As young female hockey players reach their mid-teens, the influence of popular culture may lead them to question whether they want to stay involved in a sport that is not only traditionally ‘male’, but also requires them to be physically strong. Can players be the best on the ice and still fit into the “skinny size zero” ideal?”
The selection committee at the Hockey Hall of Fame seems oblivious to the fact that girls’ and women’s hockey is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Not only are there no women enshrined in the Hall, but we aren’t even represented on the selection committee that decides the fate of all its potential inductees. How are we going to get on the wall, if we can’t even get a seat at the table?
Do you go to the hockey shop and stare at the stick rack like it was a math problem. So many different brands, patterns, flexes, colors, shapes, sizes, and every brand has that new technology that will make you a sniper. So how do you decide which stick is right for you.
It doesn’t matter if you are a competitive player or a weekend warrior, everyone wants to improve at the sport they love. Many hockey players are stuck working out like bodybuilders and never see results on the ice. In this article we will go into detail on sport-specific conditioning for ice hockey. You will find exercises that will help players of every level both at home and in the gym.
Off-ice off-season training programs for hockey are much easier to find than ever before. However, becoming more mainstream does not mean that these programs are any more effective for developing young hockey players. Most summer hockey training programs fall victim to the same four problems and players, parents and coaches should do everything they can to avoid programs that have any of these fundamental flaws.
Is your child interested in learning to play ice hockey? If so, you probably have a lot of questions. This article will give you the answers you need to help your child get started in the coolest game around - ice hockey!
If you look at any girls hockey team, the best players are typically the best all-around athletes. The girls that excel on the ice are usually the ones who dominate the soccer field, basketball court and baseball diamond. But what makes these athletes so dominant in every sport they play?
Girls hockey players should NOT be spending hours and hours cooped up in a training facility this summer. There is a misconception that you have to go to the latest training facility with all the fancy expensive equipment in order to train effectively during the off-season. THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE! A properly designed off-season training program for aspiring female hockey players is not only easy-to-understand and easy-to-use, but will also be highly effective - without requiring any expensive gym memberships or complicated workout machines.
One of the biggest problems I see when I look at the off-season training programs of young female hockey players is that they involve entirely too much aerobic training. The game of hockey is characterized by short, explosive, high-intensity efforts interspersed with periods of complete rest. The best hockey players in the world are the ones who are strong, fast, agile and powerful - not those who can run at 10 miles in the fastest time. Hockey is simply not an endurance sport - and training that way will lead to players becoming slower (instead of faster) this off-season.
I recently reviewed the off-season training program of a varsity women’s hockey team from a major Canadian university. The off-season training programs available to female hockey players have come a long way since I was a 16 year old reading women’s fitness magazines to find tips and advice on how to take my game to the next level. But reading this program was like getting transported back in time. I could probably write a critique of the program that is nearly as long as the 76 page program. But instead I will show you the 3 biggest problems I saw with the program and how making these same mistakes can actually decrease your performance and increase your chance of injuries this off-season. This article will discuss the 1st problem: the exercises were NOT functional.
