Fitness for High Performance Hockey

About the Book

This book is written for young players from 13 to 15 years and 16 to 19 years of age and is an adaptation of my first book by the same title.

It is fundamentally important that kids have fun playing hockey and also have fun in acquiring the fitness levels to play the game to the best of their ability. Most would agree that you get more fun and enjoyment out of a game when you are skilled enough to play the game well. It is our belief that in order to learn many of the skills in hockey, you need to have sufficient fitness to do them well and to practice them regularly. For example, you need leg strength to use your skate edges for speed, to do outside drives, and to change direction. You need flexibility to stick handle or make a great pad save and you need upper body strength to establish position in front of the net, to battle for the puck in the corner, or cycle down low to keep possession of the puck. Good acceleration, braking, and agility are necessary to get open, to capture space, and to be effective in the transistion from offense to defence and vice-versa. And, along with all of this, you need good aerobic fitness for recovery between shifts, between periods, in back-to-back games, and over the long season. Coupled with all of these is the proper nutritional strategies so that you can have the fuel to work and lay hard, the nutrients to bild strength and faster muscles, fluids to replace sweat losses, and the proper balance to keep you healthy.

In my experience with Olympic teams, Canada Cup teams, NHL teams such as the New York Rangers for whom I presently work, and my experience as an educator and coach of young people, I have learned so much from teh coaches, trainers, management, and, especially the players. This book attempts to bring together this knowledge to help young players gain the fitness necessary to be the best they can be and have fun doing it.

About the Author

Howie received his Ph.D. in exercise physiology in 1971 and has been teaching exercise physiology at universities since then. He has received outstanding teacher awards and was honoured by the Canadian Association of Sport Sciences for his work in applied sport sciences. He has also been awareded the Gordon Juckes Award fro mthe Canadian Hockey Association for contributions toward advancement of amateur hockey in Canada.

Howie played Junior A, Senior A, and university hockey, and was a level 4 coach in the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. He has been a featured speaker on fitness for hockey at numerous national and international conferences, he lectures at the National Coaching Istitute in Victoria, BC, and has written numerous monographs on fitness for hockey and two books - Fitness: The Key to Hockey Successand the 1st edition of Fitness for High Performance Hockey. He has co-edited and wrtten chapters in Physiological Testing of the High Performance Athleteand has been a consultant to many National and Olympic Teams. These include the Canadian National Hockey Team, National Rowing Team, National Alpine Ski Team, and many others.

In particular, Howie has been a consultant with many National Hockey League teams including the Edmonton Oilers, the Vancouver Canucks, the Los Angeles Kings, and presently the New York Rangers. He has also worked directly with the Canadian team in the Canadian Cup.

His recent venture is the "Train to Win" video with Wayne Gretzky which inspired this special edition - to be used on its own or as a supplement to the video.

He brings his academic background, excellent teaching skills, and his vast experience and success in the physical preparation of high performance hockey players to this book which features the why, how, and what to do in preparing to play hockey at the highest level.