We have all dreaded hockey practice at one point or another in our lives. Having our parents drag us out of bed at 6AM on a Saturday morning isn’t the ideal way to start the weekend.
Heck, even Allen Iverson, one of the best athletes of our time struggled with the concept of practice.
Luckily, there’s ways to make practice fun for everyone, and iPlayHockey is here to give you some ideas!
- Obstacle courses – have your players skate their way through an obstacle course, with cones, sticks to jump over and under, puck handling exercises and more, similar to the NHL Skills Competition circuit, and record their times. Reward the fastest player on the team with a prize!
- Create competition – similar to the above, turn everything in practice into a competition. We all know how competitive young kids and teenagers can be, so use that to your advantage and put them head-to-head in various drills. Watch how much harder they’ll go!
- Have the players choose the drills – before practice starts, go around the dressing room and let the players tell you the drills they want to do every once in a while – they’ll be more willing to give it their best if it’s something they have fun with, even if it’s not what you were hoping to work on that day!
- End on a scrimmage – tell your team that if they work hard for 45 minutes at practice, they can end with a scrimmage with the remaining time. Have them give it their all and they can have something to look forward to – messing around with their friends to wrap things up!
Practice needs to be spiced up every once in a while to keep things fresh and to keep your players motivated. Try these recommendations and see what kind of effect it can have on your team!