I got a great question from a 16 year old player asking for help on how to fit everything in as an aspiring girls hockey player and an extremely active student-athlete. As school and the season reach their busiest time in November, I wanted to my student-athlete success strategies with you today.
“I used your Total Female Hockey Strength workout plan in the summer and want to keep getting stronger, faster and fitter as the season continues. Now that I am back at school, I am finding it hard to do it when I have school sports every day and school work and hockey. By the time I get home after field hockey practice, it is too late to go outside and do my sprints and I still have to do my homework. Any suggestions on how to fit it all in?”
Here are 2 tips for how to become a girls hockey success story both on and off the ice…
1) Have A Daily Plan
The skill that was the most valuable to me as a student-athlete was time management. I remember having to juggle rep hockey practice, school soccer practice, off-ice workouts, all my schoolwork, plus hanging out with my friends and family. It was definitely stressful trying to fit it all in.
I always found that taking the time at night to write out what I HAD to do the next day really helped to keep me on track. On busier days, I might actually write out what I needed to do hour by hour, or it might just be 3 big things that I absolutely needed to get done that day. Having a daily plan really kept me focused and on track all through high school and college.
2) Be A Quick Starter
As soon as you get a school assignment, START IT. This one tip alone saved me a ton of stress in college and allowed me to actually enjoy road trips, instead of worrying about the 10 page paper I had to write when we got back on campus.
I would make a quick outline of what I was going to research or write about the day I got the assignment, even if the paper wasn’t due for 3 weeks. Then when it got closer to the actual due date, I would have a jump-start on the assignment, instead of freaking out because I was starting from ground zero.
The truth is that you aren’t going to be getting a million dollar contract to play elite female hockey anytime in the near future, so being a success off the ice is just as important as your on-ice success.
What strategies do you use to keep yourself on top of everything during the hockey season?
Share your success strategies below.
~ Coach Kim
I play rep hockey, ‘A’ ringette, regional field hockey, at least one school sport every season and grade nine school work, I’m also waiting till Wednesday to start doing the strength program, I wanted to start it on a day where I didn’t have sports.
I try and get everything done but I find I just don’t have the time, my school work normally gets the short straw and I lose the one thing that’s the most important to me, my rest. What can I do to be able to do well in school, play all my sports and get the rest my body desperately needs?