If I Had A Young Hockey Player

I know there was a time — some 40-plus years ago — when I’d have loved to have trapped a noted hockey guru of that time, so I could ask him a kzillion questions. Tops on my list of questions would have been that “if I had a young hockey player” thingy. If there’s something tricky about such a question, however, it’s that some high level hockey gurus know what the elite level is like, but they haven’t a clue how to systematically bring an athlete from beginner to elite. That in mind, let me share a few thoughts…

Okay, let’s get that last part out of the way — about systematically (and safely) bringing a youngster from one level to the next…

You see, I often liken this to the math sciences, asking a hockey parent or coach if he’d recommend a first grader skip right from basic addition and subtraction — never delving into algebra, geometry or trig — and moving right into calculus. Something tells me you wouldn’t buy that approach to a youngster’s schooling. Yet, I’ve met quite a few parents, coaches and even supposedly experienced gurus who try to do much the same with young hockey players.

Now, anyone who has followed me for any length of time knows that I’m not exactly a mamby-pamby, and I’m not into distorting our game. Actually, I do let my true feelings be known very early in my video about “Creating the Early Goal-scorer“, in that I seldom ever showed my grandson “a trick or shortcut that wasn’t specific to where he was playing at a given time.” You have to know that I had already coached a ton of other kids to the NHL and other high places. So I knew plenty of things I could have shared with my little buddy. I knew that thing about not skipping steps, though, or about helping a student methodically move through progressions like we would do in math and other such bodies of knowledge.

There was yet another message I had to make in the above noted video…

Without question, belief in oneself is everything in sport, and it’s huge when we’re talking about young athletes. So, if I had a young hockey player, nearly everything I would do with my own — and just about everything I did with my grandson — had to do with boosting confidence. Of course, that seems easier said than done, huh? But, if you think about it, the aim would be to help one get good at just a few things, in stead of too many. In fact, this might be a pretty good example of being a “master of some key skills” as opposed to a “jack of too many…”

I’d make athleticism the number one quality. Partly because the human body is most receptive to this kind of development during the early years, and partly because athleticism can form the basis for an awesome hockey player.

Now, it isn’t easy to get very specific here, meaning that I’m not about to list or diagram what needs to be done with a 5-year old, a 6-year old, a 7-year old, etc. It is pretty easy to explain things in generalities, however. So, if I had a young hockey player today, well…

A lot of that athleticism can and should involve handling the body away from the ice — just think about gymnastics, handball, tag, dodgeball, rope skipping, bounding, plus any kinds of individual or team sports that call for all sorts of wild movements, agility, and reading and reacting to opposition players. Of course, skating mechanics are important, but so might be a combination of all the aforementioned athletic movements done on the ice. (See these two important posts to discover how important it might be to ingrain certain qualities: “Critical Periods in Motor Learning – 1” and “Critical Periods in Motor Learning – 2“.)

When I thought about the next most important skill, in reference to if I had a young hockey player, I immediately searched for an old post I wrote on “Drills to Build Puckhandling Skills“. Long time members know that the balloon dribble is one of my favorites when it comes to developing stick dexterity, while newer members just have to look into that. Then, while I already mentioned about playing some other sports to help enhance athleticism, I highly recommend exploring the benefits of floorball. As for some great advice on puckhandling drills, I suggest a parent or coach plug “Incredible Stickhandling” into the CoachChic.com Search box, and work your way through all those awesome drills. It might be wise to only use a few with a very young player, just as I suggested in the start.

Well, that’s it. Nothing really complicated here, but instead every single piece of the blueprint is outlined in a half-dozen posts and videos contained right on this site.

Are there any doubters? Ha. It would only come from someone who is dealing from the dark ages, absent any knowledge of science, or looking to sell a training gadget that no player should ever touch.