Should Young Hockey Players Do Plyometric Training? , Friday, July 17, 2009 at 12:40 AM, in

This will be a fairly short article, because I really don't think young athletes (under the age of 12 or 14) need to do plyometric training. Now I can hear you saying, but won't that improve their power and speed. Yes, it probably will, but so many sport coaches get carried away with plyometrics that the risk of overuse injury far outweighs the benefits.  And, as I have said before, I have yet to see a 12 year old miss out on that multi-million dollar NHL contract because his vertical jump was not good enough. 
 
I have heard some coaches justify their objection to plyometric training, saying that it is dangerous for a young athlete to jump over anything higher than a curb. Have you ever seen kids playing in a school ground - jumping off the monkey bars, running, hopping, rolling, squatting, lunging - it is all there and within my favorite training context for young athletes, PLAY! 
 






If you are creating a fun workout for your youth hockey players, I have no problem if it contains some jumping activities, just do not get carried away and keep your mind on the long term development of these young people rather than winning the tournament next weekend.
 
Let's face it, your athletes are going to jump, so why not teach proper form for jumping and landing. Not only does this help their movement efficiency, it can also reduce the risk of ACL tears, even more important if you are working with soccer or basketball players. Teaching a young athlete proper jumping mechanics gives them a tool that they will use throughout their career.  Here are the key points for jumping:

• Teach the athlete to keep their knees in-line with their ankles as they jump and land - do not allow the knees to pinch inward when they are landing or initiating the jump.
• Upon landing the balls of the feet will land first, followed immediately by the rest of the foot as the athlete 'sits' back slightly in the hips.
• The athlete should jump with the full foot coming into contact momentarily. If the athlete lands and jumps from the balls of the feet, they are using a quadriceps dominant pattern and reducing the use of their glutes (butt). This is thought to be a contributing factor to non-contact ACL tears, not to mention that fact that the glutes are a huge source of acceleration power.  Want to improve your young athlete's power?   Teach him or her to use the glutes.

Finally, keep the volume low and continue to focus on technique.  If the hockey player is practicing the skill with poor form, then they are hampering their development by reinforcing poor mechanics.  Begin with 2 sets of 5-10 jumps, build up to 4 sets of 5-10 jumps.  Incorporate these sets into your dynamic warm-up, active rest between drills and cool-down.

Fitness Coach Maria L. Mountain, MSc, CSCS is the owner of Revolution Conditioning in Ontario, Canada (http://www.hockeytrainingpro.com). She works with Olympic, professional and amateur athletes to help maximize their sport performance while minimizing the risk of injury. Want to take your hockey training to the next level? Register for the free hockey training mini-course at http://www.hockeystrong.com