Catch Up

The last few weeks have been very busy, and very cold. Sundays I have been coaching a Peewee skills clinic, while during the week my wife and I have been watching our two oldest boys play Varsity and JV lacrosse. With the extended winter temperatures this has been a very cold proposition for everyone involved. It’s actually much warmer out on the ice during hockey. There is no rest between sports in our family. If it’s not a school sport, it’s club lacrosse or minor hockey. We try to make use of at least one day a week to chill out and rest up by having a very low key evening together. Between work, hockey, and lacrosse, it’s easy to get wiped out if you don’t take time to relax. Even going to a SU lacrosse game becomes a nice change, but sometimes it’s nice just to spend the evening reading a good book and listening to the radio. I’ve gotten to see my oldest make some great saves, while my middle son has been racking up the goals and assists for the JVs. My youngest is out on the ice with me working on his skills and getting faster and stronger on the ice. I’d say I don’t think it gets much better than this. Skills become a huge factor for all three boys. With the snow finally gone it’s much easier to practice out back in the yard. I don’t plan on having a perfect lawn anymore, but it’s worth it. Lacrosse net and a ball wall are all we have out back. They bring their sticks out, play catch and shoot on the goal. That’s it, nothing too fancy, just a lot of practice passing and shooting. The kids I have on the ice are great young hockey players who want to keep improving their skills. I have some very good help that makes the clinics more effective than if I tried to do everything alone. It’s defiantly effective for more one on one work that some players can benefit from. We let them play a quick pickup game at the end of each practice and watch to see what new moves they make, or how they work together on each team. It’s also a great way to end the practice with some good old fashion fun. Don’t get me wrong, they work hard on their basic skills, and it gets a little tougher each week. The idea is that we get to focus on improving the core of their individual hockey skills, without spending time on other parts of the game that we would normally spend time on during the regular season. In July we will take a break for the summer. We’ll have summer lacrosse starting up, and it’ll be time for a break from the rink. After two weeks away from the rink I’ll start going through hockey withdrawal and waiting impatiently for the beginning of the next season. That’s why I have roller blades, doesn’t everyone?