Skaters Keep Achieving Through Education

NEWS

SKATE PRIZE DRAWING WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

The season-ending prize drawing was conducted at the 2010 Let's Play Hockey Expo on Saturday March 13 and the following associations were drawn to receive prizes:

1. Roseville 2. Prior Lake/Savage 3. Coon Rapids 4. St. Cloud 5. Crow River 6. Anoka 7. Champlin Park 8. Pine City 9. LaCrescent and 10. Waseca.

We will be contacting the association coordinators at each of those named above to coordinate the delivery of gifts. Many thanks to a handful of sponsors who donated prizes:

Sweet Hockey Products - Two (2) ten-week online stickhandling subscriptions

Easton Hockey - Easton Hockey Apparel

International Hockey Schools - Free Week of Summer Hockey Camp

2010 SKATE AWARD CERTIFICATES AND BAG TAGS ARE READY TO ROLL!

The new award certificates and bag tags presented to each SKATE 2010 qualifier are ready for shipment. If you haven't already, please notify us of the total number of qualifiers at your association. Also, please let us know if you have a SKATE RALLY planned for 2010.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR PARTICIPATING YOUTH HOCKEY ASSOCIATIONS FOR 2010.

S.K.A.T.E. is proud to acknowledge each of the youth hockey associations that have elected to participate in 2010 SKATE program .. emphasizing academic achievement and effort among youth hockey players. In alphabetical order they are as follows: Alexandria, Andover, Anoka, Armstrong/Cooper, Becker-Big Lake, Blaine, Bloomington Jefferson, Centennial, Champlin Park, Chisago Lakes, Coon Rapids, Crow River, Dodge County, Elk River, Fairmont, Hutchinson, LaCrescent, Luverne, Mankato, Minnetonka, North Branch, Northfield, North Metro, Park Rapids, Pine City, Redwood Falls, Rogers, Rosemount, Roseville, Sauk Rapids, Shakopee, Silver Bay, St. Cloud, St. Francis and Waseca.

SPREAD THE WORD TO NEIGHBORING ASSOCIATIONS AND GET MORE KIDS FOCUSED ON GOOD GRADES!

SEND US YOUR LINKS!

Many of our participating associations place information about the S.K.A.T.E. program on their respective youth association websites. Check out our LINKS page to see how they're doing it! Send us your link!

Program Qualifications

The qualification criteria for S.K.A.T.E. was established at the inception of the program. Individual youth hockey organizations are encouraged to adhere to specific qualification criteria. That said, our philosophy is to try to be inclusive in terms of opportunity and exclusive in terms of performance.

Qualification Criteria

BASED ON FEEDBACK FROM SEVERAL SKATE COORDINATORS, WE HAVE DECIDED TO OPEN UP THE PROGRAM TO ALL YOUTH HOCKEY PARTICIPANTS, THEREBY RELAXING THE PREVIOUS RESTRICTIONS TO TRAVEL HOCKEY PLAYERS SQUIRT AND ABOVE (GENERALLY 9 & ABOVE). BASICALLY, THE FEELING IS THAT THE EARLIER WE START TO EMPHASIZE ACADEMIC EFFORT AND PERFORMANCE, THE BETTER. THE QUALIFICATION CRITERIA FOR MITES (GENERALLY 8 & UNDER) WILL BE DETERMINED BY INDIVIDUAL LOCAL CLUBS AND YOUTH HOCKEY ASSOCIATIONS. THE CRITERIA FOR TRAVEL HOCKEY PLAYERS REMAINS THE SAME AND IS OUTLINED BELOW:

1. ALL STUDENT ATHLETES MUST HAVE A GRADE POINT AVERAGE OF 3.0 (ON A 4.0 SCALE) TO QUALIFY. WE URGE ALL HOST CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS TO NOT MAKE EXCEPTIONS.

2. SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS MAY QUALIFY WITH A LETTER FROM THEIR CASE MANAGER, INSTRUCTOR OR SUPERVISOR STATING THAT THEY ACHIEVED ABOVE AVERAGE PERFORMANCE. PLEASE CONTACT SKATE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

3. GRADES FOR QUALIFICATION PURPOSES WILL BE THOSE PROVIDED FOR THE TIME PERIOD (S) THAT MOST CLOSELY ALIGN WITH THE YOUTH HOCKEY SEASON.

4. ALL GRADES RECEIVED DURING THE DESIGNATED GRADING PERIOD MUST BE USED TO DETERMINE GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA).

5. NO INCOMPLETE GRADES ARE ALLOWED DURING THE DESIGNATED GRADING PERIOD. STUDENT ATHLETES RECEIVING AN "F", OR AN "INCOMPLETE" GRADE ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO QUALIFY FOR S.K.A.T.E. THAT HOCKEY SEASON.

6. REPORT CARDS WILL BE UTILIZED TO DETERMINE GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA), BUT S.K.A.T.E. WILL RESPECT ALL LAWS AND PRIVILEGES FOR INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY. THEREFORE, ONLY THE NAMES AND TOTAL NUMBER OF QUALIFYING STUDENT ATHLETES SHOULD BE REPORTED TO S.K.A.T.E. IN THE INTEREST OF CONFIDENTIALITY, REVIEW OF INDIVIDUAL GRADES WILL BE DONE AT THE LOCAL CLUB OR ASSOCIATION LEVEL.

GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA) FORMULAS

For each class, list the points that correspond with the letter grade for that class. Add all the points together and divide by the total number of classes. This formula should result in a number between 0 and 4. If the number is 3.0 or greater, the participating student athlete qualifies for S.K.A.T.E. When calculating GPA, please assign the numeric grading points below to to letter grading systems.

Four Point Grading System:

A+ 4.333

A 4.000

A- 3.667

B+ 3.333

B 3.000

B- 2.667

C+ 2.333

C 2.000

C- 1.667

D+ 1.333

D 1.000