(While Your Competition Fumbles Around Confused by Restrictions)
As you well know, COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in a lot of our development plans...
Many coaches in today's game are already working in difficult situations. COVID restrictions add another dimension to the practice planning. It has become even more challenging to create the development and tempo our teams need.
Some places are seeing severe limits to the number of people allowed on the ice... we're talking as few as 10 players on the ice at a time.
Other places are less strict on numbers, but are super vigilant with on-ice social distancing.
Not to mention skills!
Without ice time your players' skills get rusty. Their hands turn to stone, and their stride gets sloppy. They don't see the ice as well, and their decision-making gets slower.
And the longer a player has been off, the longer it takes to shake of the rust and get back into game shape.
Does that mean your chances at a championship are gone?
FAR FROM IT.
In fact, I see this as an incredible opportunity.
YES.... You can be a regional champion coach, even with COVID-19 restrictions...
You just have to make the right adjustments!
We shoulder the responsibility of the development of 15 young players every season. It's our job to make sure they get the instruction and direction they need... and if they don't, we have failed them as a coach.
A lot rides on whether or not we do our jobs well––not just in terms of wins and losses, but in the overall development of these youngsters!
It's hard enough to develop players the right way, even under ideal circumstances. Doing it with small numbers, in a socially distanced setting makes it even more challenging!
We all know the impact a good coach can make on a team. Professional sports are riddled with stories of teams that haven't won a championship in 10, 20, or 30 years, until a good coach comes along and propels the team to heights, and sure enough... they start winning championships again.
The performance of a team is directly related to the coaching.
That's why we see that same pattern over and over again. Give a good coach enough time with a program, and he or she will have the team playing better hockey, and winning more championships before too long.
Over enough time, good coaching wins out.
Every time.
Even during a pandemic.
ESPECIALLY during a pandemic!
COVID COACHING - 101 Hockey Drills to Gain an Edge
During COVID-19 Restrictions
While all the other teams are relearning how to run a basic practice, your team is going strong as if COVID never happened. Your foot never even came off the pedal!
This book contains 101 drills specifically designed with the most common COVID-19 restrictions in mind.
Your players will love doing these drills because they will feel themselves still getting better, and having a ton of fun in the process. This will be a key to future success for your team.
And it all starts with well-designed practices.
The more they DO what you ask, the more SUCCESS they will have, and the more willing they'll be to keep following you as you quickly lead them up to new levels of excellence!
Even with COVID-19 Restrictions
This means that in a typical week, a good coach, using the right drills and training methods, will get the equivalent of 10 hours development in 3 hours of ice time. Think about what it would mean if you could 3X, or 4X your productivity, week after week, over the course of a season.
Here's the thing though... There is nothing "typical" about this upcoming season!
Think about what this means if you could keep this up while all the other teams in your league are fumbling around, trying to figure out what to do with on-ice limitations and social distancing!
You could easliy have up to 10 times the advantage of the other coaches in your league.
As you know, I coach a bunch of my own kids' teams, and we usually win multiple tournament and league championships each year.
And as I saw these COVID restrictions coming down the pike, I began to put together drills, strategies, and development techniques that would make the most sense to keep development going strong for my own teams to stay on top.
Here is a quick rundown of what you'll find in this COVID drill book:
My results showed that there are generally 3 categories of COVID restrictions most of our coaches are experiencing:
ON-ICE NUMBERS RESTRICTIONS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING – Many rinks have put limits on the number of people permitted on the ice at once. Some are restricting to as few as 10 people on the ice at once... including coaches!
NO NUMBERS RESTRICTIONS, BUT SOCIAL DISTANCING REQUIREMENTS – Some rinks aren't limiting on-ice participants, but they are requiring on-ice social distancing. This means small area games and battle drills are out.
NO RESTRICTIONS – Believe it or not... some places aren't requiring any restrictions. If that's you, AWESOME! It'll be business as usual for you. Although you'll still want to check out this innovative new drill package!
So... with these 3 possible scenarios, we are going to shift our focus away from the current trend of small area games and battle drills, and we're going to take this unique opportunity to focus on detail work and flow. This may not feel optimal compared to what you have been doing...
But if you do it right, this is going to lead to some beautiful hockey! (think Soviet Union circa 1972)
- SMALL GROUP DRILLS WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING: Drills designed for small groups and small spaces. These drills allow players to focus on individual skills and details of the game that sometimes are overlooked in a typical team practice.
The drills in this section will make your players more precise and skilled in tight spaces, increase hand-eye coordination in games, and improve things like knocking pucks out of the air, playing the puck with their feet, and shooting quickly from unconventional body positioning. - FULL TEAM DRILLS WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING: Drills that use the full team, but that are spread out and utilize the full ice and maintain social distancing. You'll see lots of flow drills in this section.
Flow drills are an old gem that have been largely overlooked in recent years... in favor of small area games and tight space drills. The reality is flow drills promote full-ice speed, support, and beautiful passing. - GOALIE DRILLS FOR SMALL GROUPS WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING: Drills that can be used to work the goalies when dealing with extreme number restrictions. These drills will let you keep the goalies improving, while the players develop their offensive skills in close. Your goalies AND players will love this section!
I loved the progression and have been using it to develop silky smooth hands with the teams I work with here in North America.
Russian Stickhandling Progression: An awesome stickhandling progression that keeps players socially distant while developing smooth hands.
2-Man Chip, Flip, & Rip: A unique drill that covers hand-eye skills that are usually overlooked in full-team settings.
This drill will have your players picking passes out of the air and firing saucer passes like the pros.
You don't get many chances to work on drills like this in a full-team setting. If you're forced into small groups, these types of drills will help you make the most of it!
This drill incorporates quick passes using the forehand and backhand. Then finishes with a shot from the point.
3-Man Puck Touch & Shot: A small-group drill to build quick-touch passing accuracy and shooting
Second Shot Drill: Full ice flow drill that will promote speed, beautiful passing, and snipes.
You'll develop beautiful puck movement and skating with this style of drill.
Creative setup with the extra net and stick!
Stick Lift Detail & Deflection: Take advantage of your small group time with this awesome detail drill.
Attack Triangle Stickhandling: A simple drill to give players the opportunity to stickhandle in various patterns.
It can be done in small or large groups, while maintaining social distancing.
Spice 3 Touch-Pass & Shot: A great drill that works on speed and agility, while making touch passes in motion.
3-Man Passing Detail: A great drill to iron out the details on various passing situations.
Do this drill in a small group setting, or spread out with a full team. I've included multiple options for a variety of skill situations.
–Rainer Prager, Thunder Bay, ON
U19 Chicago Cup Champs 2019
U16 Madison Cup Champs 2019
2012-2013 - Midget Champions (older daughter)
2013-2014 - Bantam Champions (younger daughter)
2014-2015 - Bantam Champions (younger daughter)
2016-2017 - Midget Champions (younger daughter)
2017-2018 - Midget Championship Finalists (younger daughter)"
–Barry Linetsky, Etobicoke, ON
League Champs 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013
–Tony Rino, Cumberland, ON
Oshawa Cup Champs 2019
"This past weekend we ended up winning our early bird tourney going undefeated and beating 4 teams (including in the semis and finals) that were in top 6 in OMHA play downs last year so it was very good competition which is all you want."
–Daniel Weir, St. Jacobs, ON
Garden City Early Bird Champs 2018
- Frank Macchi
Walter Gretzky Girls Hockey Tournament Champs 2017
"Year 2 of using your material. We won our division this year after a slow start (0-11-2) but continued using your drills to improve skill. We ended up winning the Bantam 'A' Championships!
Not only that, but it was a "repeat" because we won the Peewee 'A' Championships last year.
So we're 2 for 2 in years of championships using your coaching material!"
–David Jamael, Sydney, NS
Cape Brenton Cup Champs 2019, 2018
- 43 Pages of Professional Diagrams and Explanations let you easily locate and understand the drills you are looking for.
- Have Confidence in Your Development Plan so you never doubt whether you're making the most of your COVID-restricted practices.
- Speed Up Skill Acquisition so you can progress to higher levels of tactics and strategies and compete against the top teams.
- Improve Detail Work and dominate your competition when restrictions are lifted.
- Attract the Top Players so that your program grows stronger and stronger each season. Success breeds success!
- Win More Games as an unavoidable by-product of your phenomenal development.
- Gain an Edge Over Your Competition so your players are ready and capable of adapting to anything another team can throw at them.
- Have More Fun with a more structured development plan.
- Put these drills to work for a solid 6 months...
- Insist on your players working hard and executing the drills correctly...
- If you don't bump up at least two spots in the rankings...
Any time something like this happens... certain teams, with the right coaching, come out miles ahead of their competition.
6 months from now, when things start to get back to normal... your team will either be miles ahead of 80% of the competition, or they'll be left out in the cold by the teams who figured out how to stay effective and thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Will you be one of them?
Sincerely,
Jeremy Weiss
I have learned a lot thanks to your programs. I appreciate everything you have have done for me and your excellent programs. I can't wait to really take full advantage of your programs next year."
"Weiss Tech Hockey has helped me grow as a coach over the past few years. Last season we won every game at the provincial tournament and it wasn't even close. Scores were 10-4, 8-1, 23-0 in the round robin. Then we beat Strathcona in the semi-finals 12-3 and Edson in the finals 9-2 to win the championship!!
We won all 3 possible banners; first ever Atom zone 1 'A' championship, first ever Atom Provincial Champions banner, and first ever 'A' level provincial banner in our organization of any level!!
I am sending you a photo of our team Sveton, who plays in the amateur League in the Master group, here players are playing who do not have an existing contract MHL, VHL, KHL. This year we took 2nd place."
"Hi Jeremy, would like to thank you, for my first year of coaching your drills made planning practices easy to understand. Our year was very successful, playing in 3 tournaments and medaled in all 3 and we are the Bantam Tc Wallaceburg Lakers champions!"
Year 1 - Won Season Championship, Lost in Finals of Playoffs
I was amazed at how fast the kids picked up the play book and how eager they were to learn systems play. Even our parents asked how we got so good!
Grand Falls-Windsor Bantam (B) Cataracts - Newfoundland
Provincial Champions - 2018
Hockey coach and international consultant, Jeremy Weiss, has worked with thousands of coaches worldwide since 2008 to help produce championship teams at every age and skill level.
He is known internationally through the work he has done online. In 2008 he invented "digital chalktalks" which combined screen sharing with drill diagramming software, to produce a training experience nobody had ever seen before. His YouTube following quickly grew to over 19,000 subscribers, and he has produced over 130 training videos.
Jeremy runs a development blog for coaches, which has over 280 posts. He is the author of 10 hockey books for coaches, and is the editor of Hockey Development Magazine.
He was trained in the Eastern European style as a pre-teen, by his Czechoslovakian skills coach, and competed internationally as a "Wexford Raider" among the top youth hockey programs in the world including Russia, Czechoslovakia, Finland, and top teams in his home province Ontario, Canada.
He majored in Exercise Sciences at Brigham Young University, and subsequently worked as a Personal Trainer, where he continued to study and develop ideal training methods for hockey.
He has incorporated the very best pieces from the various training styles he has been involved in, and has built a world-class off-ice strength and conditioning program that fits the specific needs of hockey players.
