Advice For Try-outs

[iamcanadian 0]

Well try-outs are coming up in less than a couple of months where I live. Yea it's pretty early, I wish they had them after the summer so i could train. So I am currently a Minor Bantam A and I want to make the jump up to AAA. How should I train for the next 2 months to get ready? I have a good diet except I should drink more water. Advice?

[-knowlzey- 0]

Well try-outs are coming up in less than a couple of months where I live. Yea it's pretty early, I wish they had them after the summer so i could train. So I am currently a Minor Bantam AA and I want to make the jump up to AAA. How should I train for the next 2 months to get ready? I have a good diet except I should drink more water. Advice?

Plyometrics never hurt, if you've got a nearby gym or basement area to do exercises. http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/plyometrics.html Doing these exercises at high intensity not only improves endurance, but power in your legs for better strides. Eventually over time you can fill up a hockey sock full of sand, and rest it on your back for added resistance when doing the exercises.

I made jump from AA to AAA in Major Bantam, and I noticed that being able to switch from backwards to forwards quickly and getting good strides quickly and efficiently were important (I am a D).

[iamcanadian 0]

quote]

Plyometrics never hurt, if you've got a nearby gym or basement area to do exercises. http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/plyometrics.html Doing these exercises at high intensity not only improves endurance, but power in your legs for better strides. Eventually over time you can fill up a hockey sock full of sand, and rest it on your back for added resistance when doing the exercises.

I made jump from AA to AAA in Major Bantam, and I noticed that being able to switch from backwards to forwards quickly and getting good strides quickly and efficiently were important (I am a D).

Thanks, i have a membership to the gym and I have a good spot in my basement where i shoot pucks, stickhandle, i have a punching bag, and a bench press and weights.

I should also add, I can play both forward and defence. On my AA team this year a split between the 2 and I would say that I am in the top 2 on both positions on my team so that should be to my advantage when trying out for AAA.

[CTK30 0]

14 is kind of young to start any serious weight lifting

What are your stats, height, and weight?

But if your doing bench press now make sure your training your back also

I'd recommend body weight exercise right now, pull ups, pushups, dips and anything else you can think of.

[iamcanadian 0]

14 is kind of young to start any serious weight lifting

What are your stats, height, and weight?

But if your doing bench press now make sure your training your back also

I'd recommend body weight exercise right now, pull ups, pushups, dips and anything else you can think of.

Well I have been weightlifting for about 9 months already and I took a mandatory course at my gym. I'm 5 foot 9 140 lbs.

[CTK30 0]

14 is kind of young to start any serious weight lifting

What are your stats, height, and weight?

But if your doing bench press now make sure your training your back also

I'd recommend body weight exercise right now, pull ups, pushups, dips and anything else you can think of.

Well I have been weightlifting for about 9 months already and I took a mandatory course at my gym. I'm 5 foot 9 140 lbs.

Well in that case, what routine are you doing right now?

[JohnnyCanuck 0]

Listen Dude, I did it myself as a player, and have coached at the AAA Level at Peewee, Bantam, & Midget levels.

You have to stand out.

The best advice anyone ever gave me was from a scout that said I wasn't good enough. He said you have to do one thing better than anyone else on the ice to get noticed, truly noticed, and stand out.

If you have a quick release, make it quicker.

If you are fast, get faster.

If you make crushing hits, make them more punishing

If you are slippery and agile, get shiftier.

Once the pools get higher and more and more elite this is even more of a truth. There are many kids that skate as good or better than John Tavares and Evander Kane, but these two kids have amazing offensive skills and that is what sets them (Tavares especially) apart from a lot of the other offensive forwards for this year's upcoming drafts. Also note you have to be able to adapt. Evander Kane is a pure scorer focussed on putting up the points for the Vancouver Giants, but was called on by Pat Quinn at the WJC's to be a penalty killer, to play shut down against other teams top lines, and be responsible in his own zone before counter attacking and doing what is natural to him.

Good luck to you. Take the strongest part of your game and make it stronger

[biff44 0]

Things that can make a big difference in 2 months:

Aerobics--a lot of what tryouts are is to wear the players out at the start, and see who can still play and make good decisions after 3 hours on-ice. You need to be in big time aerobic shape, so so out there and run or stationary bike a lot. And during the last 20 minutes of the tryout day, make sure you are playing with a lot of pep, rushing to the bench when there is a line change, showing energy. You will stand out.

Shoot pucks every day. Work on accuracy. Nobody turns down a kid who scores a lot during tryouts!

Stickhandle the a practice ball every day. You want to be concentrating on playing, not looking around for where the puck is on your stick.

Wear bright color sox, so you stick out from the crowd.

Plyometrics and agility ladder drills will add a lot of acceleration to your game in a short time.

Bring your own water bottle, as you can not count on there being water on the bench.

Whatever you do, try to do it very well. Tryouts is not the time to try to do new stuff. If you are a shutdown Dman, for instance, do that extremely well. Do not use the tryouts to try to become a scoring maven!

[iamcanadian 0]

Maybe this will help,

My Strengths- Shooting, Stickhandling, Speed, Strength, Passing, and like how I said before that I can play both forward and defence (I split between the 2 this year on my AA team).

My Weakness- Skating is really the only one. I would like to get a lot better at this because this is what they look at first if they want you on the team isnt it?

Good luck to you. Take the strongest part of your game and make it stronger

Thanks, I think that would be shooting and stickhandling/passing. My coach told me that I need to shoot more, so I'm going to try more shooting. Right now we're in the 1st round of the playoffs.

[iamcanadian 0]

Well in that case, what routine are you doing right now?

Well in the summer I went 6 times a week just liftng weights. Right now i just came back from breaking my wrist so I just started off again, I have been going 4 times a week for the past couple of weeks working on my legs a lot doing squats, lunges, leg press. I have been doing a little bit of upper body but I think I should focus more on making my legs stronger right now as my upper body is already pretty good. Just so you can get an idea of my upper body strength, I can bench press 120 lbs whichis pretty good for a 13 year old. My legs are even stronger though. So I'm going to start running long jogs and some sprints, and then go on the stationary bike at the gym. I'm already pretty fast but if I can get faster I would get noticed. right? I think if I get more speed and become a better skater I'd make the team.

[Law Goalie 147]

My memory of the development models is a little hazy at the moment, but IIRC, your optimal training at the moment depends largely on how fast you're growing. I'd suggest reading it yourself (it's about 75 pages, but not very dense on text), having a chat with your doctor about your rate of growth, and going from there. As far as speed is concerned, your best bets are to work on off-ice stamina (long runs, rowing machines, biking, etc.), and on-ice, concentrate on complex, chaotic movements in bursts of 5-20s at maximum intensity. What you're really doing right now is learning to train and training to train (yes, you need to be prepared in both senses before you can really train to win).

Look at it this way: do you want to have your peak performance at 14, 18, or 22? If you want to peak early, overtrain now, dazzle at the tryouts, and be prepared to burn out. If you want to succeed long-term AND impress at the tryouts (no reason you can't do both), just train intelligently.

As far the the tryouts go, one of the best ways to stand out is to figure out how to impress in each test the coaches try - even if it's not obvious. Even if there's a drill where you know going in that you're going to be in the bottom half, find a way to stand out. Even something as simple as communication, knowing your temporary linemates' names and talking on the ice, can catch ears and eyes as much as being faster or stronger.

[Jordan 13]

My Weakness- Skating is really the only one. I would like to get a lot better at this because this is what they look at first if they want you on the team isnt it?

Get to a good instructor....you have answered your own question.

[iamcanadian 0]

Anyone know any off-ice stuff that would help my legs for skaing?

[Law Goalie 147]

Balance-balls... dune-running... damn near anything... but seriously, it depends where you are in your physical development. This may be a great time to build stamina, or you may be entering a phase where fairly serious lifting is going to produce the biggest results. Do the sub-optimal because it's somehow more attractive or specialised and you're wasting time and energy.

[biff44 0]

I have been using a Bosu balance trainer lately, and it really is helping my leg muscles. I swing some kettlebells around when I am standing on it. Balance is 100% better after 2 months. And it is a really tough work out on the leg and core muscles!

[Law Goalie 147]

Playing tennis (well, rallying back and forth) is fun too. :)

[iamcanadian 0]

I just did the stupidest thin I've done in awhile. I had this idea of bringing my hockey net down into my basement, but then the net is now stuck in the stairway and when my parents get home they are gonna go crazy at me cause nobody can even get into the basement except me and i can barely squeeze in. My moms gonna get home in half an hour so this isnt going to be good? What am I going to do?

[JoeyJ0506 192]

Break out the hacksaw... In all honesty, if you got it in there, there has to be a way to get it back out.

[iamcanadian 0]

Break out the hacksaw... In all honesty, if you got it in there, there has to be a way to get it back out.

Yea thats what I'm thinking. Now when I look at it i don't know how I even got it through or how I even thought I could get it through. The doors seems to be in the way taking about the extra 2 inches that it would need to get out. So if I can get my dad to take the door out it will be okay.

[biff44 0]

I'd have a beer waiting for her!

[bantamseadogs13 0]

I'd have a beer waiting for her!

And laundry done, homework done, and maybe start dinner. lol

[iamcanadian 0]

lol, well it's now over with. my mom was okay about it but my dad was pretty mad. we had to take the door right off to get the net back through.

[iamcanadian 0]

Okay guys here's the update. The AAA team I'm trying out for is now down to 30 players. I have another practice and exibition game before the next cut. Now I've never played any game at all at the AAA level, what should I expect in the game?

[DVX 0]

Okay guys here's the update. The AAA team I'm trying out for is now down to 30 players. I have another practice and exibition game before the next cut. Now I've never played any game at all at the AAA level, what should I expect in the game?

the plays gonna be a little faster, the hits a little harder, the skill level a little higher.

so hope youre fast enough or else....

[dangler16 0]

Pretty crazy you are in tryouts. Just finished coaching last season on April 6th. But that's down here in the states.

First, realized what the coaches see in you and play that role (scorer, playmaker, grinder, shut down d, puck moving d)

Second, if more roles you can fit the better. the playmaker that is gritty is better than the soft playmaker. or the offensive D that can actually play D is better than the D who plays like a forward.

Third, hit everything in sight. Players from the team last year might hate you during the session but will love you once you are on the team. Hopefully B)