ISAAC RATCLIFFE CAMP BLOG: Doing Homework, Team Building & 3 on 3

Hey Flyers fans, Lots to catch up on…
We've spent a lot of time the last two days in the classroom, going through meetings. Everything from video lessons, to sports science, to nutrition and recovery to team-building exercises.
All of the meetings have been cool because from my perspective it's almost like talking to another peer of yours - the people that are talking to us are pretty close in our age or have been in the position we are right now - either the hockey world or sports world for a while so they know what we need and what's going on in our lives. To see and meet with those types of people to help us with our future is really helpful.

Today's 3 on 3 tournament was awesome. You kind of get a taste of what it's like playing with those guys. I got a little bit of that during the week, but with this, once you get into a real game situation, it was awesome to see how they work and how you can put your skills together with and against them. It's been a long time since a lot of us have played in games, so I had a little bit of rust, but we all worked really well together and we all came out of it having a lot of fun.
I think a lot of us were chomping at the bit for this competition to get here from the beginning of the week and finally getting that competitive side back and competing with and against.
It's great that this was at the end of the week, whereas if it was at the beginning of the week, we really didn't know each other all that well. Now that we do, we can kind of joke with each other a little bit in between shifts and on the bench. At the same time, you're still competing out there and that side of you shows up as well.

It's funny though… In the beginning you're slashing each other a bit in the back of the legs or giving a little jab here and there as a joke then you kind of laugh about it. Having those connections and relationship now with each other, it's really made it a good time.
I'm really looking forward tomorrow. To be able to get out on the beach a little bit, and I've been told you can really connect with the fans, so I think it's going to be a good day.
See you then!
-Isaac