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Age Appropriate Speed Training

By Mike Doyle, Special to Minnesota Hockey, 04/26/16, 8:30AM CDT

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The game of hockey is all about speed. However, for parents looking to improve their child’s speed on the ice, it’s important to remember the “game” aspect of the equation, especially when it comes to offseason exercise.

Mike Boyle, who served as the head strength and conditioning coach at Boston University for 15 years before co-founding Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, thinks the most important thing is to get kids active. This doesn’t necessarily mean laying down a strict training regiment, but building athleticism through activity.

“Our kids are way too sedentary, they’re way too inclined to sit in front of a television and play a video game,” Boyle said. “We need to encourage our kids to play and to go outside.”

Laying down a foundation of early athleticism and continuing that as a child progresses is the best approach for long-term athletic development. Prior to 11, or Peewee age, Boyle said the emphasis should be placed on general athleticism and multisport play.

“When they get to 11-12, they can start to formalize training a little bit and start teaching, what we call the Learn to Train period,’” Boyle said. “This is when you start teaching how to do a squat and how to do a lunge. We start teaching the exercises that are going to become the building blocks of what we want to do later.” 

So, it’s important for parents to get their children to engage in activities that will set up future athletic success when it’s time to formalize training. However, even when things become structured, children – at any age – who play and have fun will get the most out of training. 

Run, Run, Run  

It may sound like an oversimplification, but fast, explosive runners make fast, explosive skaters. However, Boyle cautions of trying to turn a child into a super athlete at too young of an age.

“We don’t want to be in the childhood stealing business; I think that’s what people can get into, even in my profession,” Boyle said. “The big thing is realizing we’re dealing with children and we have to be careful that we’re not inserting the value system that we would use, say, to make a better company to try and make a better athlete. It’s not the same thing. As a parent, we might think, ‘This is what made me good at my job,’ and then we try to apply that to a child.”

So, to train those speed muscles, the best approach is to be creative and make it fun and competitive.

Make It a Contest

Creating a competitive environment – at any age – turns training into fun. Exchanging “sprints” for “relay races” is a great way to get young athletes to have a good time while improving speed.

“Speed and quickness will come from relays and racing,” Boyle said. “Again, you can run sprints with kids and call it relay races and suddenly kids don’t mind running sprints.”

Start with 10 tennis balls (or fewer if you have fewer racers) and place a bucket 20 feet away from the starting position. Divide the competitors into two teams and have them, one-at-a-time, run to the bucket and drop in a tennis ball and run back to the line before their teammate can do the same. First team to fill up the bucket with all their balls wins.  

Mix It Up

Many of the movements that players will develop with speed training later in life can be utilized in relays – the players don’t always have to run straight ahead. Racers can start from various positions, like facing sideways, sitting or lying down. Additionally, running backwards or side shuffling can develop explosive muscles. 

“Now you’ve got to move laterally and transition lateral to linear,” Boyle said. “When you think about lateral movement, it’s the ability to accept load on one leg, very much like running, but going in that side to side direction.”

Other Sports

“There are too many parents who have their kids specializing in one sport at 8 years old already,” Boyle said. “What we’ve got to realize is that if you want a great hockey player, you need to start with a great athlete. The more sporting activities they play the better.”

Boyle suggests soccer and lacrosse as two games that can really help a child’s speed because they are constantly sprinting in short bursts.

“The fact that you have to run, you have to try to get away from people, you have to chase people – that’s a pretty good way to work on speed,” Boyle said. 

Make Time for Play Time

“Just playing” is something that increases overall athleticism. Gaining balance and coordination, at any age, will only help when a child begins increasing speed and quickness. If a child is uncoordinated, when formalized training is introduced, they might have a tougher time adapting than their counterparts. 

“The popularity of these American Ninja Warrior shows has really brought playground play back to these kids, in terms of monkey bars and jumping back and forth between things,” Boyle said. “The important thing to understand about children is that we want play.”

Boyle recently bought his 11-year-old son a pogo stick, and added examples such as bike riding, rollerblading, jump rope and hopscotch, as great ways for kids to be kids while being active. While that might not directly impact speed or quickness, all those summer activities teach coordination and balance in a fun, unsupervised activity.

“Our desire as adults is to impose our adult values onto children and we have to be sure that we realize children are not mini adults,” Boyle said. “So, they want to play. They want to throw things, and kick things and pick things up. We should be encouraging them to do that stuff.” 

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