I spent the entire day at a huge girls hockey tournament here in Toronto and realized 5 important things while hanging around the rink.

1. The “wheelie” bags have taken over girls hockey: I HATE the “wheelie” hockey bags. I say leave them for the figure skaters and stewardesses. I know that they still sell regular wheel-less hockey bags because I just bought one last week. Save me the sob story about how hockey bags are too heavy to carry. The weight of the bag is directly proportional to the size of the player. The bigger the kid, the bigger the equipment, and the heavier the bag. Not so coincidentally, as the weight of the bag goes up so does the size and strength of the player. Kids should be carrying their own hockey bags, and if they can’t, it’s too big or has too much extra stuff in there. I had to help one of my players get her bag up a big flight of stairs last night because her bag probably weighs more than she does. Who knew those little wheels could weigh so much?

2) Girls hockey teams can count to 10: I watched at least a dozen girls hockey teams warm-up today and only 1 team warmed-up properly. The other 11 teams stood still like statues and held stretches while counting to 10 at the top of their lungs. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This static stretching completely undid all of the work they did to warm their muscles up through jogging. There is NO reason to hold stretches for any period of time before hitting the ice. Players have to use the warm-up to prepare themselves for what they are going to do out on the ice - moving.

3) There are not enough female coaches: Out of the 30 girls hockey teams I saw out on the ice today, I saw only 2 female head coaches. There may be significantly more women coaching at the college and university level than there were 10 years ago, but the number of women behind the bench in girls’ hockey has stayed exactly the same. While the male coaches do a fine job working with the girls, it’s really important for these girls to be exposed to as many positive female role models as possible.

4) Cool-downs are the wave of the future: Girls are starting to get the message that cooling down after you get off the ice is almost as important as warming-up beforehand. I took one team through a complete cool-down after their first game of the day and I guarantee that they will feel better for their game tonight. And feeling better means playing better. Go for a quick jog, stretch and go home. It should only take 10 minutes if you do it properly. A lot of players complain that they don’t stretch in the dressing room because the floor is gross. Either keep the bottom half of your equipment on or bring a towel to stretch on. Problem solved.

5) I am not as young as I used to be: Ten years ago, I was in this tournament as a player. Our team actually did pretty well, which meant playing 6 games in 3 days. Just thinking of playing two games a day for three days straight tires me out. I am sure I could do it, if I prepared and recovered properly. That means that I should have done 5 things in particular: warming-up before every game, cooling down after each game, drinking a ton of water, eating healthy and sleeping a lot each night. On my best days as a young player, I might have done one or two of these things - you need to do them all if you want to perform your best.

Playing as well in your 4th game of the tournament as your 1st game isn’t about skill - it’s about proper preparation.

What are you going to do at your next tournament to help you to perform your best?

Work Hard. Dream BIG.

~ Coach Kim