of the league and the Port Alberni Bulldogs will be lucky to remain in the BCHL after OHA gets finished lining their own pockets and advancing their own interests at the cost of countless young men.
20 comments:
You are right on the money on this one. What a family gong show all trumped up for the money and promotion of the Kerr "boys" and friends (which of course are not Americans). I am knocked out by your totally accurate assessment. Seems you are in the know. Whatever happened to Brian Kerr? He was a big dog in the organization one day and never heard of again after he took one of the teams and turned it into a gong show. We were in and got out pretty quick to move onto much better organizations in the USA. I knew they were greedy people, yet I didn't realize the nature of how totally devoid of morals they were. What a bunch of phoney's. Remind me of the old gangsters who killed and robbed people by night and went to church on Sunday professing to be such good people. people.
I wonder how many families there are out there who were ripped off by the OHA...
If there is a group of us who paid dearly for a full year of "development" that never happened, had a kid dismissed with NO refund of significant amounts of money, etc. Maybe a combined lawsuit....?
Anyone have any thoughts about this?
WHAT A GREAT BLOG. I sent my boy there a couple of years ago, they sold me on it in their summer camp. After one month it was clear that the high school and the academy were not that good. We decided to leave. Asked them for some refund and they said NO. Big time lesson ($26,000.00).
Tuition is around 38K now! No refunds after Sept. 1, well before their tryouts are completed. Tryouts are a joke! Teams are pre-picked. The only way to hold your cards is to hold off paying the bill until Alan promises a spot for your son on the top team.
A few years ago a parent walked into Alan's office where a white board revealed the teams BEFORE tryouts! As soon as the parent trained his eyes on the board, they dropped a cover over it.
A few Americans squeak onto top teams but very rarely; rather, they are there as fodder to develop the Canadian boys, more specifically the Kerr boys and friends of Kerr.
When you sign that contract you are f******. I lost 24,750.00. Wanted to leave after my kid got placed on a lower team, but Andy said no refund. We stayed for three months, things got real bad so we left. Six other kids left at the same time. No one got any part of a refund.
Does anyone have a copy of the Contract? It seems a number of us have "donated" very significant sums of money to OHA.
I can't find a copy and would like to know if we did indeed agree to relenquish all our money (paid in full up front)no matter what...
You are right in that the teams the last couple of years have been all picked in advance. Their so called try out is a lie. They even lied to us about our son being placed on Alan's team and then reniged after we have made all the arrangments for the year. The good news is we didn't pay them until they made good on their word. Alan actually told us on 2 occasions very specifcally what team our son would be on. The really bad things is that he really is a very good player that should have been placed based on his playing ability and character. We hauled ass back to the states and played on a much better team and much better program. I think it is worthwhile for all of us to get the word out on these guys although I expect we would have a difficult time recouping any tuition from them in Canada. They are a rotten bunch.
Here's a good one. My son comes back to the USA to compete in a USA hockey natonal event and is so sick after being sent to their witch doctor "Sports Doctor" who said his respritory infection would GO AWAY in time without the use of any antibiotics. Our son at 14 trusted the TEAM DOCTOR. When he arrived in the USA in meeting us his parents for the event his breathing ability was about 50% of his normal capacity. Due to being a gutty guy he particpated and did very well in spite of being SEVERLY sick getting no sleep because he couldn't stop coughing and couldn't breath all weekend. We really respect him for his efforts and he did well inspite of OHA's care of him. We took him to a USA doctor that weekend who examined him closely prescribing the drugs that should have be prescribed in Canada. He was over it in less than 2 weeks. Had the quack in Canada given him what he really needed he would have performed better and not been put through it all for almost 8 weeks. Total clowns when it comes to something critcally important in his development. This was a high level USA hockey event. As a side how many of the home boys there ever named to any select teams outside being picked by OHA staff within their internal events? My guy skated against them in Vancouver last year and skated right around their highly esteemed AAAA players. I's all facade.
These guys put on quite a show at the players banquet each year taking about integrity, organization, promotion of the players, NHL coaching, what a privlege it is to come to OHA. They definately have it down. The only problem is its just primarily ALL talk. They lost what little credibility they had a couple of years ago where they expanded way beyond their ability to deliver. They could just barely deliver a mediocre level before and then it when right down the tubes. Thats when they chose to go the money route, screw a lot of good boys who came to learn, direct the money towards their family and friends. The unbelieveable things was they expected people basically not to do anything about it. I always got the impression they wer above being held accountable. I think they have been surprised by peoples reactions and it has no doubt severly damaged their reputation as an honorable organization. It shows you how far they are from reality and the fact they have to deliver an excellent product for what they charge. My son is in a lot better program at a fraction of the cost. I don't blame the players for going there in that the school lies to them to get them there and face it most of the parents are pretty sharp or they would have the money to send their kids there. I blame the school for their intentional misrepresentation of the situation and their greed. They preach about integrity to the players, yet most of them have none themselves. They really don't want what is best for the players, but rather themselves as they sit on their thrones and believe they have all the answers. The truth is they have very few of them as shown through their actions and performance on the ice. Last place in every league. They have become a joke with people laughing at them behind their backs. They deserve what they have created.
You people are horseshit because you don't actually know what goes on in that program.
All this makes me laugh. You have a few very bitter kids and families, obviously people that apparently weren't above the rules that apparently aren't enforced and were removed from the academy. I'm sorry that your hockey career's fizzled, most likely due to the fact that you don't have enough self disciplne to continue being part of a program that does take just that. All this talk of kids that are friends of the kerr's etc is actually laughable. Who is the primary recruiter for the academy? I'm sure none of you can tell me who that is these days, but I'll tell you this, its not alan kerr. What happened to Brian Kerr? He's doing what he is trained to do, operating an electrical company. He was a marketing guy, not a hockey guy and only filled that role when there was a shortage in coaches, and it got repaired in 3 months time. So again, uneducated opinions. But hey its all freedom of speech right?
I don't see it as bitterness in that anybody in their right mind got out of their marginal program of which they charge a premium. Its just a matter of value. They provide a poor value which will be their undoing. As to who does the recruiting anybody that believes that Alan doesn't make all the final decisions and is at the top of the accountability tree is fooling themselves. As to the bitterness issue. Why be bitter when you play for a lot better organization? These guys are in the cellar both playing wise and from an integrity point of view. If that makes you feel better than you can hold to that, yet these guys are what they are. I think its a good thing the word is on the street about these guys. Obviously they have provided poor performance for a lot of people. It just a matter of business which these guys don't seem to understand. Provide poor performance and you go down the drain. OHA is whirling its way down the drain.
We people DO know what goes on in that program, and that is why there are so many negative comments! We are finding out that we are not alone!
It seems MANY people believed that their sons would be developed, that they would be safe, housed and fed appropriately, etc. And that the gobs of money we paid would be used appropriately for our sons.
There is some comfort in finding out that our son was not singled out for horrible treatment!
Beware of OHA!
By the way we weren't asked to leave based on any sort of discipline problem or anything of that nature. We chose to leave their program because it wasn't any good. This actually happened a couple of years ago. Why waste your time in such a poor program. Every year those guys get further and further behind the curve. Their teams can't even be competitive in the leagues in which they play. Every team in last place. Why would anyone think they are doing a good job. A good question to ask before you write that big check.
At OHA most (not all) of the billets do it for the money. They don't support the players in that almost all of them NEVER come to the games or any events with the players. I know for fact there have been times when they keep up to three boys and limit the amount and kind of food the players get. It's not all the billets, but most of them. The billet fees are about 3 times what they are here in the states. We have billeted players here in the USA the last two years and it is a labor of love. We get $250 a month which wouldn't even begin to pay the guys grocery bill much less all the other expenses. Billeting should never be done for money, yet as a love of the game and player. Billets should provide the kind of environment for players that is a home, not just a place for them to sleep and occassionally eat a crappy meal. Their billet situation has been a gong show at OHA for a long time just like most all their organizational skills. For what they charge your player should be treated a hell of a lot better than what they get. The school is to blame for this in that they are ultimately accountable for it. The only reason my son had a great billet and had it good was because those guys thought they would soak me for a wad of money during the upcoming years and he would stay on. They weren't all that hard to figure out. I find it interesting there are quite a number of people who have been abused by these guys. I also think it good that people come out and make it known to others.
If someone's talent can't develop being in the gym 5 days a week, practicing 5 days a week, then yes there is a problem. People call the sports psychologist a hack, which is hilarious. He's the most renowned sports psychologist in the world. People that are serious about being hockey players can thrive in an environment that gives them access to ice and a gym like they do. I've looked into this program and many others. If someone can show me where a coach in any other program lives up to Blake Wesley, Robert Dirk, Rob McLaughlin, I'd love to see it. Duncan Keith credits McLaughlin for where he is today. No one can ever argue about Dirk or Wesley's credibility or integrity. So if the issue is with Alan Kerr, fine, but I'd be hard pressed to see a program with better personnel.
Wesley and Dirk are top shelf. Dixon could come back to coach if he could just give up the booze. Maybe another round of rehab is in order. Kerr could use a round in rehab too. Many OHA coaches are alcoholics and in the big picture, it doesn't set a good example for the boys to see all the drinking going on during teams trips and open cash bar at the yearly banquets and coaches getting slogged.
Do you people actually know what you are talking about? One yes OHA offers to help your son pursue a hockey career to the best of their abilities and if your son does not make the AAA or AAAA team or play Jr A or B maybe you should look at your son and maybe to be blunt he is just not good enough to play at that level not everyone with a dream has the tools or skills to play Jr hockey
Yeah, everyone knows playing Juniors is about who you know! Oh, that would only be at OHA. What a joke dissing the guys who you say don't make it based on their talent level, while the guys that play on those teams get run over by everyone in their league as they "pay to play". Everyone know's OHA is a fixed game.
im pretty sure port alberni went to the confrence finals this year in the bchl
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