Development Camp Blog: Nathan Smith (Day 2)

Throughout the 2019 Development Camp, Winnipeg Jets prospect Nathan Smith will provide an exclusive look behind the scenes at his experience. Nathan was drafted by the Jets in the third round with the 91st overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. He recently finished up his second successful season with Cedar Rapids Rough Riders of the USHL and is committed to play in the NCAA with the Minnesota State (Mankato) Mavericks next season.
Our second full day at development camp started with a workout before we hit the ice.
You can really tell the focus is on bonding with teammates this week, because even the workout involved teamwork on Tuesday.
We were split up into groups of five or six and as a team, had to do things like 500 push-ups, or 1,000 core exercises - there was so much! But it was good for us because by the end of it all, we had to know the names of everyone in our group and something about them, or else we couldn't win the competition.

For me, I did a bit of the running portion, but I did a lot of the push-ups, pull-ups, and sled pushes.

After that, we got on the ice and worked on picking pucks up off the boards, rolling with them, doing cutbacks, that kind of thing. I was a bit rusty, but after not being able to skate last year because of my ankle, I was happy to be out there. Hopefully some of the rust comes off on Wednesday.
Next we had a session about nutrition and supplements. I'm a pretty clean eater, but it was good to know some of the extra information about things like pre-game meals, when to eat them, as well as postgame meals, and how important the timing of all that really is.
We finished the day at De Luca's, where we got into groups again and had our annual pizza making contest. This time though, we added salads to the mix. We could use any type of green we wanted, whether it was iceberg or kale, anything really. It was fun and a good little competition to end the day.
We're back on the ice Wednesday for another full day, so I'll talk to you then.