Chicken Soup

No hockey game or practice for the team today. It’s a cold January Sunday. I took advantage of the day to get some work done on the blog and look over some of my notes from past teams. I was looking at my dad’s old coaching notes from the early 70’s. A lot of basics that were stressed back then are still relevant. He was big on skating backwards. That was stressed over and over. Everything you do going forward you need to learn going backwards. Having a neighborhood rink was great. You had to shovel off the snow, but you could spend hours on the ice…skating backwards. After a while I’d get dizzy and fall over. It is good to get as good at stick handling, passing and shooting skating backwards as you do skating forwards. Transitioning should be smooth and efficient. You need good balance for that. You need a low center of gravity by bending your knees. In hockey you need to move. If you stand still you won’t be able to change direction, back check or for check. If you coast, you’re not really in the game. You need to be able to move in any direction quickly with and without the puck. Remember to keep your head up and on a swivel. The same is true for Lacrosse. Don’t look at your feet. They know what they’re doing. Look around and see what’s going on. Know where the puck or ball is while your moving. Know where your teammates are, and where they will be.

I was always told that you need your rest if you want to play your best. Today was a good day to recharge. I made some homemade chicken soup. For some reason I still believe it’s good for you when you are run down or worn out. It seems to work. My oldest son has a practice later today for Varsity Lacrosse, so I’ll pick up a coffee and go and watch that. I put some more links up. The podcasts links are pretty good. You’ll get some interesting insight into both college lacrosse and junior hockey. I’m trying to make this as useful as possible. If you have any suggestions let me know.