Drill of the Week - 10.07.2024
FYHP Coaches -
With the season underway, it's common that teams will look for local or travel tournaments. Tournaments not only present an opportunity to play teams from out-of-town but also are a great opportunity for team building and building cohesion with your kids. At the end of the day, it's youth hockey - and the goal is to have fun and create memories.
For tournaments, Mass Hockey has a list of sanctioned tournaments, listed here:
I would recommend starting here if looking for tournament opportunities, as these are vetted through Mass Hockey. Additionally, the page itself is user-friendly - it clearly shows the target audience, location, contact information, etc.
Don't be discouraged in entering tournaments due to having club kids, either. Our Jr Flyer 12UA team has 13 players, and all of them play on a club team. Next month, however, the entire team is headed to Lake Placid in what should be a great event for the kids. I've found that if you set a date and present the opportunity, most kids and families are willing to take a weekend off from clubs or other sports for a worthwhile tournament. It's worthwhile to have a conversation with the parents.
Before we get to the Drill of the Week, I wanted to share a great learning opportunity taking place next Wednesday at 12:30 PM. Darryl Belfry, a renowned trainer for NHL players like Sydney Crosby and Patrick Kane, is running a Zoom Session titled "Teaching Hockey Sense through Triangles". It's free to Ice Hockey Systems (IHS) members. I've registered and hope to be able to attend. But if you have an IHS subscription and an hour at lunch next week, it should be an interesting discussion.
DRILL OF THE WEEK
It's fitting that this week's drill is one from Darryl Belfry's catalog of drills. Side-Middle-Side is a great passing drill that reinforces verbal and non-verbal communication, skating with head up, and making strong, crisp passes. I ran this drill with our 10U and 12Us last night, and after a few minutes of repetitions, the kids really got the hang of it and were putting some speed on their passes. When the drill is flowing, it's kids passing and moving, head up, and connecting with the other player before sending the pass. We progressed to 2 pucks at once comfortably and had mixed success when mixing in the third puck. Either way, if your team could benefit from a passing drill that requires moving the puck quickly, following the puck, and keeping their heads on a swivel, then this may be a good drill for you.
Reminder to get your CEPs scheduled and done.
Click for more information
Access to this link is restricted to authorized users. Please sign in with your credentials to proceed
Best,
Casey & Eric