Molly the Cat talks about Training.

[JCarson 744]

Molly the Cat, during our last interview you noted that you are sticking to your regular training process over the offseason. Can you tell us and your loyal fans what that would look like? 

 

I break my training process into several parts that I believe have significant importance to my success. I will try to detail those sections and discuss why they are important. 

 

Sleeping: This may seem like an odd place to start but for anyone who is extremely active and pushes their body to perform, it is important for them to understand the bodies’ need to rest and recover. We do that best by getting sleep. I try to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night, at regular times. There are also times where I have been extremely active, and I may even take an afternoon nap to help recharge. 

 

Nutrition and Hydration: When someone is pushing their body as hard as they can they need to make sure they are taking in the appropriate nutrition and hydration to support that activity. As a professional athlete I am lucky that I have a team nutritionist who comes along side me and builds a meal and hydration plan for me. However even before I was playing professionally, I made sure that I matched my food intake and hydration intake to the activities I was doing.  

 

Muscle Building: As part of my training, I am always working on building and maintaining muscle mass so that I have the strength to compete. I break that down into two segments. The first is overall strength, this is used when I am doing game activities like putting pressure on a player against the boards or trying to keep a player from lifting my stick. The second area is explosive power, the ability to go from a stopped position to full speed, or the ability to bring my stick from a stopped position through a shot quickly. 

 

Stamina/Endurance: Building up your ability to work at a strenuous pace for extended periods is important. Most shifts in a game last between 30 to 45 seconds and can be easily managed. However, there are times when you can get stuck on the ice for an extended time, and it is important that you can play at an elevated level the entire time. Those who play penalty kill have experienced this frequently. 

Individual Skating Practice: I make sure that I get time on the ice daily to practice skating. There are three basic areas I work on. First, I work on my basic skating, the ability to get to top speed quickly, and the endurance to maintain my top speed for a while. Second, I work on my footwork. The use of my edges, the ability to turn, stop and change direction as quickly as possible and the ability to move between forward and backwards skating with ease. Lastly, I work on other ice movements, dropping into a block, getting up off the ice, etc. 

 

Individual Skills Practice: This is the time I spend on the ice with the puck, shooting, passing, face offs and stick handling. The ability to control the puck and make it do what you want it to do, at high speed without looking at it is the goal. I find when I am talking with young players this is not the area they struggle with, so I will not go into too much detail on this part. 

 

Mental Preparedness and Toughness: This is one of the most underrated skills that a player needs, the ability to be mentally present for a game. I include pregame activities like watching game tapes and understanding your own tendencies but also those of your opponent in this. However, this goes much deeper and involves the ability to control your thoughts, especially during adversity and stay focused on the goal. It is the ability to dig deep and exhibit grit, it is the ability to control oneself when an opponent crosses the line so that you do not take the retaliation penalty. 

 

I hope this discussion will help assist anyone looking at pursuing a professional hockey career. The process takes time and determination and will not be easy. It is, however, extremely rewarding.