Making the World Inline Hockey Champs

[Muzza_77 0]

Hey in 2007 or 2008 (preferably 2007) I want to make the Australia team for this tournament. This will take an intense amount of training, though my question is what will the selectors be looking for? There has to be some selectors of some sort on this board. What do you look for in an inline hockey player? I need to know as much as possible.

Also what key aspects should I focus on to train?

Thanks

Muzza

[hockeytim18 0]

I went to my inline tryouts today. I'll say what the head coach said. Don't ask that question you should know what to do. Play your best and you can't look back and say I wish I would have done something different.

Just a bit of advice I know it's not really what you're looking for but thought i'd share my experience with you.

P.S. Good Luck

[malcb33 97]

Is it the IIHF or FIRS World Cup? What position do you play?

[Patrick67 1]

Muzza: Footspeed, keep those feet moving!

Be fast but don't overpursue, sometimes it's best not to go all-out and let the play develop by itself, but you have to fast to make sure your in the right postions to either coast are play D-/O-

Think about what you should concentrate on before each game, and take into consideration who your opponents are.

E.g. if we play against teams better than us, we play trap hockey, and kill the tempo even though we have some very fast guys. We score all our goals in those games on powerplays and breakouts.

Do plyometrics, and core strenght exercises. You don't want to be buff, but fast and athlectic in Inline hockey.

And work on your release, the guy with the fast release & decent accuracy scores more goals than the one with a decent release and good accuracy.

[Muzza_77 0]

I am not sure which world cup it is. All I really want to do is make the international team and play at any world cup or tournament, though I would really like to play the world cup. With school and stuff next year is my best shot at making it to the team, so I have to work hard.

Thanks for the input guys, I will work on that stuff. I have be able to hire a court to practice for 1hour before one of my main training sessions. This is really good, I get to work on small things and refine then, and get fitter and faster and do my own thing at the same time.

Keep it coming thanks.

[All Torhs Team 0]

I just recently made my team for Defense. One thing the evaluators said they noticed about me even though i made it.

1)often im last man into zone (they said it can be good and bad)

2)when gaurding men in slot they say to keep feet moving (although i dont know how)

but they also told me during practice to play natural, not to impress the coaches as much.

[Hockeyman9621 0]

Especially in roller hockey, you have to be under control at your top speed. Stickhandling, transitions, edge work, etc. Practice everything at top speed.

[Muzza_77 0]

I will practice everything at top speed. How can I improve my shot release time?

Thanks for the input guys.

[Aussie Joe 0]

Hey Muzz, the 1st step to making any Nats team is to play state. I have never played in a Nationals team but played for the Vics through Jnr's and last yr in Melbourne under the Skate Aus Nats. Nationals puts you up against the best in the country and proves to the selectors (and yourself) how good you are in comparison. With the merge details in limbo atm its hard to tell how National teams will be selected at this stage, so your end ambition might be put on hold for awhile.

Which brings me to my next point. If you want to get better at Inline in Australia then you need a few things...

One: a good coach, this will help you refine your skills and get rid of the weak parts of your game. This will also help as you yourself, cannot always tell what needs improving. If you want success in this sport it may mean changing clubs/coaches etc.

Two: If you don't already, play as much Ice as possible! This will quicken up your speed, improve your heads up play and most importantly teach you how to take/give a hit. This is really important because compared to home grown refs, international ones ref with a real "let go" approach. To put it simply if you play in the Worlds they allow allot more rough stuff. Playing Ice will mean you can understand how this all works properly, as opposed to the lads who come from a straight out Inline background. The heavier puck will also improve your arm strength as well as the surface difference means your hands will need a softer feel to go anywhere with the puck.

Three:When I was able to, I used to practice my stickhandling, shooting and passing/recieving 3-4 times a week ontop of the x2 training sessions I did per week and my x2 games on Sundays. This was a tremendous amount of time I spent on my skills and my wrist and snap shots were on a level they had never been before. It was also the driving factor which turned my grubber slap shot into a driving top shelf burner they are today. I recommend grabbing a Millenium ProPuck and slamming it hard against a wall, trap or one time the rebounds and get something small to aim at! I used to use a plastic milk crate to aim at to begin with, as I got better I moved to those giant Pal cans you can score out of ppl's recycling bins. Great stuff and really simple to obtain.

Four: Incorporate some fitness (I run between 2.5 and 3k's in the one go, 3 times a week) and some plyometrics, there's some great books out there on Skating and fitness for Skating. Check out Amazon.com for some very decent titles. I swear by Laura Stamm's book on Power Skating. It has taught me so much already. Depending on how old you are grab some weights. Even the small ones are worth it, I saw gains from weight training 2-3 weeks in and Im no strongman either, I have been called a stick many times ;)

Five: This is the most important, attitude. Make sure you are focussed on what you want to do. Simple things like always pushing yourself as hard as possible are important. Its can also be as simple as taking 2-3 extra steps whilst back checking, never talking back to refs/coaches etc. I recommend the mantra "Being tired isn't a good enough reason to stop" It will serve you very well.

Lastly,

If you are ever in Melbourne town, PM me. I will get you in my club's training session. We use the exact some training plan/methods that the VILHA Men's State Team has been using for the past 5 yrs. Its the program which has enabled them to win the past 6-7 State titles in a row! Well worth the look of exhaustion at the end of a session.

Hope this all helps matey.

[Muzza_77 0]

Right okay. Thanks everyone for your input. Right now I don't have a 'real' coach that can actually train me, I have a coach, but I am better then the coach. Also I don't have a team, though I am working on this. Right now all I do is play against a few guys which is no where near enough. It really sucks, so I have to push myself. I can cope with this. My parents all say 'your doing fine, you good enough' and to that I push my self even harder. I have to train myself and have determination. I played state this year and made it to nationals despite all of that. I taught myself the slap and snap shot and overall I practice my shots are 400 a week. I am beginning to run and swim each 3 times a week. I am starting to do ladder and sprinting drills. I have bought Nike Free Trainers to improve my foot strenght. I am working out basically.

I will search around and find as many books as possible, they are probably the best information I will get.

My parents won't let me play ice which really sucks so I just have to cope. I don't think that hits should be a problem, though just to make sure i will try and find a way to practice getting hit.

I practice my skills in my room when ever I can. I have set up a shooting rig in my back yard (MDF board, goals and ice hockey pucks) to practice my shots.

I have put outdoor wheels on my old nike shadows and bought a ProPuck so I can practice in the back park (I have found this to be really good to work on skills)

And attitude, in any sport I have played I have never gotten any card, sent off, mouthed off the ref or anything. The ref is here to help, forget about the ref and play your best.

I will practice everything top speed. I practice everything with my helmet so the cage disrupts my vision making me work harder. I used heavier pucks in doors.

As a cross trainer I am on the school soccer team, I play field hockey 2 times a week.

Whoa, am I missing anything?

[Aussie Joe 0]

The best way to improve in this country is Ice. Its also the only form of Hockey where the coaches can get accreditation thats based on real constraints. Its a pity your parents won't let you but, maybe you can work out a deal where you do more yard work or something in exchange for playing. I dunno,.... because If I could redo my Jnr yrs I would have started playing Ice before the age of 19 thats for sure!

The rest of your training sounds pretty spot on. I recommend straight out running as well. Anything past 1.5km's in the one session is good. Soccer and Hockey is great but, it can be stop start sometimes which doesn't work that much fitness wise. You don't have to sprint the whole time, just keep a steady pace and do some good jogging with distance. Get out the street directory and use the distance key on top of the pages to figure out how far you are running around the local hood.

FOXTEL is showing hockey this season, 3 games a week in fact. So if you can watch as much as possible. If you parents don't like the idea of pay-TV and you don't have FOXTEL already then see if you can get a mate to tape it for you (a trick I did as a Jnr). Watching NHL makes your game so much better, its something allot of kids in this country miss out on when coming up through the ranks.

Best of luck with all of this Muzz.

[Muzza_77 0]

I actually find that field hockey to actually be a really good workout. I play a forward, so I constantly sprinting to the ball. But also our team doesn't have very good defenders so I often sprinting back as fast as I can to prevent a goal.

I can't play ice hockey because my dad thinks that it too rough :(

I will try the street directory idea, it sounds good.

I will try and find a friend with foxtel. I taped all of the winter olympic games and have found watching them to be really good. Also some team websites have downloads of highlights. Last thursday night I flicked through them and on friday night (training) I found that I was playing alot better because I was trying to mimick them. It was cool.

Cheers Muzza

[Hockeyman9621 0]

I actually find that field hockey to actually be a really good workout. I play a forward, so I constantly sprinting to the ball. But also our team doesn't have very good defenders so I often sprinting back as fast as I can to prevent a goal.

I can't play ice hockey because my dad thinks that it too rough :(

I will try the street directory idea, it sounds good.

I will try and find a friend with foxtel. I taped all of the winter olympic games and have found watching them to be really good. Also some team websites have downloads of highlights. Last thursday night I flicked through them and on friday night (training) I found that I was playing alot better because I was trying to mimick them. It was cool.

Cheers Muzza

Try to covince your dad that you will only be playing ice hockey to get benefits for roller hockey.

[Muzza_77 0]

Nah, I don't think that will work. I am not allowed to go to my Year 10 formal because my parents think that it will be dangerous. It really sucks. I was asked to play for an ice hockey team, I was like :D and my parents where like <_<

Maybe one day...

[malcb33 97]

Besides all the work out stuff which you can't really ever do enough of, it's hard for anyone to know what the coaches/selectors are looking for because I am guessing no one here knows them personally and what they like and dislike in a player.

However from my experience I can try to help you with some pointers that will make you a solid type player in the style of hockey played at the IIHF WC. From my experience you will be playing (bar AUS improving a whole lot) in the Div 1 pool, which is not any rougher than the hockey you probably play now. The open Div is much rougher, but that is mainly because of all the Euro ice hockey players. If you try to bring any rough play (even playing the body without attempting to play the puck) you will get called, and penalties will kill your team at this level. Try to become a really responsible defense player (no matter what position you play)! Try to become a PK expert, this way you will get lots of time on, heaps of PP/PK opportunities in this competition. In this competition a good shift is always a shift where you don't give the other team any scoring opportunities (and hopefully your line creates a scoring opportunity), if you take to many risks offensively you will get caught the players in this competition are smart, they sometimes look goofy but don't ever underestimate them by trying to pull a move you shouldn't, i.e. toe drag last man back etc. You might get away with it at club level but don't play to club level. Learn how to slow the play down and take the gaps as they come, don't try to force the play if the other team has good defensive position, slow it down and cycle back. If you make the team watch how the other teams play, you will notice this alot!

Hope this helps