Mites Stickhandling Guidance

[herb0021]

Hello all,

I have never played hockey. My son (5 years old) is in Mites 1 and absolutely loves playing. I'm fairly sure he's in it for the long run. My question is related to off ice training. He's always asking to go out to the garage and mess around. I bought a green biscuit and I'm starting to have him practice stickhandling. At his age, should I start him out with formal drills and have him focus on form, stance, and keeping his head/eyes up (which may frustrate him and take the fun out of it)...or is it more important to have him just go out to the garage and mess around with stickhandling the way he wants to do it (and slowly add in the specifics as he gets older)? Any and all thoughts are appreciated! Thanks!

-Ben

 

[PK16]

Hello all,

I have never played hockey. My son (5 years old) is in Mites 1 and absolutely loves playing. I'm fairly sure he's in it for the long run. My question is related to off ice training. He's always asking to go out to the garage and mess around. I bought a green biscuit and I'm starting to have him practice stickhandling. At his age, should I start him out with formal drills and have him focus on form, stance, and keeping his head/eyes up (which may frustrate him and take the fun out of it)...or is it more important to have him just go out to the garage and mess around with stickhandling the way he wants to do it (and slowly add in the specifics as he gets older)? Any and all thoughts are appreciated! Thanks!

-Ben

I would just have him go out and mess around with stickhandling. Your son is at a development age and you should allow him the opportunity to develop his own creativity and sense of the game. Overly structured routines may be seen as burdensome and decrease his fun. Having fun is the most important thing at this age and I am guessing he is getting plenty of fundamental instruction in practices. If he is initiating on his own, let his instincts guide him and be available for him if he asks for help or assistance.

 

[I am toxic]

Keep it fun, not formal. But consider encouraging him to keep his eyes/head up.

Our association's professional director of hockey ops makes the 5yo's practice stickhandling with head up, using (bottom) peripheral vision to "watch" the puck. Will save him a lot of collisions.

Also consider googling "super athlete" and "myelin" for the NYT article. Not suggesting anyone go overboard, but may be a useful read.

 

[542365]

Definitely let him have fun with it. Maybe buy some small cones and let him practice stickhandling through them. At that age, it's all about fun. If he's really in it for the long run, he'll learn drills with his coaches to improve his stickhandling. Agree with the poster above about encouraging him to keep his head up though. Will help him immensely in the long run.

 

[El Nino 22]

He needs to have fun! How will he stickhandle with his head up if he never learns to stickhandle in the first place>

 

[I am toxic]

He needs to have fun! How will he stickhandle with his head up if he never learns to stickhandle in the first place>

I am always amazed at the things young kids are capable of. It's ok to use peripheral vision to "watch" the puck, and ideally I don't want mine grooving bad habits into their muscle memory. Especially because it becomes a safety issue with collisions on the ice.

But yeah, if head-up/using peripheral is not fun for the 5yo, I wouldn't push it when they are just playing at home. Most important thing is making it so they always want to do it more.

 

[I am toxic]

Maybe buy some small cones and let him practice stickhandling through them.

This - the kids love different things, like obstacle courses etc.

One thing that can make a big difference is using something like an "attack triangle". Forces the kids to control the stickhandling more than cones, and later on forces them to get their footwork moving more independently of their upper body. I'd recommend searching "power edge pro" and "connor mcdavid" on youtube. (Sorry can't link too well from my phone).

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Make it fun for him. Set up a course with cones and give him an objective.

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

Toilet paper roll drill. Get the cardboard center from a roll of TP. Slide onto the stick and have him grip that lightly with his bottom hand.

 

[Tacks92]

Yeah, make it fun for sure but it's okay to pusha little technique on those mites. No slapping, no chopping, head up (for sure), and try to get them to use that top hand (toilet paper drill's a good one). Obviously not suggesting you correct him at every turn, but good to remind them and positively reinforce.

As for drilling him, I'd just let him wheel down there. Maybe give him an obstacle course (as others have suggested) or give him some obstacles he can arrange himself and then tell you about after (they love that), but most of the battle is getting them to do it. And second, do it with the right fundamental technique.

 

[Oak]

At 5 years old I think everyone is over complicating things. For the most part my son does a lot of stuff in the living room with a tennis ball. We watch hockey together and he gets all kinds of ideas from what players do in the games.

If you have a garage I'd get a shooting board and just let him shoot pucks. The sooner he learns how to lift them the sooner he will dominate in games. Stick handling will come when he is skating and just running around in the living room with a ball.

 

[herb0021]

Thanks for the responses!

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

At 5 years old I think everyone is over complicating things. For the most part my son does a lot of stuff in the living room with a tennis ball. We watch hockey together and he gets all kinds of ideas from what players do in the games.

If you have a garage I'd get a shooting board and just let him shoot pucks. The sooner he learns how to lift them the sooner he will dominate in games. Stick handling will come when he is skating and just running around in the living room with a ball.

I would argue getting ideas from players on TV is over complicating things if anything.

The complete moves pros make are after years of practicing the elements.

So while its fun to try to emulate a complete move by a pro its actually much more comicated to learn that move in its entirety.

Breaking down stickhandling into its elements can be made fun. Its all in how you approach it.

My previous advice was to have the toilet roll exercise which teaches proper hand rolling of the blade. A key component of stickhandling effectively and something i wish i would have been taught when i was a kid as opposed to now as an adult.

To make it fun have the kid do the drill for only 1 minute per day and have some sort of game or competition attached to it.

1 minute is nothing but I guarantee that after a season of doing it their stickhandling will be well ahead of the curve.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

You are in Wisconsin, I'm assuming with access to outdoor ice. Let him skate alone with a puck for hours. The repetitions and probably less than perfect ice will help immensely.

If he can visualize deking out opponents whenever he sees some anomaly in or on the ice, he's on his way.

If he desires more... setup pucks in the garage and have him stickhandle through them with a golf ball. 10 minutes a day before school will also do wonders.

The child has to want it though, if you need to keep reminding him-back off a bit.

 

[Tacks92]

At 5 years old I think everyone is over complicating things. For the most part my son does a lot of stuff in the living room with a tennis ball. We watch hockey together and he gets all kinds of ideas from what players do in the games.

If you have a garage I'd get a shooting board and just let him shoot pucks. The sooner he learns how to lift them the sooner he will dominate in games. Stick handling will come when he is skating and just running around in the living room with a ball.

I just think it's easier to teach the right technique the first time around, then try to correct it at later stages. I always find saying things like "hey, you wanna get even better at that? Try it like this and you'll be deking goalies out of their pants!" gets even the little kids excited. They want to impress the parents and coaches, doing it right can be fun. I'm not saying you correct them at every turn, and don't let them free wheel in the living room or garage or whatever (that can be so much fun as a kid, and its hugely important for development as you note) but there's nothing wrong with encouraging the right habits even at a young age.

 

[murrpac]

The main thing is for him to have fun with it. If he likes doing the drills with you that's great. If not let him mess around on his own. Heads up stick handling is a good idea if he can handle the puck with his head up. If not, he needs to practise to get the feel of the puck.

Good starters - get him to move with the puck alternating between the front and backside of his blade in front of him and to the side of him. Tight turns around pylons with the puck on forehand and backhand side. Moving forward while alternating moving the puck around a pylon on either side (right to left). Both on forehand and backhand (clockwise/cc). Lastly, when he can put some pucks or balls in a net and have him pull them out using the toe of his stick - he'll be toe dragging in no time .