“USA Hockey Inc., is the national governing body for the sport of ice hockey in the United States. As such, its mission is to promote the growth of hockey and provide the best possible experience for all participants by encouraging, developing, advancing and administering the sport.”

Why do we talk about ice hockey in a  brain fitness blog?

Well, we recently announced this very innovative initiative, and now can offer more context:

USA Hockey and Intelligym:

- “USA Hockey, with partners ACE (Applied Cognitive Engineering) and the BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation, have announced plans to develop a revolutionary product that will, for the first time ever, provide players a training tool to develop “hockey sense.”

- “To be called Hockey IntelliGym, the software-based product will furnish players with a highly effective training tool to develop perception and decision-making skills. Further, it will enable coaches to fine-tune the training program and follow-up on the progress of their players.”

- “We’re really into unchartered territory with the development of Hockey IntelliGym,” said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey. “With the expertise of ACE and the support of the BIRD Foundation, we’ll be able to produce a product that will give our players an opportunity to improve in areas that training has never before been available.”

- “It is anticipated that the product will be available in December 2010″

Full release: here

Comment:  this initiative is very meaningful for two reasons: first, it shows how the Brain Fitness field is composed of several market segments (we cover ACE as one of the companies in the Corporate, Military & Sports segment) beyond what we can call “healthy aging”. Second, it beautifully illustrates the potential to enhance cognitive performance at all ages – to improve quality of life, driving skills, job-related skills…

For more context, read: Cognitive Training for Basketball Game-Intelligence: Interview with Prof. Daniel Gopher