Playing multiple sports is absolutely essential for all aspiring girls hockey players. But it’s not enough to make you a great female hockey player.

The reality is that most girls hockey players who aspire to reach the elite levels of women’s hockey also play another sport (or two) quite well. I honestly think I was a better soccer player than hockey player in high school, I just loved playing hockey more and that’s why I pursued it. The best female hockey players I know are all phenomenal athletes first and great hockey players second. You could put them in any sport, and they would be pretty good out of the gate.

Playing multiple sports allows girls to develop all of the athletic skills that are essential to being a great player. Hand-eye coordination, reaction time, reading the play…and the list goes on and on. Hockey is a game of mistakes. Even though you practice your breakout and powerplay, there are no set plays. The best teams and best players are the ones who can capitalize on the other team’s mistakes most quickly. And the better athlete you are, the more tools you have at your disposal to take advantage of these mistakes.

But just playing sports is not enough to make you a great athlete.

You may be very good in terms of the skills and strategies needed to excel on the ice, but you will be limited on how far you can get in women’s hockey until you become a complete athlete.

A concerned hockey mom sent me an email yesterday on this very subject. She said that her daughter’s rep team had a break in their schedule for a few days and she asked the coach if he wanted her to organize some off-ice training with the team to keep them in game shape. Here’s what he said…

“The girls play school sports, they are getting enough exercise at school.”

This mother was stunned. Her daughter felt like they were being treated like house-league players and that the coach wasn’t taking thing seriously.

And both mother and daughter are totally right.

You can’t become an elite female hockey player by just playing hockey.

Or even a few other sports for that matter.

You have to train off the ice. You need to get stronger, faster and fitter if you want to compete at the elite levels of female hockey.

And if your coach, doesn’t get it, here’s how you can get started on your own.

Work Hard. Dream BIG.

~ Coach Kim