It’s early September now and school is back in session! The days are shorter, fall sports are in full swing, and the training schedule that worked over the summer now needs to be modified. And looking at the calendar, winter hockey team tryouts are coming up in just a few weeks!
Not to worry, as there’s always time to get more reps and keep your skills sharp at home. For this week’s article, our friend Connor Beaupre, Assistant Varsity Coach for Academy of Holy Angels (Richfield, MN) shares some of his tips for how you can still fit hockey training into your back-to-school schedule so that you can perform your best at tryouts in a few weeks and have an effective winter season.
60 Seconds of Stickhandling
While you wait for breakfast, while you wait for the bus, or right before you take off for work in the morning, grab your stick and a Stickhandling Ball and set a timer for 60 seconds. Work on standard stickhandles, toe drags, chip ups, and other moves for the entire 60 seconds. Making sure to stay consistent and doing this every day will greatly improve your dangles when you get back onto the ice. Throw in a SweetHands 2.0 for an extra challenge and work on even more moves!
50 Pucks a Day
It may not seem like a big amount, but just doing this can get you a harder and more accurate shot in no time! Pull out 50 pucks and take 10 minutes to get your shots in before or after you have to go to school or work. If you do this for just two weeks, you'll have shot over 500 pucks in no time! Fire them into the corners of your Shooting Tarp or your Ultimate Goalie to work on accuracy or add a Stick Weight to really increase your power!
Keep Your Balance Board Handy
There's never a bad time to hop on your balance board and improve your leg and core strength! If you're studying after school or watching some TV to relax, just hop on your board while you do. In time your legs will learn to calibrate on their own while your upper body and brain are focused on something else, which is exactly the type of muscle group multi-tasking we need to be effective hockey players. Even if balancing is hard at the start, the more you practice, the easier it will get. Eventually you'll be able to do homework, extra work, or even grab your stick and a ball and stickhandle while balancing!
Get Back Into Your Skates
Doing any of these drills while you’re in school shoes is most convenient to be sure, but getting reaccustomed to shooting or stickhandling while on skates (and elevated off the ground) will translate into better on-ice performance. Even if you don’t have skateable synthetic ice at home, consider how wearing walkable skate guards like SKABOOTS with your skates can help you give you that elevation and allow for effective training.
Take Care of your Body
It sounds simple, but elite athletes like Tom Brady, Roger Federer and others enjoyed exceptional performance and career longevity because of their commitment to sleep, hydration, and diet. Since most players have winter team tryouts in just a few short weeks, the sacrifice is relatively short in comparison to the benefit of performing at your best at tryouts. So for a few weeks, skip the sleepovers and late night bonfires for a few weeks and commit to a solid 8 hours. Hold off on junk food and sweets, instead reach for clean protein, fruits, vegetables and grains. Drink plenty of water, and skip the sugary energy drinks.
No matter what you choose to do to improve your game, even little steps can help make a big difference in the long run. Getting into these habits can help make you a better player and hopefully get you on your desired team this winter and translate into peak performance.
Edited in September 2024 from an original article written by Connor Beaupre in August 2023. Connor was the starting goalie for Edina, MN during his high school years, serves as an assistant coach with Academy of Holy Angels men’s varsity hockey team (Richfield, MN), and trains with elite hockey players ranging from youth players to professional athletes. He currently works as a marketing professional, videographer and content creator for various hockey companies and other consumer brands.
