| Hockey Classroom
Off Season is a Great Time to Improve
Use your time off to work on skills
From: Coach Mac
With another incredible hockey season behind us, players and parents often ask me, "when is the best time to improve?" I truly believe a player can improve any time of the year and spring/summer time is an excellent opportunity to develop better skills. The best hockey players in the world, who are playing the game at its highest level, not only use the off season to renew and refresh but to strengthen themselves and their skills in preparation for another exciting season. An immense amount of positive development can happen in the off-season.
The Off Season
One of the challenges we face in Alaska is focusing on just developing better hockey players rather than better all-around athletes. When we focus on the athletics, players have the ability to develop and improve balance, coordination, agility, strength and speed through a wide variety of sports.
The greatest player of all time Wayne Gretzky would spend his summers playing lacrosse and baseball. To this day he credits both for helping him become a better hockey player.
If you look at the majority of players in the NHL almost all of them were incredible multi-sport athletes. This is an important factor when planning your off season.
It is truly important for a player to experience a wide variety of sports both individual and team related that develop a wide range of physical motor skills. I think this philosophy will not only build stronger athletes but ones who will ultimately turn into better players. In saying this, playing summer or spring hockey may not be the best training plan.
Actual Ice Time
The actual ice time the average player gets in a game is around 10 minutes. From those 10 minutes he is actively involved in the play for less than 90 seconds. The actual time in contact with the puck is less than 45 seconds. So, if a player plays a summer schedule of 20 games, excluding any practice time, he is getting 200 minutes of ice time or roughly three hours and 20 minutes of ice time. Is this a good developmental experience?
The Time is now
When planning your summer, consider your options. More and more players and parents have accepted responsibility for player development in the off-season. There is not a better time to practice, learn and refine your skills than right now.
The hockey season is full of games, school and other demands. The spring and summer is a perfect time to develop your skills. I recommend attending a power skating or stick handling camp or taking the time to work on your stick handling and shooting skills in your back yard or driveway.
Play other sports -- enjoy the outdoors. Playing games all summer must not be confused with skill development. Individual skill development is something that must be taught, practiced, repeated and reinforced over and over for it to become automatic and natural. Here are a few ideas and suggestions to work on your game during the off-season.
Off Season Ideas to improve your Game
•Take an old hockey stick and practice jumping side to side over the stick in a regular pattern. See how many repetitions you can do in 30 seconds.
Ensure a strong knee bend on take off and landing as well as a consistent takeoff and landing foot pattern. Practice sets of three.
•Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. See how fast you can hop from one foot to the other.
• Using the stairs of your house see how many step-ups to the first step you can do in 30 seconds. Do sets of three.
• Take a tennis ball and practice dribbling it with your feet stationary at first and then in motion. Try to always maintain contact and control.
• Get an Extreme Balance Board. Practice balancing on it for as long as you can. It excellent for developing balance, coordination and core body strength for players of all ages.
•Use the Extreme Balance Board to stay stable and stickhandle at the same time.
• Attend a high-quality camp to improve your skills. Here is a good camp in Anchorage this summer: www.turcottehockey.com
Create muscle memory with established practice routines, Over many years of coaching one of the biggest areas I see that needs the most improvement is stick handling with your head up and shooting. You cannot practice these skills enough.
It is essential that players utilize the off-season for improvement and fun. Go out there and play a wide variety of sports. Choose sports you have tried and ones that you have not.
Dedicate 20-30 minutes of your day to improving your hockey skills and you will see dramatic results.
Good luck and enjoy your summer!
Coach Mac |
