Players, if you want to excel at hockey this fall or make a travel team, you must start your training in the summer months to improve your physical strength and conditioning, as well as your basic hockey skills nd hockey knowledge.

Discipline yourself to spend between 30-60 minutes per day doing aerobic and anaerobic exercises.

Daily Conditioning: When it is cool, run, walk, jog, bicycle, run stairs/hills, skip rope, or swim to improve your speed and stamina.

In addition, you should also spend 20-30 minutes a day doing one of the following skill development drills each day of the week:

Example of a Weekly Hockey Training Session

Monday- Shooting:

Practice shooting with a regulation weight puck off a piece of plywood or slippery surface in your driveway, backyard or schoolyard etc. Practice your wrist, snap, backhand, and slap shot to improve your speed and accuracy.

Tuesday – Scoring:

Practice scoring a variety of goals from different locations in your driveway.Use locations representing the point, the slot, the goal crease area, and from behind the net.

Practice shooting high to the top corners, low to the bottom corners, the 5-hole and practice wraparounds coming out from behind the net and shoveling rebounds high into the net.

Build a 4 X 6-foot wooden frame to act as the goal, then hang a 4 X 4 foot piece of plywood to act as the goalie stationed in the net. This will create a more difficult scoring situation.

Wednesday – Puck Handling:

Practice handling the puck, stick handling and deking in your driveway or on a large sheet of plywood or solid slippery surface. Keep your head up and roll your wrists.

Thursday – Passing:

If possible, get a friend and practice a variety of passes in your driveway or schoolyard.

Passes such as: the bank pass, flat pass, flip pass, drop pass, back pass, behind your back pass and the shovel pass.

Friday – Skating:

If you can, skate on ice; if not, if you have a pair of inline skates it would be advantageous to skate at least 30 – 60 minutes per week.

Saturday – Checking:

Practice 1-on-1’s, and 2-on-1’s, poke checking, sweep checking, and bodychecking with family members or friends.

Concentrate on positioning and playing the man on 1-on-1’s and playing the puck on 2-on-1’s.

Daily Nutrition:

Try to eat a well balanced diet and cut back on junk food and soda. Your weight and energy level will be much improved for tryout camp.

Daily Reading:

Spend some time each day reading 5-10 pages of the “Hockey Made Easy” Instructional Manual.

It will improve your basic knowledge of hockey skills and systems required to make the team and help you understand what coaches and selection committee members will be looking for at tryout camp.

Tryout Camp: Every coach is looking to select players with high skills and high energy, demonstrating the desire, determination and knowledge of how to play the game at both ends of the rink.

Every shift, give 110% for the entire duration of the shift and you will make a lasting impression.

Good luck at your tryout!

John Shorey

Author- “Hockey Made Easy”

www.hockeymadeeasy.com