It was fun to recently greet my 2010 New England Hockey Institute HS Prep hockey team, as they returned to The MOTION Lab. Of course, most players were returnees, while just a few new kids replaced those who had graduated or moved on.
-- Dennis Chighisola
My HS Prep Hockey Team Returns to the Lab
Before getting underway, I'm hoping that you've already seen my video series, "You Don't Need Ice!", because I'll be referring to it often as we move into the summer months and then on to the regular season. (If you haven't yet done so, use the above link and sign-up quickly, because I'll be removing that information as it becomes rather passe. Also, you'll want to be on my mailing list so you're notified in advance about a few special events I'll be announcing shortly.)
As for my views on the spring and summer, they have a lot to do with how I see the season just completed... I mean, players have been pretty much beat-up over the long winter -- both physically and mentally, which means they need some time to lick their wounds and to clear their minds. (Come to think of it, don't parents also need a little break after a long, grueling season?)
None of the above means that a player should just veg over the off-season months. No, some sort of active relaxation is ideal for the spring. And, for that, I usually suggest my players participate in a spring sport (other than hockey).
By the way, as a coach responsible for the development of a lot players, I really have to pick and choose my own breaks wisely. So, I'll usually alternate three main areas this time of year -- studying or organizing for my players' sake, taking some personal time, as well as working on lots of non-team hockey stuff. I highly recommend other coaches do something similar. Or, at the very least, don't wait until the fall to start thinking about your team. As with many other things, what we get accomplished in advance usually pays huge dividends for a long time to come.
Now, I almost always bring my high school guys into the Lab sometime around the end of May or early in June. That gives most of them plenty of time away from hockey, or a chance to complete their school and other sport commitments.
As I offer in numerous ways throughout this site, I always have an end-goal for my guys, which includes what I'll call for now a "ready date", the amount of time we have until that date, and a list of skills or qualities I'll want me kids to have under their belts by then. As for my HS Prep team's ready date, it's the first Monday after Thanksgiving. That's when all Massachusetts based high school hockey teams are permitted to hold their first tryouts.
So, if you can appreciate what I just suggested, there is absolutely no need for my guys to be at the top of their game -- right now, in July, August, September or October. Oh, they want to be well on their way. But, there's only one period that truly matters -- again, that first Monday after our US Thanksgiving.
That said, our earliest Lab training sessions are VERY low-key. My aim is to ease the kids back into hockey. And, I mean that I want to just gradually get them into the physical stuff, while at the same time not yet putting them through any real mental drudgery. (My players know I'm not easy on them, by any means. Still, there's a time to push, and this definitely is not the time.)
So, for now, the training mostly about technique. There's a very good chance my guys' skating mechanics are off. And, because they most likely had to scramble their butts-off to compete in winter games, they've probably missed the chance to work on new puckhandling moves, passing skills, or scoring plays. In fact, because their main job was to just do the best they could in games, it's going to ultimately help my kids if I help them re-master a number of their defensive skills.
As for the lesson plan I designed for these earliest Lab sessions, they mostly have to do with "muscle memory". For new members who don't recognize that term, let me say that, "A player does in a game whatever he or she has done the most to that point."
In other words, if you swing a baseball bat in practice to include a hitch of some sort -- and, if you ultimately do that faulty swing more times than you swing correctly, you can be sure that hitch is going to be present when you enter a game.
Then, as a preface to telling you about the drills we used, let me also point-out that I always build a warm-up routine to accomplish a number of things. Sure, the idea is to warm the body. However, rather than waste time, I will usually build our warm-ups to include exercises that also teach or enhance some key skills.
With that, here are the drills...
Rope Skipping -- The kids begin with light skipping, aimed at warming them a bit, and also encouraging them to develop coordination and lightness on their feet.
Skip Ball Hops -- The little gadget we use has several names, but you'll see it used in the video that follows. I'm chuckling as I write this but, while most of my kids have become accomplished rope skippers, the idea of this very different type of device really challenges their neuro-muscular systems. :)
T-cord Simulations -- Very shortly, my guys are going to start using the Techni-cords. However, I developed this rather slo-mo drill as sort of a prerequisite. In essence, a player practices sitting low, and then moving from one skating posture to another (as in striding from the left to the right), over and over again. Yup, this is all about muscle memory.
Players actually rotate through the above three drills three times, so that they're fairly warmed as they move into the next drills.
Agility Ladder -- Right now I'm just re-familiarizing my kids with the basic movements. I'm also demanding that they get back to good technique at this time. Hey, we can shoot for real fast footwork a little later down the line.
Tumbling Mat Work -- I put this one in especially to get my new players familiar with the forward roll (and I spent extra time helping them with this). As everyone got the hang of it, I had them start tumbling with a stick in their hands. Still later, I had the boys bring a ball along with them.
Knee Dribble Progressions -- My guys actually wear the "Dribble Aids" described in the "You Don't Need Ice!" series, attempting to keep their eyes-up as they dribble. From there, they lower to either and both knees, and even attempt to keep dribbling as they sit. Beyond not looking down, the idea of this drill is for the kids to 1) keep their sticks moving as they move their bodies, and 2) keep their stick-blades flat no matter their poster.
3-puck Dribbling Drill -- This one was aimed at helping the guys get their "hands" back again. When you see the video, you'll notice the layout of three pucks pretty much allows for (or encourages) all sorts of movements with the stick. Then, after a few sessions, I actually extended the kids' reach by moving the pucks further apart, and I made things more difficult by having them balance on small blocks as they dribbled.
Simulated Slap -- I had the guys take turns working only on their slapshot motion (no pucks involved). I asked them to keep their eyes on the nearby mirror, to encourage split vision, and I gradually asked them to work on a quicker and quicker stick.
Okay, it's time to show you the video. You might have to go back and forth through the drill descriptions and the video clips now and then. But, I think the combination should give you a pretty good sense of what we've been doing in the Lab lately. (By the way, failing to get clips of all the drills demonstrated by my current HS Prep players, I found some substitute footage of past students to fill-in.)
http://coachchic2.s3.amazonaws.com/New Lab Routine.flv
Weighted Rope Skills -- Oh, talk about screwing-up my guys' neuro-muscular systems... At the end of their workouts, I had them go back and forth between their regular ropes and ones I've made to be pretty hefty. If you can sense what's going on -- as they go back and forth between the two very differently weighted ropes... Man, that heavy one just wouldn't come around at the same speed as the normal one. :)
I did make one mistake in my pre-planning. And it only took a brief observation of my newest kids to realize their upper bodies were totally out of sync when the tried the T-coard Simulations. With that...
Rhythm-bar Training -- At the end of the video you'll see that I added some training, again so that my new guys could get the feel of making their skating motion a full body one.
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As a follow-up to the above post: Last night started our third week in the Lab, and I've already begun upping the ante. That's an important principle of motor learning, you know...
Actually, my old Principles of Motor Learning professor really ruined my day one time, when he informed those in his class something to the effect that, "When you can sit back and admire how good your athletes look in a given drill, that drill has out-lived its usefulness."
Ugh! That was always part of the fun in coaching -- admiring how good my guys looked in a drill!
However, the old prof was surely correct. Once a given level of execution is do-able, growth stops. Or, said yet another way, once there's no challenge, well...
So, anyway, I added just slight twists to each of the drills I've already outlined above. As an example, in the one where my kids dribble the ball around the three obstacles, I now have them walking back and forth on three blocks, and I eventually added one of those small air-filled cushions for them to balance on while dribbling.
Again, the idea is to just slightly keep upping that ante, or to just keep making a given drill a hair more difficult.
Of course, as I should have made perfectly clear in my "You Don't Need Ice!" series, each challenge should "transfer" positively to the hockey player's game.
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