Agility Ladder Training for Hockey Players
As has been mentioned several times and in several places, I’ll be running a series of videos demonstrating my way of adapting agility ladder training for hockey players. This post is my aim at helping coaches, parents and adult players to ready for that form of training.
First, of course, you’ll need a ladder…
And, while you can buy some pretty nice ones, I’ve chosen to make my own, mainly because I’ve found that: 1) my form of training can be hard on a ladder, and 2) because I’ll eventually want to take an agility ladder or two to the ice (where the skate blades are apt to cut light or flimsy rope or light plastic.
No matter how you construct your own ladder, most are designed to be 18″ wide with the rungs spaced 18″ apart. My outside the box approach to training, though, had me build several ladders with adjustable spacing between some rungs. My reasoning? It’s because our game is played in a way that has players adjusting their steps according to their surroundings.
As for materials, I’ve used 1/2″ rope to form the sides, and then found some sturdy wood or plastic to cut and drill holes in for my rungs. I’ve also painted a ladder on an adequate surface, and found that most paint holds up pretty well through at least a season of heavy use.
Secondly, I just mentioned an “adequate surface”, and by that I really mean that it needs to be a “forgiving surface”…
Picture it, if you will, that a player moving in and out of the ladder is constantly pounding on the surface below. And, further realize that the human skeleton wasn’t meant to constantly pound on something like concrete or another hard surface. No, our frames aren’t meant to constantly endure that, and it’s possible for us to ultimately develop shin splints and worse — from the feet to the ankles to the hips to the back and…
Unfortunately, I used some harder surfaces for the purpose of filming some of what you’ll see in some of my video footage.
It’s quite likely you have a school track close by that is “paved” with either a combination of rubber and other synthetics, or it might be composed of something akin to cork. In each case, those materials were designed to provide runners just what I’m trying to describe: a forgiving surface.
Thirdly, we come to the shoes and clothing. And, in each case, I say that “lighter is always better”, because that will allow for quicker feet and other quick actions.
Lastly, my video series will eventually be hosted here on my CoachChic.com website — just search for “agility ladder” when you get a chance. I’ll post frequent updates in various social media groups, and especially in the Hockey Drills Only group. (My paid members will have access to the complete agility ladder series. )
PS: There is another post on this site that’s not a lot different than the above. At worst, I think a visitor might get just a slightly different view of things in “My Kinda of Agility Ladder“.
