Dev Camp Diary: Taking Shape

At a development camp, there's a lot more work going on behind the scenes than just what you might see from coaches and players on the ice. For Nate Brookreson, Kraken head strength and conditioning coach, the week is about giving attendees the tools to develop their bodies in the right way to be the best players they can be at the NHL level.

During camp, the work for Brookreson and his team is broken into two main areas of focus. The first is intake and physical testing. Whether you're a returning player or a new attendee, day one of camp is all about taking stock of where you are physically at this time. There's no judgment - but there is detailed analysis. Height, weight, wingspan, and different body measurement data is all captured as is the results of a series of athleticism and fitness tests like power, strength and speed.

"(It's all about) describing kind of the state of where they're at," Brookreson said. "It's also understanding the progression that they've made if it's somebody that's been in camp multiple times. The data allows us to understand this is where a player is relative to somebody that's playing in the AHL or the NHL."

Throughout the week, Brookreson and his team will do deeper analysis on each player's stats and share that with coaches and the development staff. Ultimately, that information is part of each player's exit interview at the end of camp helping to lay out a roadmap with targets and goals. This certainly isn't a one size fits all conversation. While there are some big picture targets, each player's path is customized to match them and their individual journey.

"If you want to play left wing for the Seattle Kraken, we can share what the standards are and where (a player is) at so you can talk a little bit more about the things that they need to improve upon. There's a lot of relative comparison within the camp, as well. So, you can say, 'okay, on average, the person was this good in their vertical jump, and this is where I'm at. So where do I sit within the population that I'm competing against for a spot as well?'"

Outside of the initial testing and evaluation, Brookreson's team designs and oversees a series of daily workouts and warmups that are meant not just to work the player's bodies properly, but to also teach them the elements of a successful and effective session in the gym. When it comes to these workouts, every day of camp has a different focus - one day could be cardio, another could be upper body or lower body, or just a general circuit.

"There's a lot of education behind each session," Brookreson said. "It's either understanding how to structure a warmup or workout or how to structure (one) relative to other things are happening in their days. (We talk about) when they should be doing warm ups during their day, what type of content goes into warmup and teach them different, actionable items that they can take back to their own various locations for when they train. . . . We're exposing them to a lot of different training so they understand like the gamut of what they would see if they were in an NHL club."

But don't think Brookreson's day is spent in the gym only. His day at the office usually starts around 6 a.m. He gets his own workout in and then, built around the 60-minute workouts and 20-minute warmups executed for each of the training groups in camp, there's planning, workout design, and player evaluation that fills the balance of his day till around 3-4 p.m. There may even be an NHL player in town who comes in for training, as well.

But you can tell Brookreson's passion for his work never wanes. In addition to giving players specific conditioning tools, one of his big goals is to educate attendees on how to help themselves - so that development is something that happens every single day…not just at this one week of camp.

"A big thing for them is to have their self-awareness lightbulbs on throughout the week to really understand what type of conversation they want to have coming out," Brookreson said. "(Camp) is not just us talking about them, telling them like 'okay, this is how you did it camp, this is how you tested,' and then them leaving.

"What we want is to hear from the player 'what are things that I can work on? How can I shape my warm ups? This is my situation at home, what things can I do to improve?' A lot of the onus and the challenge is back on them to be self-aware and understand how to improve and what they can do to actually come back better."