I work with many young girls hockey players on and off the ice who have just going through their first big growth spurt. There are usually aches and pains that come all with it (because the bones grow faster than the muscles do) and most of the time there is also a loss of coordination. After a quick growth spurt, a player can go from being one of the best players on the team to looking like “Bambi” on skates. So what do you do when you have lost as much coordination and skill as you have gained in size and height?
It’s amazing to see how quickly a girl can sprout up when their growth spurt hits, isn’t it? And it’s alarming to see how quickly her hockey-specific skills and coordination can go down the tubes.
Periods of rapid physical growth dramatically alter a young player’s previously mastered movement patterns. What was once easy and effortless on the ice suddenly becomes choppy and challenging. A young female hockey player going through a growth spurt will need to change the mechanics of her skating, shooting and stickhandling in order to accommodate their new-found height and size. Despite the fact that the player “sprouts up” in a matter of weeks, becoming well acquainted with their new body can take months and their level of co-ordination may suffer accordingly during this time.
The best time for a young female hockey players to increase their level of co-ordination is between the ages of 10 and 13. Up until the “teens”, players can learn new skills and master new movements much more easily than they will be able to later in their athletic development.
It is quite ironic that the optimal period for developing co-ordination coincides with the timing of a player’s growth spurt. Even though athletes are primed to learn and perfect new skills at this time, the development of co-ordination comes to a screeching halt once the growth spurt begins.
3 Keys To Getting Through Growth Spurts
When working with a player who has recently gone through a growth spurt, you should:
1) Focus on previously mastered co-ordination skills.
Give the body time to adapt to massive physical changes while increasing the athlete’s level of confidence in their current abilities. This is NOT a good time to greatly increase the complexity of on-ice drills or the intensity of off-ice training sessions.
2) Focus on developing strength.
There is a critical period for developing strength that typically comes immediately after the onset of puberty. This gives players a great opportunity to focus on becoming more explosive and powerful while waiting for the “negative” co-ordination effects of the growth spurt to subside.
3) Be patient.
Avoid becoming impatient with your young player’s development during this time. Rest assured, they are much more frustrated than you are.
It may seem counter-intuitive to “slow down” an aspiring girls’ hockey player’s learning of new skills at such a critical point of their development. But focusing on previously mastered movements and giving the player time to adapt to their new frame, instead of pushing them too hard too quickly, they will be able to go from looking like “Bambi” to playing like “Crosby” in no time.
Work Hard. Dream BIG.
~ Coach Kim
