hockey practice plan

a remarkably foolish approach.

Begin in the dressing room.

Ask each player what they love to work on the most. The answer is always the same: They love shooting the puck.

Tell them to go shoot the puck at least fifty times. This, combined with skating around takes between ten and fifteen minutes.

Bring them back in.

Ask them to think about what really basic skill they need to work on. Funny enough, even children as young as six can answer this question.

Next? Ask them if they know something that they can do to improve this skill. By the time they’re 10, they likely know how to improve. Even better, as a coach, I can give them one small, specific thing to pay attention to in order to improve.

So, have them practice something they want to practice for fifteen minutes.

Then? Divide them into groups of three. Have them skate around and play with one puck per group. The instruction? Work together. Move the puck around. Cover lots of ground and support each other. Watch out for the other group.

Do this for twenty minutes.

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