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One Response to “What type of martial arts make good cross-training for Hockey?”

1. ?????? on December 28th, 2011 1:10 am

   I’m not sure I completely get what you’re saying. What do you mean by ”quick”? Quick decisions, vision, puck-handling, skating, reflexes??? It would help to specify so we can better help you. Whatever the aspect is, they have to be trained in order to improve. He will make fastest decisions as his confidence grows and his abilities and ice vision develop. He’s probably too young now to judge and analyze all the situations so give him some time The vision, by being alert and disposed (slept enough, not sick, etc), it will be easier for him to see what’s around him. Tell him to keep his head up and encourage him to widen his sight as much as possible. With time, he’ll be able to judge who’s available, what he should do and more. Puck-handling, it’s really with practice. Not all kids have the coordination to perform complex tasks like stick-handling, but there are tricks to work on that. For example, use a golf ball. Skating… There isn’t much you can do. Make sure he mastered the basic techniques and that he can do them without help and with ease. Normally you would be able to do drills to improve speed burst and overall speed. That includes angle weights, speed harness, muscle workout. BUT, seeing he is 8, there is no point on starting a tight conditioning program. His body is still growing and is not made to be trained. Last but not least, the reflexes. The reflexes comes with being focused like I said previously. It also has to do with reactivity. Reactivity is pretty much what its name tells, it’s when the body reacts to a stimulus, pretty much like a reflexes. The exception is that you can train it, to become faster. You can use a ball and do drills similar to goalies, for example him having his stick and being in his normal stance, then throw it at his right or left, or lower and ask him to try to stop them. It’s not that necessary though, unless he’s a goalie or a defenseman. Otherwise he should concentrate on other aspects. The most important, is extrasensory perception. As long as he knows where his body is in a particular space/environment, he will be tempted to react better. That is something acquired through experience.

   Gymnastics can help him build body strength and flexibility, but other than that, I don’t see how he would benefit from that sport. Sure he will have body strength, but are they where you are aiming for? Not necessarily. And he got to do the moves in order to succeed at them, like in skating. As for martial arts, I would advise you to stay away from violent sports like boxing… In addition to the risk of injuries (especially concussions), you don’t want him to learn to dodge (well not as a goalie, but they might teach him how to avoid some attacks, applicable to hits in hockey HOWEVER probably not at this level). It’s a bad habit he might get. Martial arts are okay if you like discipline, flexibility, calm state of mind, but unless you’re a fighter/enforcer (none in youth hockey), it’s not relevant. If you really want him to do a martial art, look for the strikes type. The grappling and armed types won’t meet his needs. My suggestion would be a sports that involves cardiovascular effort and hand-feet eye coordination. Like soccer, lacrosse, tennis, badminton (high caliber), ping pong, pitch back, batting cage, racquetball/squash, reaction ball/racquetball/tennis, etc. That way he will gain a good overall health while developing the ability to use a part of a body synchronously with a shot or other actions.

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