Help me develop an off season program for my son!

[bOILing point]

Hi guys, i have a 8 yr old going in to Atom next year. We have just finished up our last year in novice tier2. He was asked to play on a div1 spring team but i didnt have the 1200 bucks!(we are a rural team and routinely beat tier2 teams in calgary)
Im a certified coach and have done most of Hockey Canadas specialty clinics, but i want your guys input.
His strengths are his hockey sense and crazy hands and heads up skating. He has a good stride but it isnt lightning fast. He is VERY strong on the puck.
His weakness is quick speed, and energy levels at times in games is below average.
I want to dedicate 2 evenings a week to offseason training! it has to be fun and effective!

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[AIREAYE]

Why don't you ask him what he would like to get involved in, whether it be baseball, soccer, lacrosse, or swimming among other things, instead of trying to run his life for him. There's a term for running your kid's life into hockey and it's 'burnout'. If he wants to do hockey all through the summer, then great, if not, don't be the 'stage parent'. Let him have fun...he's 8.

 

[mbeam]

Why don't you ask him what he would like to get involved in, whether it be baseball, soccer, lacrosse, or swimming among other things, instead of trying to run his life for him. There's a term for running your kid's life into hockey and it's 'burnout'. If he wants to do hockey all through the summer, then great, if not, don't be the 'stage parent'. Let him have fun...he's 8.

Second this.

It sounds like you want to throw him into the gym or something? If it's hockey training he WANTS to do, just have him shoot around or join a ball hockey league or something.

 

[ean]

Hi guys, i have a 8 yr old

I stopped reading here. Feed your son healthy meals and keep him active. Im not sure an office routine is necessary, though.

 

[Pez68]

He's....eight.

 

[Corey Perry*]

It's the summer, let HIM decide what he wants and needs to do. If he wants to go to the rink every now and then, take him! But if he doesn't, let him be. I could understand if he was in his teens, but he is still pretty young and it is too soon to start getting serious. Even if he was older, it is never a good idea to get too invested into hockey unless this kid has crazy potential.

 

[izzy3]

Sounds he could play ball hockey all summer and improve on his conditioning playing a fun game?

Other than that i think any activity which is anaerob and dynamic enough would help him improve. I would not put an 8 year old in a gym, but some fun outside games based on hockey drills (eg "hunting" with balls - dodgeball style) might be a good idea.

 

[jwitz04]

Why don't you ask him what he would like to get involved in, whether it be baseball, soccer, lacrosse, or swimming among other things, instead of trying to run his life for him. There's a term for running your kid's life into hockey and it's 'burnout'. If he wants to do hockey all through the summer, then great, if not, don't be the 'stage parent'. Let him have fun...he's 8.

who the f&*k are you? He's a hockey parent not a baseball, soccer, lacrosse, or swimming parent. There's a term for people telling other people how to raise their kids. They're called "losers" or "wanna-be parents"...Nice try though

Anyway, definitely get him a pair of roller hockey blades. Roller is an awesome way to work on your ice game during the summer whether it's a pick up game, or just practicing skating/stickhandling/shooting

 

[Jarick]

The great hockey mind Lou Nanne is an advocate of kids playing other sports in the offseason. Prevents burnout, trains other muscles, and they get to play and have fun with their friends.

I'm also of the mindset that, really, the kid is only 8, and the most important thing is that he eats right and finds something fun to keep him active. If he only wants to play hockey in the summer, get a ball and some roller blades. If his friends play baseball or soccer or whatever, see if he likes to play that. If he wants to run around a park and play tag or just do whatever kids do (so long as they're getting out of the house occasionally!), I'd be all about it. He's not really going to physically develop for another 4-5 years.

Jwitz, the poster came HERE to ASK for advice about his son. Aireaye didn't seek him out and start pushing his philosophy. You need to tone it down.

 

[bOILing point]

wow, not the response i expected. me and my son came up with this idea, to do it ourselves and have fun with it. Maybe you missed the sentence where i said we turned down the invite for structured spring hockey. Im not pushing him, hes LOVING it.

I agree with other sports. Listen guys, i know hes 8, ive coached in minor hockey for 5 years. Trust me when i say going into Atom it is VERY competitive. I feel like if i cant afford Spring Hockey the least i can do is come up with a fun and exciting off season program for him that i develop. We are doing it because we enjoy it.

Id appreciate it if comments werent made questioning me as a DAD. Cheers.

 

[bOILing point]

Why don't you ask him what he would like to get involved in, whether it be baseball, soccer, lacrosse, or swimming among other things, instead of trying to run his life for him. There's a term for running your kid's life into hockey and it's 'burnout'. If he wants to do hockey all through the summer, then great, if not, don't be the 'stage parent'. Let him have fun...he's 8.

i take exception to you saying im trying to run my sons life. This is a way me and my son connect, i WISH my father had "run" my life like this. OFFSIDE

 

[Bravid Nonahan]

Don't go to the gym with him or do any kind of weight training. There is no reason for an 8 year old to do that kind of stuff.

If you want him to be quicker, do some alternating sprints (20m shuttle) and longer jogs (2k??) Maybe 2-3x per week?

Make sure you do it with him though. And only if he wants to!

And I second the idea for roller blades. If you have access to a local park (where there is smooth asphalt), then go there. If you can get inside an arena where the ice is out, even better. Play ball hockey with the roller blades on.

Also, you can buy a small sheet of fake ice (hear me out) that is about 2'x4'. Set it up anywhere in the yard and set the net out in front of it with targets if you want. You can practice shooting pucks off of that.

 

[Ricky Bobby]

His weakness is quick speed, and energy levels at times in games is below average.
QUOTE]

I'll assume by quick speed you mean his initial 1-3 strides. There are weight based activity for this but applying them to an 8 year old is not good for his overall body development. And he really shouldn't be touching weights of any kind until he is at least a teenager. But if your son really wants to work on this try doing short sprinting activities with him, running stairs, box jumps, etc. Basically exercises that work his glutes, hips, hamstrings. Just don't overdo it and make sure its him wanting to do it.

For energy levels he just needs to continue to remain active. Hockey is primarily a sprinting type sport so if this something that he wants to work on try putting him in other sprinting type sports with his friends like soccer, lacrosse, rollerhockey, ball hockey, etc.

Among the many benefits of putting him in these other sport is that he gets to form solid relationships with teammates/friends, learn to use his muscles in other ways and continues learning to think effectively in an arena type game which is easily transferred over to hockey.

I don't know about your living situation (house vs. apartment, etc.) but one of the things I loved having around as a kid that my dad did for me was having a piece of plywood to shot pucks at. Without any encouragement I'd regularly fire pucks well waiting for dinner, etc. I would just get him one if you have a place to put it and just leave it there as an option for him to use sometimes. If he uses it great if he doesn't it only cost you about 50 bucks.

 

[bOILing point]

Don't go to the gym with him or do any kind of weight training. There is no reason for an 8 year old to do that kind of stuff.

If you want him to be quicker, do some alternating sprints (20m shuttle) and longer jogs (2k??) Maybe 2-3x per week?

Make sure you do it with him though. And only if he wants to!

And I second the idea for roller blades. If you have access to a local park (where there is smooth asphalt), then go there. If you can get inside an arena where the ice is out, even better. Play ball hockey with the roller blades on.

Also, you can buy a small sheet of fake ice (hear me out) that is about 2'x4'. Set it up anywhere in the yard and set the net out in front of it with targets if you want. You can practice shooting pucks off of that.

Great ideas! thanks. Trust me im not putting my son in a gym! cmon guys!!! im not THAT dad!!! lol.

 

[MeltingPlastic]

Idk how it is in canada, but when i was that age, i was kicked out of my house every sat morning etc to go ride around on my bike with my friends. We rode for hours and that kept us all in shape.. plus we played stick ball etc. If he's doing these things he'll be just fine. We also played street hockey all the time but that was our choice, not our parents. Just keep him active if anything, have a pass with him in the basement or something once a week.. itll keep u active also

 

[Gino 14]

who the f&*k are you? He's a hockey parent not a baseball, soccer, lacrosse, or swimming parent. There's a term for people telling other people how to raise their kids. They're called "losers" or "wanna-be parents"...Nice try though

Anyway, definitely get him a pair of roller hockey blades. Roller is an awesome way to work on your ice game during the summer whether it's a pick up game, or just practicing skating/stickhandling/shooting

So exactly what are you doing if not telling him how to raise his kid? Bit of a hypocrite, aren't you?

 

[Crosbyfan]

He's....eight.

It's...two evenings a week. I think "fun" was even mentioned.

Too many are reading "how do I optimize my kids chances of becoming the next Mario Lemieux" into this.

If an eight year old wants to try to improve and work at something healthy he should be supported, not discouraged.

 

[TheJudge]

When I was about 7-10 my Dad and I had an offseason training program that worked pretty well for us.

A few days a week we'd come up with an exercise to work on a part of my game, and come up with a goal I had to try to meet.

For example, we might set up the net with either a fake goalie or with targets in the corner. If I scored a certain number of goals, I got to pick the second half of our training. If I didn't, my Dad got to pick. Another example is stick handling through a pylon obstacle course in a certain amount of time. Sometimes we'd do a combination of a few exercises similar to the above.

The second half of the training would always be something active but fun. For example, I liked to pick soccer in the park across the street with my dad as the goalie. My dad liked to pick bike rides.

In the end I'd get a good balance of hockey skills practice and other physical activities.

 

[bOILing point]

It's...two evenings a week. I think "fun" was even mentioned.

Too many are reading "how do I optimize my kids chances of becoming the next Mario Lemieux" into this.

If an eight year old wants to try to improve and work at something healthy he should be supported, not discouraged.

Ya, that wasnt what this was about at all! More of "hey,my son wants spring hockey and i cant afford it, who wants to help me out!" I just had a feeling by reading posts on here that there might be a lot of players who remembered doing things as a kid that they can credit to helping them out.

i can see where people might of misread it tho, as a coach i did state his strengths and weaknesses! Some of these replies are great and we will try them.

 

[bOILing point]

When I was about 7-10 my Dad and I had an offseason training program that worked pretty well for us.

A few days a week we'd come up with an exercise to work on a part of my game, and come up with a goal I had to try to meet.

For example, we might set up the net with either a fake goalie or with targets in the corner. If I scored a certain number of goals, I got to pick the second half of our training. If I didn't, my Dad got to pick. Another example is stick handling through a pylon obstacle course in a certain amount of time. Sometimes we'd do a combination of a few exercises similar to the above.

The second half of the training would always be something active but fun. For example, I liked to pick soccer in the park across the street with my dad as the goalie. My dad liked to pick bike rides.

In the end I'd get a good balance of hockey skills practice and other physical activities.

This is excellent. the blend of structure and fun seems perfect. Thanks judge. The shuttle runs and jogging seem like a good way to improve his speed and conditioning as well. I hadnt evenconsidered incorporating some bike rides! awesome.

 

[UvBnDatsyuked]

A lot of drama queens here I see.

I have been around parents who have reasonably helped their young kids work on improvement areas of their game and I have been around parents who have ignored their kids improvement areas. Guess which kids are being taught to ignore improvement areas in all aspects of their lives? (Thank goodness Walter Gretzky never asked for advice on this board)

I think the first step for your son is to get running. All distances. Everywhere from a mile or so down to 20 yard sprints. Each night you do this should be something different and should be timed. The goal should be to beat each time in all distances. The rest period should start out long enough in order to get to get to a complete recovery but as the summer goes on, the recovery time should get shorter with improved fitness level. This will help in speed and raising stamina (speed/endurance).

There is though one thing that can make this easier. Sign him up for soccer or lacrosse. The hockey players that I have coaches who have taken part in those two sports have been some of the faster, best conditioned players I have coached.

 

[jwitz04]

So exactly what are you doing if not telling him how to raise his kid? Bit of a hypocrite, aren't you?

Yeah because telling him to buy his son inline skates so he can play roller hockey in the offseason is telling him how to raise his kid. Nice attempt though bud

 

[darkmoon1196]

i dont know if you would know anybody like this, but personally i work once a week with my travel coach who also plays in a semi-professional league. he's a young guy and really knows a lot about the drills to enhance your skills.

if you know a guy like this, have your kid work with him once a week, and spend the other day you wanted to spend training on the things others have mentioned here (another sport, bike riding, etc.). he'll have a good time doing it and he can really learn a lot from a guy who's really into the game.

i know you said that you're a certified coach, but there are some things that a coach cannot teach you, nor most people can teach themselves. for example, my dad has been coaching me for years for in-house leagues at my local rink, always commenting on what i am doing right and wrong. but, i never really started to hone my skills until i began playing travel, and then even further when i began drilling like i mentioned above once a week, only for an hour.

if you already had something like this planned, then great! i have never done summer training because i go to camp every summer, but this is what works for me during the season, so it'll at the very least keep him from losing some of the things he's learned during the year.

 

[Rocko604]

If he's up for it, I'd recommend lacrosse. Or even some form of organized ball hockey. It's probably best at that age to get him off the ice for a bit. I remember being put into Spring Hockey around that age and I absolutely hated it. The following summer I tried lacrosse which was much more fun.

The idea of setting up "fake ice" is another good idea if you're able to set up targets. I would shoot pucks for a good hour or two every day. Sadly my technique sucked it didn't really improve my shot power but I was at least somewhat accurate.

One last thing, if lacrosse seems like a possibility, try and show him what the game looks like if he hasn't seen it. NLL is shown on TSN2.

 

[ponder]

I actually loved spring league hockey! When I was really young I'd always play ice hockey in the fall/winter and soccer and baseball in the spring/summer, but I never liked soccer or baseball nearly as much as hockey, so my parents started to enroll me in a spring house league instead. It was 1 practice and 1 game a week, and lots of fun, kids from all sorts of skill levels as many rep players would play in the league just for fun in the summer. I really liked it at the time, and I'm guessing a house league like this would be a lot cheaper than a more competitive travel team.

Also, I'm sure he has lots of friends who play hockey, if you have access to a nearby paved area (dead end road, playground, etc.) get him a net or two and some road hockey goalie gear for cheap off a site like craigslist and just let him and his friends have fun playing road hockey in the sun.

Finally, do rinks near you have stick and puck sessions? I often go to stick and puck sessions at a nearby rink for a little fun at lunch, and I often see dads out there having a skate with their kids. He can work on his skills, and you two also get some quality time together, obviously keep them fun and loose and without pressure. This is normally quite cheap too.