Category: General Interest

Gearing Up for the Pre-Season

You are either already in your pre-season or it is just around the corner. Season plans should have been in place by now, along with the regular season schedule and practice sessions. Are we excited or are we panicking?

What did you learn from previous pre-seasons that you will use to make this year the best ever? Are you going to have a catchy slogan to rally the player around?

Here is an excerpt from The Hockey Conditioning Handbook that will give an overview of your conditioning objectives and areas of emphasis. The book also contains information for on-ice and off-ice training and programs for you to use. Go to the Store tab at the top of the page to buy the book.

Pre-Season means on-ice workouts have started but league games have not. It’s your last chance to get all your conditioning ready for the ultimate test – game time.

Pre-Season Conditioning Objectives: 1)      Top Up Off-Season Levels

2)      On-Ice Transfer of Conditioning

The first part of the pre-season usually has 2-3 weeks of dry land training for ‘topping up’ your off-season training. The off-season foundations must then be adapted to the ice. Your running legs get switched to skating legs. This is also the time to incorporate specific high energy and explosive energy training. Dry land work can be done to help develop these energy systems initially. But it will be essential to ultimately train these two systems on ice as well.

During the pre-season a player should be able to gradually reduce his aerobic workouts from 5-6 per week to 2-3 per week, with at least 1 of these being done on the ice. Players should put their strength training gains to use while practicing skills and reduce regular strength workouts to 1-2 per week. Flexibility work should still be done as a ‘loosen up’ in warm ups and as a ‘tension relaxer’ at the end of all workouts. Otherwise, players will start to lose the flexibility gained from off-season training. Less time can be spent on flexibility now. One or 2 repeats of an exercise for each major muscle group should suffice at this stage.

High energy training is difficult to do on ice psychologically because of the combination of intensity and time (very hard for 40-90 seconds) needed. Skills drills are not easily adapted to these training requirements. For this reason, optimum high energy work (60-90 seconds) is easiest done off-ice. Specific high energy work (30-60 seconds/a typical shift length) should be done on ice.

Explosive energy work should be done daily, primarily on ice. This system will be a key to quick skill execution during games.

Pre-Season Training Emphasis:

 1)      Foundations On-Ice

2)      High Energy Training

3)      Explosive Energy Training

Use the pre-season to finish getting completely physically prepared to play games. All physical aspects of conditioning must be transferred effectively to the ice. Here are samples of pre-season training sessions for both on-ice and off-ice work.

Do you have your overall goals and objectives set for your pre-season? Are you rebuilding or just fine tuning around a core of returning players?

What is your player selection criteria? Do your staff and the players trying out for the team know the criteria? They darn well should. Is fitness testing included?

Use the pre-season wisely. It is an ideal time to set the standards, discipline, culture and environment for your team for the season.

Team Slogan Help From the Olympic Home Team

For some of you, one of the things on your list this time of year is select a slogan to rally the team around for the coming season. You are likely looking for something to inspire and motivate your players and fans.

Since the Olympics are in full swing in Beijing, why not get some slogan inspiration from the home team. The Chinese are kicking butt, so these slogans must work!

Here is an article from Geoffrey York of the Globe and mail.

BEIJING – If you’re wondering how China’s athletes have managed to win so many gold medals so fast, you might consider how much pressure they face from their coaches and state officials.

It’s just one of the many reasons for their success, but it must be a factor. Everyone in China is pushing them to be the best in the world, to bring glory to the country in its Olympic year.

Consider, for example, the official slogans at their training sessions. Here are some of the slogans printed on the walls of the Chinese training camps, as collected on the China Digital Times website:

From the training camp of the Chinese weightlifting team: “The motherland is above everything; strike for gold in the Olympics; lift up the world; hold up hope; stay away from steroids.”

From the training camp of the Chinese shooting team: “Die in the fight for the gold, instead of surviving just for the sake of participation.”

From the training camp of the Chinese gymnastics team: “Leaders put pressure, subordinates put pressure. Pressure each other. Pressure oneself. There will be no breakthrough if one does not take the hardest hardship; there will be no champion if one does not go through the ultimate pressure.”

Who said fun had to be part of sport….