Building a Top-Tier Program

As a long-time fan of sports of all kinds, I know how impactful a powerful and effective team can be. It draws fans together from across geographical boundaries, and it offers a compelling story for us to follow over months and years. But to get a team to this point requires a great deal of work on several fronts. We have discussed the need for community engagement many times before, but what kinds of investments will we need to make on our end? Read on to find out!

Mindset

To begin with, the most effective athletes are the ones with determination, grit, and a strong sense of competitiveness. This strength of mind and will are necessary, not only to play well without succumbing to the stress of the competition but also to face the very difficult training that top-tier athletes have to discipline themselves with. And what makes creating a strong mindset so difficult is that it is a very intangible trait. You can’t lift psychological weights in the hope of improving your mental fortitude. Rather, it requires years of cultivating discipline in a number of ways and consciously adjusting the thought processes that might be leading you down unhelpful paths. Top-tier players must be able to deal with real challenges, and they have to be willing to give everything that they’ve got to play well. For that, they need the right mindset.

Nutrition

Working out and doing the proper conditioning is important for any athlete. But equally important is the player’s diet. They must get the proper nutrition or else they will begin to run up against challenges. Proper nutrition is vital for building functional muscle, an important thing for such a physical sport as hockey. A healthy diet will give players the energy they need to compete well and to endure the long hours of training that are necessary to achieve at the top levels of the game.

Mobility

For athletes of all kinds, and especially for hockey players, developing high mobility is essential. Mobility involves many related skills and strengths, including speed, endurance, and overall coordination. While a player might be very strong or skilled at the game, a lack of mobility would be a massive disadvantage for any player hoping to break into the highest levels of play. Training mobility requires a special effort and intentionality, and it cannot be replaced by simple strength conditioning. Like all aspects of training, it must be taken seriously.

Recovery

While much of what players will focus on doing involves hard work and constant training, it is also possible to overdo it. Muscles need to recover, and the players will need to rest to maintain high levels of energy. To do this, proper recovery periods are vital. By maintaining a proper diet and getting adequate sleep, players will be able to recover quickly and be prepared for more training and games. Getting the proper rest and recovery will also preserve players in the long term, protecting them from any lasting health complications that might arise from over-exertion, injury, or exhaustion.

Consistency and Adaptability

All of these things must be maintained with a high level of consistency. For the top-tier player, there is never a part of the year that they are not taking some intentional action towards increasing their skills and preparing to play. At the same time, some level of adaptability should be maintained. While the training will continue, it will change as time goes by. Each year, players will go through a standard program: off-season, pre-season, in-season, and post-season. While the in-season and post-season are likely familiar to most fans, the players are still hard at work in the other phases of the program. The off-season is focused primarily on recovery, allowing the players some much-needed rest. During this time, they will also work on their physical abilities, training strength, and cardio-respiratory fitness. This is followed by the pre-season, a time of more intense training and preparation for the upcoming games. By maintaining a consistent training schedule and following the program set in place for them, players can develop their skills without burning out.

Conclusion

To do all of this, players need the proper facilities. Our Warbirds will have a training facility available to them. And because of the generous people of the city of Casper, we are also in the process of establishing partnerships with local businesses that can offer yoga, cross-functional training, and other great training opportunities for the team to make use of. This is excellent news for our players, and it means that we are making substantial progress towards helping the Casper Warbirds succeed. Through mental strength, a healthy diet, mobility training, and proper recovery, the players will have what it takes to take their game to the next level.