A Smarter Approach to Youth Hockey Off-Season Training (Not Burnout)

During the regular 9 month fall season, most mid-level youth coaches like AAA, prep school or even JR coaches make very little financially. The youth hockey off-season training period is when there’s an opportunity to make the majority of your money as a coach. Coaches do this by working summer camps, hosting private lessons, conducting off-ice training and attending scouting events. The invited players are the coaches life-blood because without the players there are no camps to instruct and no lessons to plan. Saying that, players and parents look to coaches for their expertise on how to properly allocate precious training time.

Some things to consider when discussing your off-season plans with a coach:

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Look at the context of the person you are asking for help from. First, if you ask a doctor for help you will get a medication, if you ask a lawyer - you will get a lawsuit, ask a coach and you will get some variation of ice time.

The difference with youth hockey coaches is that they are an active role model for the young people they teach. A lot of outsiders who look at coaching from a distance consider it be standing on a bench during games. In reality, it is months and months of identifying personalities, analyzing behavior and social interactions, relation building, communicating and helping others achieve new heights.

We need less hockey coaches and more great people who coach hockey. There is not enough emphasis being placed on a wholistic approach. Coaches get caught up in the regular season and in truth they should recognize that they have inherited this function of a role model and should push for involving the individual to participate in other areas of their life; but instead coaches capitalize financially from the power structure of their relationship. Instead of asking you about summer travel plans and normal kid stuff, all they ask is what your calendar looks like three months from now.

I feel like for most coaches, what they really care about is putting the player in a position to excel at hockey (or at a minimum fill ice costs) no matter what the cost could potentially be in the other areas of the kid’s life.

When it comes to your decisions in the off-season, I say this to both parents and young players - it is a marathon and not a sprint, be creative with your time, learn an instrument or language during your off-season, play other sports, take a break from the rink, focus on your athletic foundation or get in the best shape of your life with conditioning. It is important to note, this depends on the age of the player. Players entering JR years (15-19 years of age) should focus on obtaining peak performance for their try-out or team training camp.

Don’t be this parent, I see this again and again, parents not wanting to let their 11-year-old son fall behind, so the kid is driven to the rink everyday (or for some twice a day) during the off-season. There is no reason for young players to attend back to back, all-day hockey camps 9am - 5pm. I have seen players get dropped off at the rink at 5:30am, have a private skating lesson, stay on the ice for 6:30am with another coach for a group lesson, jump off the ice for the Zamboni ice cut, then I will see that same player asking other coaches if there is room to jump out there for the 8am slot. Then these same kids are back at the rink 6pm for a “strongly encouraged” director skill session. I don’t think their gear could be dry. It is not a sustainable long term development plan.

Listen, I am not telling anyone it is acceptable or rewarded to skip their training. Hockey is great because it can be used as a tool in order to build character through hard work and discipline. You should be involved with a youth hockey off-season training routine on a consistent basis. Ideally, you should be getting uncomfortable in your training in some form everyday.

That does not mean you have to skate with your new fall coach all summer long.

What is important for the off-season training?

It all depends on the age of the player, I wholeheartedly agree with USA Hockey’s philosophy on long term athletic development. Players at a young age should be experiencing a variety of sports and activities. For most young players, I believe there should be a focus on stand-alone, foundational athletic ability in terms of: agility, balance, flexibility, strength, stamina and speed. For the most part that stuff comes with time if the player can learn what it is like to wake up and go through a healthy routine. For older players, it is important to let your body recover after a taxing season. Again, aiming to build up to the peak condition depending on what their situation might be.

If you’re reading this article and were looking for a more balanced approach to your off-season training, you can try this remote workout program on an app called Train Heroic. You can watch all the movements beforehand, track your progress and there’s no equipment so it is easily accessible to get your training time in. It also gives you access to me to help answer any questions. Here is a quick teaser from my YouTube channel to give you an idea and a link for more information.

Want to understand where high-level player development is heading?

Read our core article: The Future of Hockey Development: Remote Coaching: https://www.goldenstickhockey.com/post/the-future-of-hockey-development-remote-coaching

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