If you asked the average adult what his or her favorite summer camp was, you may get a few raised eyebrows and quizzical looks.

Ask St. Cloud, Minn., native and current NHLer Nate Schmidt that question and his eyes light up.

“I remember walking away from it when I was 15 and saying, ‘Wow, that was an incredible experience,’" Schmidt said about the CCM High Performance Boys 15 Summer Development Camp (“HP 15 Development Camp”), formerly referred to as the Advanced 15 Summer Festival.

The answer also comes easier for Schmidt because he revisits the camp every summer. Schmidt attended the camp in 2006 while playing for the St. Cloud Cathedral High School team and has been involved as a counselor or coach for each of the past seven years.

“It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year,” said Schmidt. “It’s a lot of fun. We have a great group of coaches. Each year you get to work with a new set of kids, and they bring new things to the table every year.”

A Local Connection

With the camp being help in St. Cloud each summer and Schmidt having participated in the camp as a player, he made a logical choice for a camp counselor during his time with the University of Minnesota. It didn’t take much convincing either as Schmidt joined after his first season for the Gophers in 2011.

“I remembered the people I had,” said Schmidt. “Between the counselors and the guys and the coaches, that’s what made it so much fun for me.”

During his three years as a counselor, Schmidt played a very important role at the HP 15 Development Camp. The counselors spend almost the entire camp with the players, guiding them from activity to activity, coaching on the ice and even hanging out during down times. Over the course of the week, this allowed the counselors to get to know the players and enabled the players to hear directly from current college athletes what it’s really like to be an elite hockey player.

“That’s one of the reasons the camp is so great,” said Schmidt.  “You get these college kids to come back every year and work the camps, and the kids get to see these guys and wonder, ‘Why can’t it be me?’”

Schmidt added: “You get to know them on a very personal level. It’s cool. Especially now, I’m seeing some of the kids I had are starting to get into playing juniors and playing college hockey.”

Climbing the Ranks

After moving onto the professional ranks, Schmidt was eager to stay involved with the camp as a coach, but it didn’t take long for him to realize coaching can be a different animal.

“It’s tough,” said Schmidt. “You sometimes have to get the player out of you. I tell my guys all week. I’m a player that’s coaching so talk to me like a player.”

Schmidt has used his unique perspective as a player though to become an integral part of the camp’s coaching team, especially during the defense specific sessions. He’s also been able to lean on coaches who have more experience, such as Bill Thoreson and Brian Meisner who were Schmidt’s coaches when he first attended camp as a player and counselor, respectively.

“We’ve been adding some younger flavor in there as well, but we’ve had some stable guys that have been there for 20 plus years,” said Schmidt. “The dynamic of the older guys to the young guys is awesome. Everyone has a great amount of respect for each other. That’s one of the big reasons I enjoy going back every year.”

A New Comfort Zone

For many of the players, the CCM Boys HP 15 Development Camp can be a stressful experience to start with. While the main focus of the camp is exposing the top players in Minnesota to what type of training it takes to reach their goals, it also serves as the evaluation period for determining which players move on to the national festival.

Since his time as a counselor, Schmidt has taken pride in helping players accomplish both goals by encouraging them to focus on having fun and enjoying the experience.

“I always try to make everybody feel as comfortable as possible because when people feel comfortable, they get out of their shell,” said Schmidt. “That way they’ll go out and play as well as they can. They’ll open up to you.”

“Kids at first are a little reluctant," Schmidt continued. "You don’t hear a lot of chatter. Then, as the week goes on, that is when the questions start coming out. They start feeling comfortable, and that’s where I want to be as a coach is someone for these kids where they can ask these types of questions.”

Having experienced the camp from every angle and reached the pinnacle of the sport himself, there may not be a better resource for the players to find their comfort zone with than Schmidt.

The 2017 CCM Boys HP 15 Development Camp concluded last week. For game scores, player statistics or a list of players advancing to national camp, visit minnesotahockey.org.