Goalie Training Tips: Off-Season Planning

Whether you’re looking to crack the roster of a team at a higher level, or achieve greater success with your stats next season at the same level of play as last year, taking some time away from hockey during the off-season to reflect, relax, heal injuries, enjoy time with family and friends, and participate in other sports is a good idea.  But despite a much needed break from hockey, if you’re not adding the following to your goalie training plan, you could be harming your development and growth as an athlete.

All athletes need a plan or schedule in order to keep them on track throughout the off-season.  After all, with so much going on throughout the spring and summer, it can be easy to lose track of time.  The worst thing that athletes can do is take too much time away from their goalie training, and then attempt to make up for their lost time as this may result in fatigue, injury, and even illness.

Create Goals

Having on ice goals is directly related to your off-season goalie training plan.  Therefore, if you’re looking to advance yourself on the ice, you need to have SMART goals (Specific-Measurable-Achievable-Relevant-Time Bound).  For example, if an athlete wishes to increase their explosive power, then they may wish to design their goal so that they are increasing the weight for squats by 100 lbs over the course of an off-season.  In order to do so, they could break this goal down to increasing the weight on the bar by 5 lbs per week between April and August.

Put it in Writing

In order to create an effective goalie training plan, document it by creating a schedule and sticking to it.  By putting it in writing and having it in a visible area in your home, it will serve as a constant reminder of how much down time you truly have.

Sticking To It

The last thing you want as an athlete is to arrive to your tryouts and lack confidence in your abilities.  As a young athlete, it can be difficult to block out all of the outside noise and distractions, and over the course of an off-season you will be faced with many challenges which compete for your time such as family vacations, spending time with friends, etc.

The process of creating and documenting your goals is there to help you achieve the goals which you had set out for yourself.  Therefore, every time that you decide to place anything other than your plan’s schedule ahead of your goalie training plan’s goals, you become that much further away from achieving them.

Simply put:  Stick to your schedule, and you’ll attain your off-season goals.

Sacrifice

As an athlete, you should be familiar with the term “Sacrifice”.  And this term isn’t just limited to your time on the ice.  It’s also applicable to your time away from the ice.  Depending on the goals you have for yourself, sacrifices can range from anywhere between not going to the mall with friends, to skipping family gatherings or whole vacations in order to stay on track.  Where you draw the line is completely up to you and how serious of an athlete you are.