My son's hockey club offers additional practice sessions that equate to about 2-3 a year. These are practice times, in addition to his standard 2 weekly team practices. From what I understand the practices are flexible and I know our manager has been interested in getting the Heads Up trainings as standard trainings for the kids.
This Monday the additional practice was 100% Heads Up. What is that? It teaches the players how to check and protect themselves in the game. It is designed to make them better checkers, so they don't injure a player and it teaches them how to protect themselves on the ice.
The one hour session included 22 boys and Ty Newberry from USA Hockey. He introduced them to skills I would consider essential and even go as far as to say... must be mastered by a player before they can advance into a checking league. I have discovered, with help, that the course-work to teach our children how to best protect themselves is already written under USA Hockey. Getting clubs, leagues, and parents involved in developing a mechanism to train the players, our children, is needed. I mean really institute a plan to teach Heads Up skills. In two words - thoroughly trained.
This isn't about what hasn't been done with regard to safety but what we can do in the future. The boys learned how to take a fall and prevent the boards from impacting their skull and neck. You know what? They struggled. They didn't know how to do it. Basically, they were taught (SAFELY) how to slide full speed into the boards and turn their body. Did you know there is a set way to contact the boards? It is stick, hands, and knees. Done in that order, to absorb the impact and prevent injury to their neck and head. They learned better how to do it but could easily use another 1/2 dozen practices to perfect it. It isn't as simple or easy as it sounds.
Why are these types of hockey skills so under-taught? I have an idea but that is for another blog entry. These are behaviors and skills they must practice and learn before they could ever do them in a game. You absolutely can't just learn these skill in a game. Practice! x 100. They probably have to do it 500 times in practice, to save themselves 1 time in a game. It is just under-taught. The leagues, clubs, and parents have to do more to bring this type of skills training to the fore-front. It can't just be a soft... it is there for the coaches to use.
They were also taught how to check a player along the boards. It was NOT about just impacting them shoulder to shoulder and into the boards. That really isn't a good hockey play if you ended up falling down and take yourself out of the play or don't end up with the puck. They were taught how to stop a player by gaining position and checking the player's hands, arms, and stick into the boards. It effectively shut down the player and play, and allowed them to move the puck out. It was a better check and they were taught how to do it so there was no impact to the opposing player's back. Or at least less risk to checking a player in the back. And that is the goal... reduce risk.
They learned a critical skill that I bet you don't even know exists. Still, after 20 minutes of practicing this technique, some boys continued to go straight for the puck and never looked over their shoulders. They definitely need to practice this technique at every practice, in some form. Essentially, a player should approach a puck, in the corners or along the boards, by sweeping in from an angle. They must look for players over both shoulder as they pick up the puck. The sweep or angle motion to the puck puts them shoulder to shoulder with boards and allows them to look around as they approach the puck.
What do most kids do instead of coming in from an angle? Straight line to the puck, almost a perpendicular line to the boards, and they don't look to see who is behind them. What this does, when doing it the wrong way, is positions the player, your child, with their head to the boards and their back to on coming players. A recipe for impact and harm. Youth players must learn the sweeping angling technique first and demonstrate they can do it, IMO, before they even step into a checking league. Teach it early, practice it often, use it before entering a checking league, and risk is reduced.
I want to thank the Huskies for making this time available and our managers for developing the lesson plan so to speak. It helped my child learn something new that might save him harm. Every parent must get involved and push skills training for safety. We don't have to invent it. We just have to get what is available implemented in a structured and sufficient manner. Two classes is good. I think the skills in Heads UP Hockey is easily twelve 1 hour sessions. And that 12 hours is just for an INTRODUCTION to youth players. There are concepts found in the Heads UP trainings that must be drilled into our kids heads. Pun intended. It beats the alternative of them drilling their heads into the boards.
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