The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an article which summarizes the importance of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp this morning:
Nearly 50 players participated at Little Caesars Arena, including all 11 selections from the just-completed 2023 NHL draft. Dan Cleary, the assistant director of player development, was among the team personnel in charge of guiding the players the Wings are counting on to turn into future NHLers.
“We say it but I feel like they don’t believe us: It’s more just education,” Cleary said Wednesday. “Come in, have fun, meet people, hopefully your future teammates. We flood them with information. It’s almost overload and then we’ll circle back with them, whether it’s nutrition or sleep. But the on-ice stuff, the skating and the skills, a lot of these guys just need to continue to work on it. Almost every kid here has to get stronger in some aspect of their body.”
That is where team dietician Lisa McDowell has a starring role, guiding the teenagers on what to eat and when.
“A lot of these kids don’t know how to cook, they don’t know how to grocery shop,” Cleary said. “They think what they’re eating is good, but Lisa is great at educating these kids, giving them recipes that they can cook and learn, for all different times of day, whether it be breakfast, snacks, before a game, after a game. It’s a lot for these kids to take in, but when they are turning pro it’s a really big thing because they are living on their own and they have to go get groceries, they have to cook, they have to figure it out. I remember when I was 18, 19, I didn’t have that. As you get older, you get better at it. So we are just trying to give them all the information we can so they’ll be like, ‘Oh, I’ll have this instead of that.’ “
Continued (paywall)
