With the off-season coming a big question is always how can I continue to work on my ice hockey skills with the limited ice time available and no team practices? There are many great camps players can attend and a second option is to attend stick times with some other players (invite the other players to come with you and run drills). However, don’t spend the entire off-season playing hockey. Get out there and play some other sports you enjoy! This will lower your chances or burn out and will help develop new skills and muscles not used in ice hockey. On top of the new skills, it will help strengthen some skills that both sports use. This is particularly important in young athletes! Great ice hockey players are typically the most athletic. The best way to increase your athleticism is to be a multi-sport athlete.
There are many sports that help strengthen hockey skills but honestly, any team sport is great for young athletes. There are great none team sports out there that are great for cross-training because they require quickness, hand-eye, change of direction and much more (racquetball). Below are some summer sports I recommend trying out or even playing during hockey season:
Soccer
Lacrosse
Racquetball
Tennis
Baseball
Golf
Biking
Running
Swimming
Ping-pong
