“What should I be working on during the off season?”
It’s probably one of the questions that I get asked the most by players.
The reality is that every player is different so what works for one player is not going to work for another. I think that makes sense for most people, especially considering that you have players who play different positions and have entirely different skills sets.
With that in mind, I do think there are a few things that we can work on as players that are helpful across the board for players.
I’ve talked previously about how I think a big emphasis should be placed on skill development and repetition over the summer. I won’t get into that a ton since we just talked about it, but you can reference that other article here.
** One side note for something that I didn’t mention a ton in the previous article but fits along those same lines is skating. The game of hockey has truly turned into a game of skating. The reality is that if you want to be successful in hockey you have to be able to skate. The game is faster than ever and I think that every player should spend some time focusing on their skating. It’s another one of those skills that we can always improve upon, yet sometimes gets forgotten about when practicing during the season. The truth is, the better skater you are, the more opportunities you will create for yourself.
Another area that I think all players can benefit from is focusing on your work ethic.
If you ask most players, they will tell you that they work hard. In fact, as a coach, I’m yet to have a player tell me that they don’t work hard!
We all know that isn’t true and some players work a lot harder than others.
If you’re serious about getting better and want to keep improving, you need to make sure that you’re constantly trying to improve your work ethic.
Stick to a routine, figure out what you want to accomplish and work for, find an accountability partner or coach, push yourself to do things that are outside your comfort zone. These are just a few of the ways that you can improve your work ethic.
I truly believe that your work ethic is something that can be developed and trained.
I don’t believe it’s something you either have or you don’t. I completely think it is something that can be trained and instilled.
The last thing that I’ll mention for every player and the off season, is to rediscover that passion and love for the game.
We’ve all played through long seasons, or even disappointing seasons. Those years where as a team or individual it just didn’t seem to go the way that you wanted.
But, the off season is a time to refuel the batteries and refuel the passion and love that you have for the game.
This helps with both your attitude and energy at the rink.
It also helps build your confidence back up gives you that feeling of excitement every time that you get to head to the rink.
While we all have different areas that we can focus on with our off season training, I think there are a few areas that all players can count on to help get them going in the right direction for the next season coming up.
Good luck with your training this off season.