The Skate Boot

To kick off our “Skates: Your Most Important Piece of Hockey Equipment” series, Laura Stamm of Laura Stamm Power Skating explains the importance of good boots in preventing ankle pain, ensuring good skating form and protecting feet from sticks and pucks. (Hint: This fancy boot shown will not work!) The quality, fit, manner of lacing, sharpening and maintenance of your skates will affect performance. A cheap pair of skates is a bad investment. When it comes to the boot:

• To skate well, hockey players must have well-constructed boots that fit properly with blades made of well-tempered steel, properly sharpened.


• The skate boots support the feet firmly while allowing skaters to lean their boots inward and outward. Good boots have reinforcing material in the counter (instep) area. The reinforcing material makes that area of the boots especially supportive for the arches and ankles. If boots are well made, you should not be able to squeeze the counter and ankle areas together.


• Top-of-the-line boots fit better, provide more support, last longer and offer better protection against injury from pucks or sticks. Choose your skates wisely—they are instrumental in preparing you to develop the skating skills necessary for speed, agility and power.


• Lack of good ankle support almost guarantees that skating will be difficult and uncomfortable. Ankles that cave in cause pain!

Note that unless there has been a specific injury to the foot, weak ankles are generally a myth. If ankles cave in, the cause is usually boots that are ill-fitting or have poorly constructed counters.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Laura Stamm of Laura Stamm Power Skating for this story.

The Jump Rope: An Underestimated Training Tool

A tool that we like to use for training is the jump rope. It is a low cost, portable and highly effective piece of equipment. A good plastic speed rope will cost you approximately $12. Plus, if you are going to be away from your local training facility for a period of time, the rope is easy to pack and bring along.



Jumping rope is easy to add to any workout. It can even be used between sets of a strength training exercise to keep the heart rate at a certain level. In a recent study, this has been shown to improve muscle recovery.

If you think jumping rope is just for kids on the playground, I challenge you to try this workout. We use our 3D jump rope sequence for beginning hockey players. As with any exercise make sure your physician has cleared you for vigorous activity.

Perform each of these drills for 15 seconds, getting as many jumps in as you can.

1. 2 foot normal jump


2. 2 foot side-to-side jump


3. 2 foot twisting left to right


4. Rest for 45 seconds


5. 1 foot alternate skipping


6. 1 foot high knees alternate skipping


7. 1 foot skater hop alternate skipping


8. Rest for 45 seconds


9. Repeat steps 1-8, one more time

I guarantee this 3D jump rope sequence will get your heart rate up! You will also experience the added benefit of working on your foot speed and coordination. You won’t get this kind of workout sitting on a stationary bike! Check it out here:


Editor’s Note: Thank you to Dr. Chad Moreau for this story. Moreau has trained hockey players from youth players all the way up to NHL players and Olympic champions. He is well educated in the biomechanics of the sport, which makes his off-ice hockey training workouts specific to the game of hockey. Watch for his tips in this space and check out HockeyOT, a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web.

I Hate Sports, Now What?

Not all kids like sports. Don’t be surprised or concerned. I strongly support that all kids should participate in some type of exercise program for their physical fitness and health, whether it be a group sport such as football, baseball, basketball, hockey or soccer or an individual one, like walking, running, dance, gymnastics, swimming, or martial arts. It can be just for fun or more for competition.



Allowing your child to find his passion is key. Maybe he is interested in the arts or music. Being a musician myself, I did not participate in structured sports activities as a kid. I loved to ride my bike and I played tennis and racquetball, but my passion was in music. The challenges of being part of an orchestra and a musical theater group are very similar as those in sports—the tryouts, competition, performances, making the group. Any group activity requires harmony and chemistry between individuals to produce something greater than the sum of its parts.

Sports, music and other activities are training grounds for life. The lessons your child learns, beyond the skill of the activity, are endless: teamwork, leadership, commitment, physical strength, motivation, preparation, mental toughness, and confidence. With continued practice, learning and support, he is creating and growing into a powerful person. As a parent, I would view that as a ta-dah!

Editor’s Note: Optometrist Dr. Lynn Hellerstein, O.D., FCOVD, FAAO, has been a pioneer in vision therapy for more than 30 years. See It. Say It. Do It! provides easy, practical, step-by-step strategies and activities to enhance children’s visualization skills.

Get More Speed in Your Game: Part 1

For hockey you need to be more than just fast. You need to be able to repeat your fast performance on the ice again and again. Most players will play between 10–30 shifts in a game with each shift lasting 30–60 seconds. During each shift, you may reach top speed 2–5 times. Many players I have trained have good speed on a one-time, blue-line-to-blue-line skating test. When we make them repeat the test 10 times, however, their performance rapidly deteriorates as fatigue sets in. For these players, we focus on speed endurance training.



Speed endurance is the toughest aspect of fitness to train because the training hurts. You have to push until your muscles are loaded with lactic acid. Speed endurance training produces a hockey player who can go hard every shift, every period. A player with high levels of speed endurance becomes extremely valuable toward the end of each period, especially the third and overtime. One of the best ways to train for speed endurance is with interval training on the track in the off-season.

Interval training consists of short bouts of activity followed by short bouts of rest. For example, the athlete runs the straightaway and walks the turn on a 400-meter track. We call this the variable acceleration 400-meter—and the players hate it! For pro players, we will repeat this 5–10 times, asking the players to try to repeat their performances as consistently as possible. This type of training requires the athlete to train with a lot of lactic acid in their muscles. Lactic acid is a byproduct of the anaerobic metabolism required to do the variable acceleration 400-meter drill.

Check out our sprint training here:



For more information, please visit HockeyOT.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Dr. Chad Moreau for this story. Moreau has trained hockey players from youth players all the way up to NHL players and Olympic champions. He is well educated in the biomechanics of the sport, which makes his off-ice hockey training workouts specific to the game of hockey. Watch for his tips in this space and check out HockeyOT, a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web.

ADM Q&A: Blue Pucks & Passing

Q. My 8-year-old is playing in a summer league that uses the regular black puck rather than the lighter blue puck he’s used throughout the 8U program. His team suffers from weak passing and the parents are blaming it on the blue pucks. If this is true, why would ADM require Mites to use the lighter pucks?



A. USA Hockey mandated the use of the lightweight blue pucks, which are approximately 2 ounces lighter than standard black pucks, in 2003–2004 primarily because the lighter pucks more readily promote the development of on-ice skills for younger players. The lighter puck is easier to shoot, pass and stickhandle for players in the earlier stages of physical development. The blue puck allows the younger, less physically mature player to learn proper technique in passing, shooting and stickhandling - similar to using a smaller ball in soccer or football.

According to USA Hockey ADM Regional Manager Joe Doyle, “Improper technique or lack of strength are typically the primary reasons for poor passing or shooting. If players have proper technique in passing the puck and the required strength, they will be able to make firm, accurate passes with the blue or black puck.” Making an accurate, firm pass to a moving target is difficult at any age and skill level and certainly for an 8U player. “Quality repetitions using the proper technique and physical maturation will improve the very difficult skill of giving an accurate, firm pass to your teammates.” Click the links here for details on teaching proper forehand passes in addition to wrist shots.

Editor's Note: Thank you to USA Hockey ADM Regional Manager Joe Doyle for assistance with this story.

Should We Switch Hockey Associations?

Every year you see—and can’t help but hear—parents who think their player is not being treated fairly. He’s not getting a fair look at tryouts. She’s not getting enough ice time. The association is too political. You know the drill. Whatever the issues, many families start to think about switching hockey associations. And some even switch associations in the middle of tryouts, deposits be darned. But is the grass always greener once you make the switch? We asked an experienced hockey director for his take on the situation.



This question comes up every spring when it’s time to make the deposit for the next year. Unfortunately, there is no 100 percent correct answer. However, I have seen, over time, that about 90 percent of families realize they were in a pretty good organization after they make a change. I believe in loyalty to associations. Kids should have loyalty to the program they started with and give that program the benefit of the doubt. With that being said, it is also the association’s responsibility to be accountable to its members and ensure they offer good coaches, a solid skill-development program and a well-organized schedule.

Over my years as a director, I’ve had coaches who weren’t up to the standards I hoped for. Does each program have a hard time finding quality coaches? Yes! My guess is that over a youth hockey “career”—let’s say 12 to 13 years—each player is likely to experience a season (or two) that does not meet the expectations the program strives to obtain. Does that mean you transfer to another program? My answer would be no.

Are there exceptions? Absolutely, there will be some. I do believe that sometimes a change is good. There are always cases where it might be best for the player, family and program to part ways. However, I would say that 90 percent of players should (and usually do) remain with their club.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Angelo Ricci for sharing his 15 years of expertise as a hockey director in this article. Ricci is founder, head instructor and consultant for Ricci Hockey Consulting. With 20+ years experience as a skills and stickhandling coach, he conducts/oversees more than 40 programs year-round that develop over 1,000 players each year.

How to Improve Your Change of Direction Speed

If you watch a hockey game, it quickly becomes evident that the average time a hockey player skates at full speed at any time during the game is for less than five seconds followed by a change in speed or direction. This is not to say that hockey is not a very fast-paced game when played at the elite level. Hockey is about quick, explosive movements and efficient change of direction. The best skaters are able to quickly turn, pivot, shift laterally or delay, creating time and space to get open or make a play. Elite skaters have developed high levels of strength, power and quick reaction time—which all contribute to agility. Agility is the ability to quickly and efficiently change direction.



An efficient hockey-specific training program is based on understanding the demands of the game of hockey. Speed is one of the important skills of the game, but top speed is rarely reached—and when it is, it’s almost never maintained for very long before a player needs to change direction. As a result, the ability to change direction rapidly is much more desirable than simply being fast in a straight line.

At hockeyot.com, you’ll find multiple exercises to help improve your change of direction speed. A few of our favorites include:

1. Lateral Agility Drill: Set up 3 cones all 5 meters apart. Start at the center cone. Sprint towards 1 of the end cones, touch the ground in front of the cone, quickly change directions and sprint to other end cone, touch the ground and change directions and sprint back past center cone. If you have a partner, have them call out the starting direction (left or right) to start the drill.


2. Lateral Shuffle Partner Shadow: Start by facing your partner and make sure you have 10 yards of unobstructed space. Laterally shuffle side-to-side while your partner tries to shadow for 20–30 seconds. Don’t let the simplicity of this exercise fool you as both athletes will be working hard during this exercise!


3. Short Shuttle: Set up cones or markers at 0-5-10-15 and 20 yards (or meters). Sprint to each marker, touch the ground in front of the cone and back to starting marker. Make sure to turn towards the marker with each change of direction. To add competition to this drill, have your partner race you from the other side of the cones. One set of this drill will feel like a tough hockey shift!

For appropriate sets/reps and rest period prescriptions, please click here.

Work on your change of direction speed during your off-ice training and watch how your ability to maneuver on the ice improves. See the Lateral Agility Drill here.



Editor’s Note: Thank you to Dr. Chad Moreau for this story. Moreau has trained hockey players from youth players all the way up to NHL players and Olympic champions. He is well educated in the biomechanics of the sport, which makes his off-ice hockey training workouts specific to the game of hockey. Watch for his tips in this space and check out HockeyOT, a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web.

3 Steps for Handling Issues with a Coach

In every sport you will hear parents and players complain about “bad” coaches. We asked a long-term hockey director what parents should do when this situation arises. Read on for his advice.



First, you need to dissect what you mean that the coach “isn’t working out” or is a “bad coach.” Oftentimes, a close look at parents’ complaints reveals something other than an issue with development or the team’s win/loss record. Sometimes it’s a personal conflict with the coach. Other times it’s a belief that their player is not getting the ice time he or she deserves—or even that the player is not playing on the same line with his or her friends (or the parents’ friends)! There will always be situations in which a family believes the coach is not doing a good job—and sometimes it is a real concern.

When a real concern arises, follow these steps:

1. First, speak with the team manager.


2. If that doesn’t help, ask for a face-to-face meeting with the coach. It should not be a confrontational meeting, but more of a discussion of the issues.


3. If you feel things are still not improving, ask for a meeting with your association’s hockey director or board member who handles these types of issues.

The best way to ensure that the discussion is honest, upfront and not behind the coach’s back is to make sure there is a good line of communication. I do believe all coaches—even the ones who might not be getting it done—want the player to have fun and develop.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Angelo Ricci for sharing his 15 years of expertise as a hockey director in this article. Ricci is founder, head instructor and consultant for Ricci Hockey Consulting. With 20+ years experience as a skills and stickhandling coach, he conducts/oversees more than 40 programs year-round that develop over 1,000 players each year.

The Problem with the 6-Week Promise

As you’re reviewing summer development camp options for your players, watch out for over-the-top promises. Many facilities, trainers, coaches and franchise-type facilities around North America are saying to mom and dad: “For $700 or $800, I’ll put together a six-week program that makes your young athlete as fast and powerful as possible, as strong and speed-based as possible.” But that type of promise is inappropriate on a number of levels.



The development of a young person’s body and the corresponding mental and emotional development really do take time. It’s not about making kids as fast or as strong as possible in six or eight weeks. It’s about developing over the long term. You really can’t train young athletes in short bursts of time. I recommend that parents try and stay away from trainers who talk about “six weeks to maximum performance.” Those things shouldn’t really be involved in youth development—it really should be more of a long-term scope.

The best and most appropriate way to understand the concept of long-term development is to compare it to academics. After all, you can’t get a master’s degree before you get a bachelor’s degree. And you can’t get a bachelor’s degree before you get a high school diploma. As you know, in academics, everything is a cognitive building block upon itself. So think of training and developing young athletes as you would academics. You wouldn’t go through second grade in six weeks—you couldn’t. There is a rhyme and a reason for it and the same holds true for developing athletes.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Brian Grasso, founder and CEO of the International Youth Conditioning Association, for this story. Grasso is recognized as the world's leading expert on youth athlete development and fitness.

Elements of Power in Hockey Skating: The Release, Follow Through & Return

In this continuing series on the Elements of Power Skating, Laura Stamm explains the proper release, follow-through and return that produces efficient speed.



Release

After a proper windup, the pushing skate and leg drive directly and fully against the pushing edge. All skating pushes are outward/inward—not backward/forward. Too many players allow the pushing skate and leg to slip back into a walking/running motion. This is a huge mistake.

Follow Through

A push is complete only when the pushing skate and leg are fully extended. Full extension is the instant in a push during which the entire leg—hip, quads, knee, calf, ankle and toes—is locked. A well-executed follow through allows for the all-important “toe-flick,” the final push against the ice with the front of the edge.

Note that full extension is based on maintaining a 90-degree knee bend of the gliding leg at the point of full extension. A lesser knee bend produces a lesser range of motion and subsequently an inadequate push.

Return

The importance of the return is that it prepares the skater for the next push. As previously mentioned, each push must begin directly beneath the center of gravity. An incomplete return means that the skates and legs will be outside the “battery pack” at the beginning of the next push. The subsequent push will be “empty”—inefficient and ineffective.

Players who push from a wide base feel as though they’re going fast because they can move their legs rapidly. Of course they can move their legs rapidly—their range of motion is very short. In actuality, they end up working hard and accomplishing little. These players also tend to tire quickly because they waste a lot of energy “going nowhere fast.” Our goal is efficient speed. To accomplish this, each push must go through its full range of motion.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Laura Stamm of Laura Stamm Power Skating for this story. Kelly Anton, managing editor of the Grow the Game initiative, edited this story.

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