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As rinks close up for the summer months at home hockey training aides are a must have for any youth hockey player. Keeping up skills and continuing to work on new skills at home is important for hockey players of all ages during the off season and even during in season.
With boards to danglers how are parents to know which products to get?
Here are 9 beginner friendly at home training aides to get started with.
The Best Hockey Training Aids for Summer – Even for Beginners!
1. Shooting Mat
When starting out with dryland training aids the very first equipment piece you should get is a shooting mat. A smooth concrete floor also works great, but can be very hard on your stick. The shooting mat also gives a bit more of an ice like feel. There are also options to fit your space from portable board, rollup mat, and floor tiles.
2. Hockey Goal
Having something to shoot at is always good. A hockey goal can vary from under $100 to $500+ so make sure you shop around and look at reviews. You definitely get what you pay for. Not ready to make this kind of investment? No worries. For a while I gave my kids some storage tubs and buckets that they could use instead of a full-size goal.
3. Hockey Goal Targets
If you have a goal, why not help them with aim? Just having a goal to shoot at is great, targets help your player develop sniper abilities. Depending on your goal you can choose from magnetic targets to hanging targets. We have not invested in official hockey targets yet, but actually reuse horse feed bucket lids to attach to our goal with zip ties.
4. Hockey Stick Blade Protector
Essentially this is a plastic strip that that fits around the edge of the blade of the hockey stick. It helps to protect the blade from impact with non-ice flooring. My 14U player just informed me that after really hitting the dryland training hard for the past month her stick blade is beginning to split apart. I’ve been eyeing a set of hockey stick blade protectors for a while, so this will be our next investment in dryalnd equipment.
5. Rebounder
If your player is starting to complain about how boring just shooting pucks is, it might be time to consider adding a rebounder to your collection. A rebounder is great for working on passing and catching skills.
6. Defender
Another great addition to the off ice training arsenal. Basically, the defender takes the place of another player to work with. It looks like the bottom half of a hockey stick was cut off and mounted on to two legs to support it. With a defender, your player can work on getting around other players’ sticks with drills to work around the stick or place the defender in different placements in front of the goal to work on maneuvering around.
7. Dangler
The hockey slang names always make me laugh! While this sounds like a piece of fishing equipment, a dangler is in fact a hockey training tool. A hockey dangler looks like a pole or stick that is elevated about 4-5 inches off the ground with stands on either end. Like the defender it is a useful aid to work on puck control and moving around other players’ sticks.
8. Slide Board
If you have a hockey player living under your roof, then that means that you have a skater. Training for skating is quite hard without actually getting on the ice and skating. However, actually getting to an ice rink and skating on a regular basis outside of regular season is time consuming and expensive. With a slide board your skater work those important muscles that are awfully hard to work otherwise.
9. Rollerblades
Can’t get to an ice rink? Why not try a pair of rollerblades? The mechanics of skating on blades or wheels are very similar to each other. With a few small adjustments(please do not try to ice hockey stop on roller blades!) hockey players can still get in their skating no problem. The driveway is a great place to start, but we have found that our local tennis courts are the best surface for smooth rollerblading.
No ice time or less ice time this summer doesn’t mean your skills have to suffer. Let’s keep those hockey skills in tip top shape!
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