It’s really cool to see how much women’s hockey has grown in the last 10 years since we first made our debut as an Olympic sport back at the 1998 Games in Nagano. Back when I first started playing women’s college hockey in 1998, the sport was really starting to pick up steam in North America.

Ten years later, the best female hockey players in the world are starting to become household names here in Canada and in pockets of the United States (or as I like to call them, the “M” states - Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts). The sport is starting to gain more recognition world-wide, but there is still a lot of work to do on the player development side of things if we want there to be more parity in the female game anytime soon.
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I was in Philadelphia this week and I thought it would be awesome to go run up the “Rocky” steps. I used to do running and jumping drills up the stairs all the time back when I was playing at the elite levels of women’s hockey. You’ll find a little video of my Rocky style sprint below.
Running up the Rocky steps wasn’t exactly a BIG goal of mine and it wasn’t nearly as tough as I thought they would be, but I am glad that I can say that I ran up them.

So what does the Rocky movie have to do with girls hockey training? (more…)

Last night I watched a girls hockey high school game here in Boston, and there was one thing that jumped out at me immediately as soon as the players stepped out on the ice.
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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?
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The Canadian National Women’s Hockey Team program just finished a selection camp for the Olympic team this week. In just over 12 months, these elite women’s hockey players will face off against their arch rivals from the United States, and the up-and-coming teams from Sweden and Finland, in what promises to be the most competitive international women’s hockey event ever at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

The rest of the female hockey world may be starting to catch up with the North American teams, but Canada’s talent pool has never been deeper. The next 12 months are going to be an absolutely dogfight between 37 players who have been identified as being in the running for the Olympic team. Other than a handful of shoe-ins, the rest of the women in the Canadian National Women’s Team program are going to have to fight it out to get their shot at winning the first ever gold medal for Canada on Canadian soil.
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Have you ever heard of Red Bull Crashed Ice? It has taken place in Quebec City for the last two years and I have to admit it is pretty cool to watch.

Check out this picture from last year’s event and try to tell me that doesn’t look like a lot of fun.
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After having traveled to Minnesota twice in 2 weeks, I am pretty sure this THE state for girls hockey in the US (feel free to prove me wrong). But that’s not the state I want to talk about today. Youth hockey, boys and girls, has become over-structured by over-bearing parents and coaches who are over-working their kids. Hockey has gone from being “fun”, to being “work”. Since I am in THE state of hockey, I figured who better to address this issue (and many others surrounding youth hockey) than one of the most well-respected and accomplished coaches in all of Minnesota.

Please pass this message along to any coach or parent you think might benefit from it.

Work Hard. Dream BIG…and Have FUN!

~ Coach Kim

I have been presenting girls hockey off-ice training seminars for the past 2 days in Duluth, Minnesota, and have had the chance to meet some great hockey people and watch some great hockey games. And tonight, for the first time since I graduated from Dartmouth six years ago, I got to watch an NCAA women’s hockey game.
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There are times out on the ice, when you think you’ve used up every ounce of strength you have, but you still need to dig in and give more. That’s when you make the choice to be a great female hockey player. Watch the clip below and see what’s possible when you don’t let your mind limit what your body can do.

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