Playing hockey is a challenging yet highly rewarding hobby that truly encompasses all aspects of life. Naturally, there’s the physical part, but becoming mentally more resilient and learning new social skills are equally important. Now, while the desire to learn and practice is the most valuable aspect in becoming good at hockey, good quality equipment is necessary. Practicing a slapshot or training for explosive strength and balance is by default impossible if you have inadequate equipment.
In this article, we’ll discuss both necessary and complementary hockey equipment and how to improve balance, coordination, explosive strength and overall skills to take your hockey skills to the next level.
Improve Balance and Coordination
What to write here? Ideas in bullet points here Before discussing hockey gear itself, it’s good to remind how the most important skills can be trained, one of them being balance and coordination. While hockey training is helpful for balance and coordination, it’s also important to add other forms of training to your routine like:
- Rebounder or Balance Board Workouts
- Agility Drills for Footwork
- Single leg RDLs and other gym workouts
Build Explosive Strength
In addition to balance and coordination, explosive strength training is required in order to take your hockey skills to the next level. Explosive strength is a bit different compared to regular strength training, as the idea is to release max force in minimal time. In other words, it’s not only how heavy you lift, but also how quickly you can do it.
In hockey, explosive strength is needed when there’s a need to skate across the hockey rink to prevent a goal or when you need to react quickly to your opponent’s actions. There are several ways to practice quick bursts of speed and strength:
- HIIT training
- Plyometrics
- Box jumps and high jumps
Specialized Hockey Gear Overview
Specialized hockey gear is a must have if you are serious about hockey. You’ll need a bit more than just comfortable sticks and durable pucks for training your wrist, backhand or slapshots. Below, we’ll briefly discuss five essentials for hockey hobbyists at various levels available at ca.acon24.com.
Hockey Targets
To score more goals, you’ll need to practice precision. For precision training, various types of hockey targets are highly useful. A simple target is available with an adjustable design, or you can opt for a net with a few holes through which your puck should be aimed. These relatively inexpensive accessories will help you improve your precision and overall performance even at an advanced level.
Floor Tiles
What to do when you cannot practice hockey on ice? Practice it off ice! Floor tiles are extremely useful for demanding off-ice training. Floor tiles for hockey are made of a compound of various plastics to create a feeling of ice so that you can skate and train 365 days in a year. Oftentimes they can be connected to each other so that you can adjust the size of the floor tiles.
Goal Nets and Replacement Nets
This one’s a no brainer. Having extra goal nets is always a good idea. If you are a beginner or just about to purchase the first hockey goal, make sure you throw in a few extra replacement nets just in case.
Backstop Nets
While backstop nets are not an absolute necessity, many beginners and intermediate hockey players prefer practicing hockey with them. Backstop nets are usually designed for shooting practice
Shooting Pads
Have you heard of a shooting pad? It’s essentially a platform, a pad on which you can practice stick handling, one-timers, snap shots, and slap shots. It has a puck rebounding system so that you can easily keep practicing for multiple different shots in an easy way. You can put it even on uneven surfaces as it’ll stay even on uneven surfaces as well.
Add Variety to your Hockey Training with Trampolines
Hockey training by itself consists of varied training. Yet, practicing other forms of exercise can be beneficial. For instance, trampoline training either on a garden trampoline or on a fitness trampoline helps greatly with balance and coordination, something that is a must when practicing hockey. For this type of training, you can get a small trampoline as long as it is of high quality. Not only can you practice simple jumps, but you can also stand on the trampoline with only one foot as well as do other coordination exercises.
Recommendations for Aspiring Players
As a final note, let’s share a few general tips for aspiring players. First off, remember that practice makes perfect. Keep it consistent even when you feel that you are not developing. It’s normal and even healthy to hit a plateau before you bounce back to your best A-game. Another great tip is to practice shots, skating and other movements while leaving your camera on. Seeing how you execute each move can be highly helpful in finding out the possible errors or mistakes that you are currently making. This tip leads us to self-assessment; start doing self-assessment when you are mentally ready for it. And, finally, remember to take care of the mental load that hockey puts on you. After all, it’s all about loving what you do!
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