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Tip: Sit on Your Own Side
You’ve no doubt said this to kids bickering over car and couch space, but it applies to you, too: Sit on your own side. (Technically, your side is the side across from your team’s bench.) We know that...
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Tip: How to Help a Defeated Hockey Player
Kids who are taught to overvalue winning might feel bad about themselves as athletes when they are defeated. To build confidence in your young athletes, emphasize the importance of learning new skills...
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Why Warm-ups Are Essential
Over the years, I’ve heard many coaches say, “He didn’t starting playing well until his third or fourth shift.” This happens when players don’t warm up properly. When the warm-up is complete, players...
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Stifle the Swearing in the Stands
Some pro football stadiums have “family sections” where swearing isn’t allowed. You’d think that at a youth hockey game, where the whole rink is pretty much a family section, that wouldn’t be...
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Playing “Unorganized” Sports
“Play other sports.” “Don’t specialize too early.” “Don’t burn out on hockey.” You hear this advice all the time from youth sports experts, including proponents of the USA Hockey’s American Development...
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3 Tips for Choosing Camps
Ice hockey players and parents feel a lot of pressure to take any ice time they can get: extra lessons, skills camps, summer leagues. Even the most seasoned hockey parents might worry that skipping...
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It’s the Player Not the Stick
Sure, my son has been known to use a $180 stick. But then he started buying his own sticks. Now the $60 stick looks pretty good. Recently, he bought a new $30 wood stick to practice with in the...
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Join the Lifelong Hockey Brotherhood
Whether you’re graduating from high school and ceasing your official ice hockey “career” or going onto college on a hockey scholarship, remember one thing: It’s the journey that matters. The people you...
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Equipment QA: Mini Sticks
Question: During every tournament, the kids won’t stop playing knee hockey with those little sticks. I can handle the noise, the pants with the torn out knees and the little balls flying around the...
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4 Signs of Overtraining
Given our access to experts, we like to offer plenty of advice for off-season hockey training. But all these training options are meant to keep kids busy, fit and having fun – not burning out to the...
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