Page 8 - The Hockey Academy News February 2018

AOff-Season / Off-Ice Training BY SCOTT PRUNIER
s the hockey season comes the hockey players what they should hockey player development program. to a close some athletes will do on the ice but often what I see In the past, they were reserved for head off to play baseball, is unorganized, mildly supervised athletes who were mature and fully
lacrosse, or another sport this running up and down the bleachers, committed to the game. Now, young
spring. While I think multiple sports jumping, and push-ups all done with
players are increasingly taking the time to improve their on-ice game off the ice.
Off-ice hockey workouts for your athletes should focus on training the tness characteristics that directly transfer to hockey skills and tactics. Strength and endurance are obviously important, but you must also incorporate balance, deceleration and stability components into your athletes’ programs.
At any age our objective is to educate and introduce sport-speci c fundamentals and techniques. Exposing young athletes to a wide variety of training modalities stimulates healthy physical development and increases functional capabilities, motor skills and knowledge. It also limits early specialization and adaption
are great to play for athlete’s of all ages my belief is that a properly coached and well designed “off-ice” program, as people in the hockey world call it, can bene t the overall physical development of today’s hockey player.
Being a strength and conditioning coach the last 19 years and having trained thousands of youth athletes I like to think I have some decent knowledge about what I think good training is for our growing children. Working out of a hockey rink for the past 15 years I hear coaches saying kids should do off-ice training and I also see coaches teaching off-ice training to the kids on his or hers team. Now I won’t blame the coaches because it’s not what their role is as a hockey coach, just like mine is not to teach
bad form.
Now here is what I think we
should be doing with our children and what my de nition of off-ice training is. From Mites to Midgets, every age group and child has general and speci c needs. Children’s bodies develop at different rates, each person has strengths and weakness on the ice, and some have physical restrictions that we need to improve for them to become a better athlete on and off the ice.
Hockey players need strength, power, speed, and agility to excel on the ice. Our performance enhancement program, geared towards hockey, help optimize these areas during the preseason, in- season, or off-season.
These days, off-ice hockey workouts are a staple of any serious
8 FEBRUARY 2018 | THEHOCKEYACADEMY.COM