Hockey drills at home for 8 year olds

At a glance

At 8

27 hockey drills the app opens for an 8 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old.

How often

At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: stick (16 of the 27 drills), ball or puck (9), cones (3), balls or pucks (2), floor space (2), net or board (2), pucks or balls (2), tennis ball or soft ball (2). 2 drills need nothing but space. 10 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.

Safe at home

One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

27 at-home drills

Hockey drills for 8 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 8 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

defense

Defense

• Goalie Call and CatchAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Goalie Ready StanceAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Goalie Shuffle Between ConesAges 7 and up · 8 min

passing

Passing

• Partner PassingAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Pass Through the GateAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Soft Catch ReceivingAges 7 and up · 8 min

puck battles

Puck Battles

• One-Leg Balance ReachesAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Squats and Wall SitsAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Balance and Core HoldsAges 7 and up · 8 min

shooting

Shooting

• Sweep Shots at a BucketAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Towel Wring WristsAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Wrist Shot FormAges 7 and up · 10 min

stickhandling

Stickhandling

• Stationary StickhandlingAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Toe and Heel TapsAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Figure-Eight HandlesAges 7 and up · 8 min

A 21-minute session

A home hockey session for an 8 year old

A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 21 minutes in all. Do it up to 3 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Hockey Warm-Up, Ages 7 to 10An 8-minute moving warm-up for hockey players aged 7 to 10: easy running, moving stretches, balance and soft landings, then hockey moves. Before practice, never still stretches first.8 min
2. 2Figure-Eight HandlesReach with your arms, soft hands.8 min
3. 3Hockey Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 7 to 10A 5-minute cool-down for hockey players aged 7 to 10 after training: an easy walk, then gentle stretches for the legs, hips and inner thighs, each held for a slow count of 10.5 min

At 8

What changes in hockey training at 8

The app opens the same 27 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting hockey into a week at 8

At 8 the limit is 8 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 3 sessions of 25 minutes is 1.25 hours, which leaves 6.75 for team practice and games. Even 3 days at the app's longest, 30 minutes, is 1.5 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.

  Côté and Vierimaa 2014

• Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.

  NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers