Every year around the holidays players are settling into their team and things are starting to gel. I always have enjoyed asking players on my teams what they would like for gifts over holiday break. Sometimes those lists align with their hockey skills, sometimes they don’t. Regardless, it’s always entertaining. I hear lots of the usual: video games, iPhones, iPads, gift cards, etc. I even have heard some of the strange: underwear, pogo stick, and the best, when a player actually wanted a Chia Pet.
Each year I also get some great ‘hockey’ responses, and they are always from the kids who live and breathe the game. They want a new stick, fresh mitts and even rolls of tape as stocking stuffers. These are the kids that you want on your team all day every day. They wake up thinking about hockey and how they can work hard to take their game to the next level. And also how they can use a holiday to get more tools to improve their skills and their game.
So what is on your list this holiday season? Are you asking for the gifts that will result in more time on the couch in front of a screen, or gifts that can help you grow as a person and a player. There are so many cool training aides available that make it both fun and enjoyable to improve your skills. So what are you waiting for?
Are you heading into the holiday break wishing you would have shot more pucks over the summer? Or maybe practiced your passing a few more times? What about your stickhandling? Or better yet, did you ever master that puck trick?
These are all things that you should think about when you are making a list, and checking it twice. And with any luck, some of the tools that can help take your game to the next level might just show up under the tree, regardless if you’ve been naughty or nice (after all, we are hockey players).
Happy shopping and remember, nobody led their team in scoring by hanging out before the game with a Chia Pet.
