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14 dec 2011
news2 SA Men's Team Preperation - Ronnie Wood
 
Hi To All,
 
Thank you for your patience with regards to the above but as you all know things have been dragging on and I was unable to finalise preparation plans and am in fact still busy with them.
 
The situation is as follows:
 
I have discussed and negotiated with Bob Mancini [USA Hockey] who has agreed in principle to assist not only with the preparation of the National Team but also to accompany us to the warm-up games in Romania and also assist in coaching the games in the Tournament.
These discussions have been ongoing since July relating primarily to the Coaches Forum and the affiliation to the Hockey USA coaching program. It is a continued development of these discussions that we find ourselves at this juncture.  
Bob spent many years as Head Coach in the OHL CANADA and Tier 1 College hockey in USA. His last role prior to joining USA Hockey in 2009 was as player development director with Edmonton Oilers of the NHL.
He has also been a Keynote Speaker at I.I.H.F. Coaching symposiums. 
I am sure you will all agree that this should provide a great opportunity for not only the players but will also bring in a valuable contribution to the overall performance of the team.
I am very pleased to have his expertise on board and will no doubt gain invaluable knowledge from his involvement. 
 

We will be leaving South Africa on 27th March 2012 and returning on 9th April 2012.  
 
The plan moving forward is that training will commence in the first week of January and that players will be expected to work on physical conditioning and fitness for the first four weeks.
 
Ice time will be available three times a week and conditioning drills will be given to the players prior to commencement. I will be travelling to Gauteng in the first week of January to address this and give further information relating to the tour.  
 
Bob and I are currently discussing the systems we will be implementing for the tournament and we will be introducing them to practice from 29th January to 5th February 2012 when Bob is here for the Coaching Certification program.
Focus on these systems will follow from these dates right through until we depart for Romania at the end of March. Bob will join us there and we will use the warm up games to hopefully fine tune what we have prepared.
 
It is my intention to travel to Gauteng fortnightly throughout February and March to oversee the preparation. 
 
There will be two training camps prior to departure and they will both be held in March. I will finalise dates asap.
 
It is clear from the squad withdrawals that we will be travelling with a very inexperienced team and that we are playing some very tough opposition. Having said that, I am sure that the players selected will give their all for their country and that they will benefit enormously from the experience.

Regards

Ronnie Wood