HOCKEY FIXES

Johnny aged 11 doing a number of hockey drills on our backyard ice using a tennis ball.  All drills end up with a HEADS UP shot on the Hockey Shots Game.  Using a tennis ball is great for developing quick hands and soft hands.  Read what Wayne Gretzky says about using "tennis balls" on the Quotes and Links Page.  All these drills and more can and should be used at the Mite and Squirt level in the US and novice and atom level in Canada.  Both Countries tried the blue puck without success, it was too light and would not slide properly.  Tennis balls are light enough to be moved back and forth correctly, handled around corners correctly and shot correctly etc... and using a tennis ball in this age group allows better and easier movement of the ball forward and this will lead to a quicker Game.  The tennis ball can be shot, passed and stickhandled with the same techniques you would use if you were using a puck.  All kids want to lift the puck and they develop bad habits of shooting the puck off the middle or tip of their blade causing it to flutter or butterfly with no accuracy or power.  Why wouldn't  a parent want to have their kids taught early on in their hockey stars career to shoot, stickhandle and pass correctly.  The videos below prove that it can and will work.  Who will be the first to grab a hold of this idea and run with it...  Canada, the USA or the Europeans.  If you drag a few Hockey Shots Games on to the ice espically for 5-9 year olds where there might not be a lot of goaltending you can ALSO teach kids to get and keep their  heads up.  This is the most important skill of all for beginning hockey players to learn and a huge advantage for kids that can learn to do this, the sooner the better.

ADVANTAGES OF USING A BALL

1- Easier to move a ball back and forth and be pushed forwards because it is lighter and WILL NOT stick to the ice
2- Quicker Games and Drills because the ball is lighter and WILL NOT stick to the ice
3- Easier to learn and use BETTER technique like correct stckhandling, passing and shooting technique because the
     ball is lighter and WIL NOT stick to the ice.

Correct techniques and habits learnt at an early age will never be forgotten nor wiil they have to be broken when the kids get older.  NOT ONLY DO INCORRECT TECHNIQUE AND BAD HABITS have to be broken as our kids get older BUT proper techniques and proper habits have to be relearnt. .  Kids that slug around the ice chasing after a heavy or sticky puck are not learning all they can at this young age.  Just watch a bunch of young skaters chase the puck around now,  Whack, Whack and more Whacks no handling of the puck or even trying to handle a heavy sticky puck, so no passes no decent shots and definitely no 1 on 1  moves. All these things are hard to do when the player CANNOT control the puck because it is heavy and sticky so what we end up watching is Whack, Whack and more Whacks.  No longer do kids have to use sticks and equipment that are to big for them so why can't we find something better for them to practice with, wait a minute I think I did... Black puck too heavy, Blue puck too sticky, Tennis ball just right.  New ideas and new innovation but will they work.  I think they will.  The drills below prove that this can and will work, what do you think Jack?  
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The videos below show the kids at my 3rd Annual Summer Camp competing hard doing a stickhandling drill and ending up with a HEADS UP shot on the Hockey Shots Game.   The emphasis being on proper techniques and team work.  The kids work hard and enjoy the competition.  Kids of all ages and skills are competing  together as a TEAM.  What does your Summer Camp do for off ice training?  Do they teach the kids what they can do off ice to get better on ice?    Does your summer camp know what to do?   Stickhandling on the pavement in the arena parking lot with golfs balls will not improve their skills.



1st Place



2nd Place

The kids that pay attention and work at their skills at home are the ones that have improve the most at my camp.  You only get out of something what you put into it. 

Why don't Local clubs, State or National Organizations have shooting and accuracy contests.  A great way to evaluate age groups and to get kids off the couch.  They have contests like speed cup stacking, why not have speed target shooting for hockey players??  You could get kids from inline, street and ice hockey all competing for the title of "Top Hockey Shot" ... sounds like a reality TV show in the making.

Below are a few of the many drills that can be done at the rink.  Imagination is all you need.   Does your local hockey program provide an area for off ice hockey training?  Is there an area available but  it is not being put to good use?  Why not?  Does your arena have a designated area that is never used?  Why not?  Below are some videos of drills being done in a small corner of a hockey arena.  These drills are fun to do and will improve your skills.  Do the drills while you wait for a siblings practice to get over, before your own practice starts or anytime you are at the rink.   Anybody that thinks kids want to mindlessly just shoot pucks isn't understanding what this website is about.  We need to give all  hockey players the correct direction.  Mindlessly shooting 10,000 pucks with bad technique will not help your hockey game.  Hockey programs need to come up with new and interesting drills that WILL improve our kids skills and their "WANT" to practice them.  Having shooting evaluations and shooting contests are a couple of ways.







Eventually people will have to decide between fact and fiction and what will work for their kids training.  Spending more money on hockey training than other parents is not a guarentee the your kid will be good.  I know for fact that this is a myth and the TRUTH.  If you have a good local hockey program that is knowledgable and has the success of all kids in mind then you are ahead of most and this helps.  Ultimately you have to do your own homework and you have to find the good training aids and directions from all the snake oil products out there.   Most of the programs I have seen in recent years are a political joke.  No integrity and No direction to make the Game fun or their programs competitive...  house league programs at best.   When this is the case it is more important than ever to do your homework.  You need to find people and websites that are willing to help you by telling you the truth and giving you the proper directions without taking you to the cleaners.  

Concussion Summit:  An Exciting Meeting of the Minds or so says USA Hockey Magazine in Oct of this year 2010.  Eveyone from medical people to hockey coaches will be there.  I have tried without success to get on to the website to put in my 2 cents worth and this is what I would say if I can and do.

I remember as a kid getting my "bell rung" a few times,  whether it was from a cheap hit or I had my head down I was run over and I DIDN'T LIKE IT!    What I learnt from those hits very quickly was to GET AND KEEP MY HEAD UP and to acquire a keen sense of ON ICE AWARENESS.  Experience + learning = getting and keeping my head up.  Isn't that what life is all about?    I think if I had some better training and direction as a kid things could have OR should have been learnt in practice.   So what will these people talk about ?  Better drills and training?  Better equipment? More rules?    Who will be there and what will be discussed.  Will anything be accomplished or more of the same old same old.  A lot of theories and nonsense. 

These are my fixes and they are simple and straight forward. 

1-BETTER DRILLS AND TRAINING: Teach kids to GET AND KEEP their heads up right from the start of their hockey careers and this includes proper teachings both on the ice and off.  Using drills like the ones above eith a tennis ball will help and work.  If a too heavy or too light puck isn't always sticking to the ice then a kid WILL NOT always be looking for it.  Also coaches need to include more reactionary drills in practice at an early age and this includes drills where players do the same drill from 2 DIFFERENT directions and end up passing each other going the other way... in other words if they do not GET AND KEEP their heads up they will run into each other.   The hardiness and flexibility of Blue Mite and Novice players is amazing.  This is the age to learn by trial and error and to learn the proper way to play, we as coaches and teachers should NOT allow bad habits to form they become unbreakable as the kids get older.

2- BETTER EQUIPMENT: Next week

3- MORE RULES: