As a player and an athlete, the sport of hockey has always had the most to offer me.  I enjoyed how it combined speed, power, skill, finesse, intelligence & creativity, humility, camaraderie, battle, and joy. The list could go on...

There were other games I enjoyed, but hockey was the fullest of competition & skill as well as team and strategic dynamics. You can take a hockey player and put them in another sport and they can compete relatively quickly. take any other athlete and put them in hockey, and it will be a long time before they will be competing for anything. In short, the game of hockey requires the best of the athlete mentally AND physically, and this is why it's intricate and difficult mastery are rewarding, and a joy to play.

As a person and a member of a community, hockey has shown me some of the finest people I'll ever see on this planet. I've seen the fulfillment and camaraderie of a team work harder for each other themselves, and to endure more adversity than they ever would alone for the sake of the team. I have bled for my team, and I have gone the extra mile and my teammates have as well. There is no price tag on that. I have seen dedicated parents and volunteers and coaches spend untold amounts of time and resources to make possible this awesome thing. I grew up playing shinny on an outdoor rink in Woodland Park CO, & Victor CO, and both were erected, maintained, coached, refereed, and enjoyed by volunteers and parents and fellow players. From the first firehose flooding of the winter season, to the Zamboni (once there was the money for one. it was just hoses before that) , hockey leagues, Saturday morning games at -20 degrees, stoking up the wood stove in rickety old locker rooms, to the post-game BBQ and and shinny for the rest of the afternoon. All this was done BY hockey people FOR hockey people, young and old. There is no price tag for that either.

It is from these 'Old time hockey' roots that I learned this great game. It holds many of my best memories.

As I progressed through my high school years I eventually had the opportunity to play junior hockey in Ontario, Canada.
I had a blast playing in the very heartland of the sport. Opening my eyes to levels of training and passion for the game that is rare in “The States”.  While I saw some of the best skill and finesse possible, I also saw the distinctly Canadian approach; hard nosed, blue collar work ethic, humble, sacrificial and passionate hockey. The type of hockey that comes right from the heart. I have worked my way from 4th line grinder to team captain within that world of hockey. I learned first hand that an athlete must embrace and practice the lessons that hockey will teach, and they will make you a better person. They will make you ready for the tests on and off the ice.

This is where GRIT Hockey was born. Training and enjoyment of the game that causes you to choose to make yourself better inside and out. This is the daily and hourly process of embracing the high standard that excellence calls us to, and living out the lesson learned in reply. 
In Colorado SpringsI've witnessed players struggling with skills that young players in Canada effortlessly execute. Not only is it my hope and privilege to help elevate the game of hockey in our town and community, but it is also of immeasurable importance that the athletes of our town - our young people and our future - have the opportunity to engage themselves in the daily mental and physical training that calls them to choose to become stronger, smarter, faster..BETTER.

I'm Phil Yarger and hockey has given me a priceless gift, and I want to help spread that gift to the willing and the passionate. I want to see the best hockey you have inside you and bring it to the surface.

Let's get to work.