Tag Archive: hockey
April 5, 2022 3:53 pm
Published by Russ Sinkewich
Often, you’ll hear the phrase “be a student of the game”, but does your athlete truly understand the meaning of this. The impact of living this this idea to its fullest can be profound! No different than our effort and application in the classroom at school the same needs to be done around the sport.
- “Listen” don’t “hear”
- Take the coaching and apply it! Listen and embody the lessons being taught, don’t just hear the coach and settle back to your ways. Coachablity is KEY!
- “Watch + learn” don’t “space out”
- Be totally engaged in the process of learning. When a drill is being done by others watch it like a hawk. The amount of growth that can be done simply by watching and learning from others positives and negatives is a difference maker in your development.
- What are you doing when no one is watching?
- The commitment to your craft cannot be a part time thing. If you have sincere goals about achieving great things in the sport then your commitment off the ice needs to be as sincere as those goals. Shooting-stick handling at home daily, a healthy diet, working on your athleticism, constant self-reflection; not only on your goals but with your mindset and mental approach to your growth.
There is NO better than moment than right now to develop your off-season plan and lay the foundation to become an “A” student of the game!
March 29, 2022 3:43 pm
Published by Russ Sinkewich
When it comes to skating development, we get one recurring themed question above the rest. “Can you help my child get faster?” That answer is always YES! Here’s an awesome at home off-season training exercises to build that speed!
Making your speed and lower body strength training a priority is a must this off-season! Even something as simple as a quick 5-10 minute series of quick feet and jumping exercises will make a world of difference!
January 13, 2022 3:57 pm
Published by Russ Sinkewich
As the second half of the season heats up. The uptick in the stress and anxiety is likely to follow. Here’s some helpful tips to help combat these challenges and create a different mental approach to tackling them head on!
Awareness
Become aware of the thoughts that are present in your mind. Identify the good-bad, positive-negative, happy-sad.
Intentional Breathing
2 Minute Drill // Hyper focused on your breathing. Mouth closed and following the breath in through your nose, deep into the belly and out through the nose. Repeat this steadily for 2 straight minutes. Extra credit, mix in some visualization of your goals you’re working to accomplish.
Dictate your positive mindset
Begin choosing positive thoughts that will soon change the way you feel about yourself and the upcoming game and adversities ahead.
Commit to these simple steps and you will go from feeling bogged down with stress and anxiety, to feeling more relaxed and clearer minded as you work to become the best version of yourself!
For more information on this and many other powerful mental tools to help give you the mental edge, please connect with coach Jacob via email, jacob@ohiohockeyproject.com or cell phone, 951-491-4666
November 15, 2021 6:47 pm
Published by Joe Young
We all know that the season can be long and tiring and that it can be easy to lose focus at certain times. But, there are plenty of ways we can keep ourselves focused on our goals whenever we start to lose focus or get tired of the same drills or routines over and over again. Here are a few tips to keep us engaged with our goals throughout the season:
- Bump Up the Competition
- Games don’t have to be the only competition we have all year; take advantage of practice! Challenge your teammates to a friendly bet, and watch how much more fun you have during practice!
- Mix up your routine
- Instead of sitting in the same spot in the locker room, sit next to someone new. Try a different routine instead of doing the same warm-up routine you’ve done for every game. If you want to make practice more fun, ask a coach to go against you during a drill! Doing different things is always entertaining.
- Create In-Season Check-In’s
- Every so often, check in with yourself and your goals! If you feel you are moving towards your goals, try establishing an even loftier goal. If you feel you are getting bored of your goal, try to revise it into something that will keep you interested! Be sure to check in with yourself.
It’s normal to lose interest in a season every once in a while, and that’s okay! As long as we have a plan and make an effort to refocus our minds, then all will be fine.
December 1, 2020 4:30 pm
Published by Joe Young
We can all agree that hockey is by far the best sport in the world, there is no doubt about it. While hockey is the best sport in the world, there are plenty of other sports and activities which can help us improve at the best sport in the world! It is important to remember that while hockey is the most fun sport, it is not the only sport, and those other sports can help us be better hockey players!
Here are some other sports (but not the only sports) which can help us improve our general athleticism and refine our on-ice skills:
- Lacrosse
- Some of the best hockey players in the world also grew up playing lacrosse! Lacrosse requires great hand-eye coordination, superior conditioning, and an understanding of body positioning and ball protection. All three skills directly translate to hockey!
- Football
- Football is a great sport to learn all about grit and competition! Football is one of the most physical sports you can play. By playing football athletes learn a great deal about body positioning, taking and giving physical contact, as well as understanding the importance of teamwork. Sounds a lot like hockey, to me!
- Soccer
- Soccer is a fantastic sport to improve one’s athleticism! Constant movement is required in order to be successful. While players on offense are moving around looking for open space, players on defense are focused on closing down those open spaces. Running while dribbling the ball around defenders is also great for balance and coordination, two skills very important in hockey!
- Basketball
- Basketball and hockey are two peas in a pod! Both games are played 5 on 5; both games are very fast and are filled with transitions; both games require players to jockey for body positioning. There’s a reason many coaches use hockey and basketball as interchangeable examples of each other!
Being an athlete is one of the most important skills you can have in hockey. The only way you can be an athlete is if you try other sports while you can when you’re young! Not only will you develop other skills that you will be able to apply to hockey, but the psychological and social aspect of trying other sports is more important than you think!
November 9, 2020 3:24 pm
Published by Joe Young
As we all have said and heard many times over the past six months, these are certainly crazy times we are living in. All of the uncertainty has put many of us in a position where we are unsure when things will be back to normal, and if we get to continue to do our favorite things with our favorite people. One of the most important things we can do for ourselves is to maintain a positive perspective. It is on YOU as a human being to take all of the negativity and in turn, create a positive perspective on things going on around us!
While some of us may not be able to go into school, hang out with our friends, or even not be able to play in hockey games, it is very important that we remember to stay positive and look at the situation from a different, and positive perspective! If you are participating in online school think about all of the time you get to spend at home with your family. If you’re not able to hang out with your friends in your free time, take that time to learn about something you’re interested in or help your family around the house. If you are not able to play games with your regular-season team, think about all the practice time you will have to improve your skills.
As athletes, and as human beings, it is our job to maintain a positive perspective. While it may be easy to look at a situation that doesn’t go your way with a negative attitude, it does you no good to do so. Understand the negatives, but make everything a positive!
March 12, 2020 1:36 am
Published by Russ Sinkewich
Having a plan in place is paramount to maximizing your off-season. Just as every player is unique, so should each player’s plan for development! Here’s a few key factors to work into your game plan as you’re mapping it out!
- Targeted Areas of Improvement
- Be critical and assess your deficiencies.
- Action Plan
- Once you’ve identified areas in your game you need to improve – now what’s your plan? From home workouts, to shooting/stick handling in the basement, to getting on the ice. Have a plan, and stick to it!
- Set Goals
- Once your plan is in place, SET GOALS. Time your mile run, shoot “X” number of pucks per week, workout “X” times per week, the list is endless. Make the effort of recording tangible results. This will go further than you can imagine – the numbers don’t lie!
- Strategic Breaks
- This is the X-factor that separates good off-seasons from great off-seasons! Take breaks, enjoy time away from the sport. Your body and your mind NEED these breaks! Be strategic in planning; perhaps right after tryouts for a few weeks, or maybe at the end of the summer before the school and hockey year starts back up again.
We can’t wait to have an awesome spring and off-season with everyone!
January 21, 2020 12:56 am
Published by Russ Sinkewich
Just because you’re in the heart of your season doesn’t mean your stretching and mobility should be put on the bench. Hopefully, you’re lucky enough to have a team or coach that prioritizes time for pre-practice/game warmups. Regardless if you’re doing a quick warmup with your teammates or on your own, here’s a few simple movements to key in on your hip mobility (aka, stretches that will help your skating)!
- Sprinter Squat Sequence
- Take a “hockey knee”, roll hips forward and backwards stretching your hip flexors. Then take front leg and extend forward, while trying to bring your head down facing that knee. Great for all our skating muscles, hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes.
- Scorpions
- Laying on your chest, bend one leg up, and reach it up and over across your body. Perform slowly and under control. You’ll feel a great stretch in your lower back and hip flexors.
- Squat Reaches
- Shoulder width stance, deep squat and hold :10seconds. Grab feet, straighten legs first, stretching hamstrings, then raise hips. Perform 8-12 consecutive movements.
Keep it going during the heart of the season! Can’t wait to hear from everyone soon!
December 31, 2019 10:45 pm
Published by Russ Sinkewich
We hope everyone has had a great, refreshing holiday break. Friends, family, time off for the holidays – it’s the best! With the break, there’s no better time than NOW to reset, reevaluate, and focus on making your goals a reality heading into the new year! Take a hard look at 2019 – celebrate the positive, embrace the negative, and grow through the hard lessons learned along the way. Most importantly establish your plan to make 2020 your year! It’s about the game plan, and the ACTION! Set your game plan, and get after it this year!
We can’t wait to watch you make it happen in 2020!
December 12, 2019 6:11 pm
Published by Russ Sinkewich
So often we let our tunneled focus on goals, achievements, and expectations cloud our perspective of what truly matters. Without a doubt, having goals and an action plan to achieve those goals is critical to long term success. However, never at the cost of losing your perspective.
I vividly remember having chapters in my career where I would be so obsessed on the goals and expectations I set for myself that I would forget why I even played the game. I would take my health (mentally and physically) for granted, I would underestimate accomplishments, I would look at “issues” in my hockey world and over dramatize them, and worst of all I lost sight of my reasons why I loved the game so much. Remember, your hockey issues are not the end of the world – your lows are never as low as you think they are!
The first step out of every low point I ever experienced was digging deep and finding my gratitude for so many wonderful things in my life and career. I would mindfully re align my focus to all of the aspects of the game that I cherished so much. Like clockwork, the anxiety and stressors that ate at me would disappear and I would be back on my way chasing my dream.
Keep your goals in sight, but never lose your perspective, gratitude, and passion for the game!