Arizona Rubber

Arizona’s and New Mexico’s Authoritative Voice of Hockey

Arizona Hockey Union 10U Squirt Silver team staying busy, on and off the ice

 

ahuWhether it is getting ready for baseball, flag football or soccer, the Arizona Hockey Union 10U Squirt Silver team doesn’t sit still for too long.

Led by coaches Bruce Willis, Mike Weekly, Steve Ishu and Paul Manos, these kids are hockey players. If you have ever seen them play the game, you would agree that they are serious about it.

On the other hand, if you ever saw them off the ice, you would know they are still just kids having loads of fun.

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Some of the biggest-name hockey players in the NHL would agree that playing other sports is very important. They attribute much of their development as a person to being more than just a hockey player.

USA Hockey American Development Model regional manager Bob Mancini has stated that “the biggest injury prevention tip is to be a multi-sport athlete.”

“Off-ice activities at that age group, the most important thing is you need to play more than one sport,” said Mancini. “You need to do more than just be a hockey player. That’s really what off-ice training is at that age. It’s still about building the athlete, and not being hockey player-specific.”

As for the AHU 10U Silver players, they do a little bit of everything.

Brayden Willis stays very busy when off the ice. He plays striker and is the captain for his Arizona soccer club 2009 elite team. Soccer season and hockey season are the same time. For soccer, he trains three times per week plus games and tournaments.

Staying conditioned is a massive part of successful hockey teams and AHU 10U Silver is no exception. They take their development serious and what better way to stay conditioned and ready for the ice than boxing. Lucas Ishu and his big brother Brady Ishu (who plays for the AHU 12U Pee Wee Silver team) train with regular boxing sessions.

Tripp Neujahr helps round out the team with the performing arts. Youth theatre is not only a great place to express yourself creatively, but it has also been proven that increased levels of independence and responsibility provide a framework through which young people grow up and become adults.

It can create high levels of responsibility and involvement, which can be extremely important for young people. A hockey coach won’t necessarily ask the team’s opinion about who the lines should be made up of or what the best play may be. Whereas in youth theatre, it is essential for members make these types of decisions. Neujahr is a member of a hip hop dance crew.

Alex Gauthier is a student of martial arts and currently a brown belt. Basically, he has the ability to kick your butt if he wanted to, but since he’s focused, disciplined and very nice and respectful, there’s a good chance he won’t.

Martial arts teaches him focus, discipline, memory, goal setting, respect, confidence and the realization of the effort that it takes to become a self-confident individual. All of these come into play for hockey as well.

Noah Stanley is one heck of a hockey player and also, a masterful Lego builder. More specifically, he loves to build stadiums, sports helmets, players and mascots out of Legos. Pretty impressive stuff for a kid of any age.

As much as hockey coaches, parents, teachers and adults as a whole would love to have little Gretzkys on the team, a big reminder for all of us should be to let our kids just be kids sometimes.

“When I hear sports psychology at 10U, I think we should be focusing on kids having fun, kids being engaged, and kids being good teammates and good people on and off the ice,” Mancini said. “If we begin by delivering those messages, and let kids play, and worry about the process of developing hockey players over the long term instead of the short-term outcome of winning hockey games, in the long run, we’re going to be better off.

“Our players will be way better off.”

— Sean Phillips

(Feb. 5, 2020)

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