skip navigation

Takatsuka Attends USA Hockey Camps & Preps for College

By Zoe M. Harris, 12/10/13, 3:00PM PST

Share


Photo by Daria Schubert Photography

Julia Takatsuka of Lynnwood, Washington is the senior goaltender for WWFHA’s 2013-14 Washington Wild 19U Rep team. She has been a member of WWFHA for 7 years. In the last year she has been diligently preparing on and off the ice and took it up a notch by attending USA Hockey Camps and preparing for college.

The Camp Experience

In February of 2013, Julia attended the USA Hockey Washington State Development Camp in Wenatchee, Washington. The WA State Camp is the first step on the journey through the USA Hockey Camp selection process, with the ultimate goal being invited to attend the USA Hockey National Team camp(s) where players are scouted by collegiate scouts and Olympic coaches.

“The State Camp is where it all starts,” said Julia. “It is important to attend the State Camp, not only to learn, grow, and compete against the top players in the state, but to show your best in hopes of getting selected to move onto the District Camp.”

SIDE NOTE: The 2014 USA Hockey PNAHA Girls’ Washington State Development Camp will be held January 25– 26 at Comcast Arena in Everett, WA. For more information visit: http://leagueathletics.com/Page.asp?n=56499&org=pnaha.com

Julia was selected from the 2013 Washington State Camp to attend the USA Hockey Pacific District Camp held in Mountlake Terrace, Washington last May.  Players from Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, Hawaii, and Nevada billet in local hotels and participate in on- and off-ice training with the aspiration of being selected from the District Camp for either the USA Hockey National Camp or Multi-District Development Camp.

According to Julia, “It is great competition to play with the top players on the West Coast. I really enjoyed it as it challenges your game with the hope you will be selected to go to the next level.”

[Julia_Jim] From the District Camp, she was selected to attend the USA Hockey Multi-District Nationwide (MDN) Goaltender Development Camp held June 28 – July 3, 2013 at Kent State University in Ohio.

“I was pretty surprised that I was selected for MDN Goaltender Camp.  There were two other goalies in the Pacific District who had been before and they seemed to be much more advanced.  When I was selected I was really happy.  Last year I didn’t make it to this camp and it was my goal to make it this year,” stated Julia.

Julia also shared, “I went into the MDN Goalie camp not knowing what to expect at all.  I had an amazing time meeting and playing with the 24 other goalies.  It was so different than anything else I’ve ever done.  Going into it I didn’t think I would be very good compared to all the other goalies, but by the end it seemed as if I had elevated my game.”

After enjoying an exciting week at the Goaltender Camp, Julia said, “The highlight of the camp would definitely be the people I met.  It’s amazing the friendships you can make in just five days.  Also, everything was specific to goalies; the drills for on and off ice, the college talks, and schedule were all goalie-specific, which was great.”

Julia was also one of the few goaltenders selected to attend USA Hockey’s Multi-District Nationwide (MDN) Player Select Development Camp also at Kent State, July 27 – August 1, 2013.

The Player Select Camp included three ice sessions per day, as well as off ice conditioning, nutrition education, sport mental readiness training, and college preparedness.  Each player had an exit interview with their coach and received a camp video.

Julia said, “I was pretty excited to get selected for the second camp.  At the first camp, I was pretty sure the other goalies would be much better than I was.  My goalie coach told me to go into it with the intention of making the coaches look at me. My coach said, ‘If they already made their decision before you got there, fine.  But, just try to make them look.’  I thought that was great advice.  By the time the camp was over, I felt pretty confident that I had been one of the better ones there–even if I wasn’t going to get selected to move onto the USA Hockey National Camp.”

Julia’s experiences helped her confidence and improved her game, especially in preparation for her senior season with the Washington Wild. They also encouraged her to ramp up her efforts off-ice with regard to researching universities and women’s collegiate ice hockey programs for next year.

At mid-season with Western Washington Female Hockey Association’s Washington Wild 19U Rep team, Julia mentioned her excitement for the new season, “I was so excited to meet the new coaches this year. I knew it was going to be different from the past season, but I knew it would be new and exciting, too.

Julia also expressed, “I like playing for the Washington Wild because of the competitiveness and speed of the games.  Hockey is also where all my best friends come from and I like how connected we get as a team.  It seems crazy, but I actually enjoy going to Canada every weekend.  The drive is a good time to chill out or get some homework done.”

College Prep

[Julia3] After attending the USA Hockey camps and meeting with collegiate coaches, Julia was further inspired to do the off-ice work and planning to find the perfect college and ideal team for herself.

Her plan included identifying schools that offer the degree she is most interested in, as well as the size of school she prefers. Then, she investigated to see if those schools offered women’s ice hockey and the level of their hockey programs – Varsity NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) DI and NCAA DIII, or non-varsity ACHA (American Collegiate Hockey Association) DI or DII. Next, Julia scrutinized those hockey programs to see which were in need of a first-year goalie.

From the schools that met her degree and size criteria, she created a list of schools at three levels of certainty for her (reach, likely, given). Then she made the same type of list based on the hockey program offered at each school and her skill (reach, likely, given). Finally, she identified overlapping schools (degree/size and hockey programs) and planned a seven-day trip with her mom to tour the colleges and meet with their women’s hockey coaches. These five schools ranged geographically from up-state New York to Delaware and Massachusetts to Rhode Island, and included schools with NCAA DIII and ACHA DI programs.

Julia suggests the following when evaluating and creating a list of schools suitable for you:

  • Start early (right after your sophomore year) as you don’t want to be doing this at the last minute (your senior year).
  • Make a separate sheet with each college’s information on it. Color coding by criteria is always fun; it helps keep you organized and the sheets can be easily grouped in different ways.
  • Visit local schools to see what you prefer: big vs. small campuses and public vs. private schools. You don’t want to waste time and money traveling great distances to figure this out.
  • Look at how exclusive the school is. Make sure you apply to schools that you are likely get into as well as ones that may be a bit of a challenge (academically and hockey-wise).
  • Scrutinize the religious affiliation of the school.  It might be a bigger factor than you think in either direction.  The mission statement is a good place to start.

Julia gives this advice when planning a trip to visit colleges and coaches:

  • Practice visiting local schools so you know how to prepare and what to do when you visit a school far away.
  • Make sure you are really interested in the schools before visiting – it is a long way to go if you are unsure.  Also, pick out a group of schools that are somewhat in the same area to minimize the driving, or split your visits into two trips.
  • Contact the schools and the coaches with enough time to schedule tours, information sessions and interviews with admissions officers and coaches (4 months prior).
  • Endeavor to go while school is in session or at least the campus is not completely dead (usually the case in the summer).
  • Plan to be social and talk to people on campus and in the offices.

When meeting with coaches Julia advises:

  • Take a list of prepared questions.  Even if you know the basic answer, the coach will most likely tell you something that you won’t find anywhere else. This also applies to asking about the school in general.
  • Be sure to ask who runs the team (or figure it out before you go). This question is especially important for ACHA non-varsity teams where the coach could run the program or a student board may run everything without a coach’s oversight (which might be less organized). Regardless of the type of team, ask lots of questions, such as how much the team travels and practices.

When meeting with admissions or school representatives, Julia recommends:

  • Ask about application deadlines and the difference between early action and early decision.
  • Inquire about food and meal plans.
  • Find out who teaches the classes (a professor vs. teacher’s assistants).

Other good advice from Julia: Take grades and SAT’s seriously.

Julia is in her final stages of searching and applying for colleges and finishing out her final season with the Washington Wild. As she grew both on and off the ice over the years, she has proven to be an excellent example of a quality student-athlete that made the most out of her experience within WWFHA; by enjoying her teammates and the sport she loves, and preparing to play at the next level.

——

[Zoe M. Harris] Zoë M. Harris grew up sailing and playing soccer in Rhode Island and later switched to ice hockey while at the University of Maine (’88-‘92). She has been a coach and administrator in the sport of hockey for over 20 years, most notably for the University of Washington men’s team (‘98 – ‘04) where the coaching staff were the first females to coach men’s college ice hockey. Zoë co-founded the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Women’s Division (‘00) and served as the Vice President for 4 years where members created the ‘Zoë M. Harris Player of the Year’ award in her honor. She was also recently inducted into the ACHA Hall of Fame (‘14) and received the ‘Builder Award.’ Zoë currently serves on the WWFHA Board. In the real world, she works for a high tech start-up in Seattle as the Director of Product Management.