Why Most Girls Hockey Players Miss Their Chance To Be Great

By Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS

Playing multiple sports is absolutely essential for any aspiring girls hockey players who want to take their performance to the next level.  But it’s not enough to make you a great female hockey player.  The reality is that most girls hockey players who aspire to reach the elite levels of women’s hockey also play another sport (or two) quite well. I honestly think I was a better soccer player than hockey player in high school, I just loved playing hockey more and that’s why I pursued it.  The best female hockey players I know are all phenomenal athletes first and great hockey players second.  You could put them in any sport, and they would be pretty good out of the gate.

Playing multiple sports allows girls to develop all of the athletic skills that are essential to being a great player. Hand-eye coordination, reaction time, reading the play…and the list goes on and on.  Hockey is a game of mistakes.  The best teams and best players are the ones who can capitalize on the other team’s mistakes most quickly. And the better athlete you are, the more tools you have at your disposal to take advantage of these mistakes.

But just playing sports is not enough to make you a great athlete.

You may be very good in terms of the skills and strategies needed to excel on the ice, but you will be limited on how far you can get in women’s hockey until you become a complete athlete.

A concerned hockey mom sent me an email yesterday on this very subject. She said that her daughter’s rep team had a break in their schedule for a few days and she asked the coach if he wanted her to organize some off-ice training with the team to keep them in game shape. Here’s what he said…

“The girls play school sports, they are getting enough exercise at school.”

This mother was stunned. Her daughter felt like they were being treated like house-league players and that the coach wasn’t taking thing seriously.

And both mother and daughter are totally right.

You can’t become an elite female hockey player by just playing hockey.

Or even a few other sports for that matter.

You have to train off the ice. You need to get stronger, faster and fitter if you want to compete at the elite levels of female hockey.

© Total Female Hockey 2008

Kim McCullough, YCS, MSc, is a Athletic Development Specialist and founder of Total Female Hockey. In addition to training and coaching girls at all levels of hockey, from novice to the National team, Kim has also played at the highest level of women’s hockey in the world for the last decade. Kim’s female player development website features a state-of-the-art Complete Off-Season Training Program and her blog gives the coaches and parents of aspiring young players access to the most up-to-date tips and advice on how to help their players take their game to the next level. To learn more about female-specific player development, get your Free Report: The #1 Mistake Female Players Make in the Off-Season at http://www.totalfemalehockey.com