We are currently nearing or at the end of the off-season. Players and parents endure a lot in the off season… Showcases, Tryouts, Main Camps, not to mention, work, school, friends and home life. Many players cope with these external factors in different ways. Time off? Sad to see it end? Frustrated? Certainly, we all experience the full gamut of emotions in the off-season.
With this article Ill illustrate some common mistakes Junior players make with hockey off- seasons. I hope it informs you and gives you that little extra level of motivation.
Mistake 1- They Tryout Too Much!
A common mistake I hear made by parents each season is, “My kid wants to play at the next level.” Rarely do I hear, “My kid wants to play at the right level.”
I think it’s incredibly important for players and parents to evaluate programs based upon a different set of criteria. This criteria does not include oftentimes arbitrary labels, jersey color schemes, and leagues they play in. Instead (certainly at the younger levels) it should be focused on a carefully analyzed road map:
- Can my son/daughter improve their individual skills in this program?
- Does this program have a positive culture?
- Will my son/daughter be surrounded by good coaches who will stress their long-term improvement?
- What is the management of the organization like? Is it made up of Hockey People or Parents?
There certainly is nothing wrong with trying out for a team or program to gauge yourself against competition and challenge yourself. Or maybe the program you are in does not provide the above criteria, and you are looking for a place that does. Yet, far too often parents and players chase labels rather than embracing the strength of a program and taking a healthy step back to see which program is the ideal fit for their son or daughter. They “Tryout” more than they “Train”. Once you dominate the level you are at… you wont need to go to 4 or 5 tryouts to make a team, so embrace the best fit and have fun.
In particular with Junior Players, make sure your realistic goal lines up with your realistic level. If you have not dominated the previous season (40+ games) at the level you are at then do you realistically have a chance to move up based up a much smaller sample size at a tryout? Find the right fit to dominate and be the best you can be.
Mistake 2 – Players Just Play Games
Mens League. Tryouts. Tournaments…
Why all the games?????
Developing a multi-dimensional athletic brain is critical to advancing within the sport of ice hockey. These skills and traits can be developed either on the ice or off the ice. Any sports psychologist will tell you the benefits of overcoming obstacles, goal setting, visualization, and mental toughness. These traits can be harnessed and developed off the ice, and will be absolutely critical for your son or daughter to advance in the sport of ice hockey. The sport of life too.
Recently though, and equally as important in hockey is vision training. Many local optometrists offer these services in their local practices, and they help athletes train such skills as:
- Eye Tracking
- Peripheral Awareness
- Focusing
- Hand Eye Coordination
- Reaction Time
- Balance
Goaltenders are the most obvious position players who could benefit from vision training, but certainly every position on the ice would see a dramatic improvement in their game with vision training. Whether it’s injury prevention because of increased on- ice awareness, better depth perception to avoid collisions, or improved hand-eye coordination… athletes see remarkable results with vision training.
Moreover, the US National Development Team Program has used Hockey IntelliGym to combine some of these visual and cognitive skill training with their athletes, and seen substantial results.
Anticipation, situational awareness, divided attention, working memory, and other core cognitive skills can be trained using the Hockey IntelliGym sports intelligence training program. And today, we’re going to tell you about how USA Hockey helped develop the program, along with the incredible results that the training has brought to the US National Team Development Program (NTDP) since integrating the training with their U17 and U18 teams in 2009. How Hockey Sense Training Changed the Game for USA Hockey – The Hockey IntelliGym® (usahockeyintelligym.com)
So remember… your son or daughter may benefit more on the ice from a weekly trip to the eye doctor, then another summer tournament. Not all development and improvement will come from playing more hockey. Try other approaches that support the long-term athletic development of your player. Junior players… if you havent tried eye training or Hockey IntelliGym give it a try. Itll cut back on off- season training injuries, and support your athletic recovery while also improving your athletic functionality.
Mistake 3 – Neglecting Your Strength & Conditioning
“The Legs Feed the Wolf”- Herb Brooks
The premise behind Coach Brooks’ quote stems from the nature of how wolves hunt. Wolves need to have the strength to be able to stalk and chase their prey if they want to eat and survive. The stronger your legs are – the stronger and better conditioned your entire body will be.
Coach Brooks knew his team wouldn’t be the most talented team at the Olympics, but he promised they’d be the best conditioned team. He knew that his team would have to work harder than they had ever worked in their entire lives if they wanted to have a chance against the Soviet Union.
For Team USA, this meant lots and lots of conditioning drills that would push them past the point of exhaustion. They were getting their legs, and bodies, ready to do the work.
In my opinion, the most common mistake young players and Junior Players make in their hockey off-seasons is not dedicating themselves to a rigorous strength program. The off-season is the ideal time to build up your body, increase strength, increase power, and condition your body for the rigors of a hockey season.
Off-season strength and conditioning should also be different from what you are doing in season. The vast majority of in-season strength training should be tailored to maintain the gains you have accumulated over the course of the off season, while also preventing injuries, and healthily prepping your body for game action. During the season, you are breaking down your bodies so readily during practices and games. The opposite should take effect in the off season, as you have limited or less competitive games. In effect, you should be making your off-season workouts the place where you get your most vigorous training and break down, to build up, your body.
Periodization is a term used by fitness professionals, strength coaches and even athletes to describe a certain structure to a training program. Essentially, rather than just heading to the gym and exercising, a periodized training program follows a predetermined progression of exercises, sets, reps and intensity ranges.
Basically, this method of building a training program allows you to set “periods” of time when you’ll focus on a certain set of exercises, but also do so with a specific focus in mind. This program then progresses over time as you move into the next “period of your training program.”Periodization 101: How To Build An Effective Training Program – RM Members (rudymawer.com)
Using a periodized strength training program, players can phase out their strength goals over the course of the 3-5 month off-season, setting goals and benchmarks to achieve the desired results. Additionally, it creates a roadmap for the athlete to follow.
A wise man once said failure to plan is planning to fail. Using a dedicated, phased out, off-season strength and conditioning program will create a strict course for your athlete to follow and help them prepare for their in-season in the right way. They’ll be stronger, confident and more prepared than ever before. Stronger players make faster, better skaters.
Andrew Trimble is the General Manager and Co- Owner of the New England Wolves Hockey Club. He is also the Owner of Scoring Concepts LLC, a New Hampshire based hockey training company that offers camps, clinics, private lessons and teams. He has coached at all levels from Learn to Skate to College Hockey. For more info on his teams and programs check out- www.scoringconcepts.com or www.ne-wolveshockey.com
Pick up his New Book “The Hockey Planner” by clicking on this link here- The Hockey Planner: A Year by Year Plan to Assist You on Your Hockey Coaching Journey: From Learn to Play to Junior Hockey: Trimble, Andrew: 9781963743388: Amazon.com: Books
