Saturday, July 11, 2009

OKANAGAN HOCKEY ACADEMY: TEAM FIXING REALITY

"Last summer Alan Kerr approached my son at summer camp about attending OHA. We already had plans to send him to Notre Dame. Alan promised my son a spot on his top team as a means to motivate us not to send our son to Notre Dame. I did not like this approach. It is essentially an admission that the teams at OHA are fixed well before the boys arrive to school in the fall. 

My son likes the summer camp but we prefer to play at Notre Dame during the school year."

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

My son was considering this school. We stumbled onto this site and I was able to verify some of the information here. It was enough to rule out this school for consideration. Who needs to spend top dollar for more politics and bullshit. He can just stay with him team here for a fraction of the cost.

I could not verify the cost of tuition on the school website but I have been told its forty thousand a year. In this economy that is an unacceptable price. I was also able to verify that there is a crack house next to the school and Penticton is considered the drug capital in Canada.

Anonymous said...

This OHA program in DOA. They are setting up to have their worst year ever. Any talent they had has moved on and they are filling the roster with house players.

Anonymous said...

I played for OHA for two years. It was an okay experience. Some of the coaches are real good and some are not too good. It depends on who you get. They don't do shit to promote the players. They only move on their friends kids. Lots of good players have been burned. Tryouts are a joke. Teams are decided way before the evals.

All and all I would tell ppl to save their $$$ and stick with the shitty program you are in instead of paying high $$$ for another crappy program. It could be a good place if you are a personal friend of the Kerrs. Then your kid might get developed.

Anonymous said...

OHA Sux!

Anonymous said...

I have heard about promises being made for teams well before tryouts. One year a friend of mine walked into the office BEFORE the tryouts and they had a white board listing every boy and the team he'd be on AFTER the tryouts. As soon as Kerr saw the parents eyes trained on the white board, they pulled a cover over it.

OHA is just filled with politricks like anyplace else.

Anonymous said...

:)

Anonymous said...

I was interested in the academy until I started to hear about all the negativity and controversy throughout the program, I LOOKED THROUGH THIS SITE AND SEE ALL THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS, ARE THEY TRUE, IS THIS PROGRAM REALLY THAT BAD.I also went onto the what they call the real okanagan hockey academy blog site, every post by the academy had zero comments, only 1 post had a comment, which leads me to believe they are not quite what they make themselves out to be. where do i get the straight goods on this program, as i am not sending my kids to canada to play hockey in a unsafe environment, need help

Anonymous said...

OHA is definitely an unsafe environment. There is a crack house right next to the HS. It is a PUBLIC school. Want to pay 40K for a public school just because they have hockey? Think about what an insane thought that is for anyone to consider.

They fix teams and do not help the kids move on to higher play, as they claim. They kids who have moved on came to OHA with very special discounts (a fraction of the 40K tuition) and those kids are so good they were going to move on anyway with or without OHA.

If you are an American the story is even more bleak. In their entire history they have not moved an American player to the BCHL Jr A. They will offer to put in a word for your son to play NORPAC (bottom feeder league for kids going nowhere). A few American kids go to KIJHL, but very few and that will become the end zone. I believe they moved 1 player that was American on to a Div II or III college scholarship this year. Note that the young man left OHA to play in Wenatchee for a year to get real development which makes me question what role OHA really played in getting him to a college level, albeit Div II or III.

Look at the west coast (SoCAL or NorCAL) hockey. OHA got wiped clean in every AAA US tourney they entered last year. The OMAHA league is solid but cannot compare to USA AAA level hockey. You are better off staying in the states and dealing with the politics that come your way at home. The politics at OHA are just as bad and you end up with empty pockets at Nose bleed tuition for public HS.

If you insist on looking to send your son to Canada, look at POE in Kelowna. The kids go to a private Christian school and the program is very good. They go back and forth with OHA when they play at all levels and their tuition is a fraction of the cost. The other one to consider in Notre Dame. Don't look for these guys to blow smoke up your a$$ because they won't. At Notre Dame they will place your son according to ability. At OHA is all about negotiating your son's team place BEFORE tryouts. At least at Notre Dame you know exactly where your boy stands.

OHA has some good coaches. Actually, they have some very good coaches. Unfortunately, Oakes and Kerr tie their hands and greatly limit the impact they could have on the boys if they had the freedom to do their jobs. It starts with Kerr telling them exactly who will play on their teams, again based on parent negotiation, and it goes downhill from there. OHA has two very good coaches on their coaching staff, Blake and Rob. The other very good coach they had was Steve, but he has finally broken free for greener pastures.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Is it true they lowered the tuition because they could not fill their rosters?