It’s Sunday night and you are vigorously typing as you scramble to get a plan together. You worked so hard during the hockey season then BAM, just like that, the off-season snuck up on you. Tomorrow, Monday, is the first day of the off-season and you need to have a plan for your players to maximize their development – but you’re stressed and overwhelmed!
Now most coaches have thoughts and ideas on what they’d like their players to be doing on and off the ice. But how do you put them all together? Then, it hits you. Suddenly you remember the recommended practice structures in an article on The Coaches Site titled The Perfect Hour of Hockey Practice, which discusses highs and lows, and you wonder if that concept will work in the off-season.
The answer is that to maximize your off-season, you must have every aspect accounted for on and off the ice.
Welcome to The Complete Hockey Off-Season Template.
Make Better Hockey Players
In the off-season, skill coaches, power skating coaches, team coaches, and weight room coaches are all competing for time and energy. My goal is to have this template act as a resource for coaches, players, parents, and guardians to get them to think of development holistically, rather than all of these different traits in silos.
My biggest inspiration for this template has been witnessing the on ice development of players for the last four years. Many college hockey summer skates are player led. And most if not all of these skates were opposing, contrary, or inhibiting to the work the players just put in, on the field or weight room.
The goal with off-season training is simple and must always be the focus: make players better at hockey. That’s it. And while individual differences abound and resources are always at a discrepancy, there are basic, physiological training principles that may be applied to any player or team, at any level.
Coaches must understand three principles to off-season training: the Consolidation of Stressors, the High-Low Model, and the Short to Long Approach . . . SEE MORE OF THE COACHES SITE Join The Coaches Site to access the latest drills, tactics & leadership lessons from hockey's top coaches. Already a member? Login
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Chris Kerr
Chris Kerr is the Director of Sports Performance for Liberty University Hockey, a position he has held since 2014. He attended Liberty University, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science (2014) and a Master of Science degree in Human Performance (2019). In his first year working with Liberty Hockey, the Women’s D1 team won their first of several ACHA National Championships. Prior to Liberty, Chris had zero hockey experience as a coach or player. This has enabled him to approach the game unbiased, learn from renowned experts at the highest levels, and present his Coaches and Players with new, cutting-edge methods, not yet commonplace in the hockey world. In addition to training his Liberty players in the offseason, Chris also trains players at the youth, AAA, and professional levels.
He may be reached by email at [email protected].
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