Jan 20, 20223 min read

Newsletter - January 2022

We Need You

As a club we know that equipment makes a huge difference on how players train, how players move and how players perform. The use of training equipment makes training more exciting, fun and helps with introducing techniques that aid player development.

To that end we need your assistance. We are exploring a number of avenues to get more equipment into the club to help with training sessions to facilitate player development. We are currently looking at sponsorship and fundraising opportunities for the club, however in the meantime we need to secure funds to help with obtaining new equipment.

We are putting out a call to Storm parents for donations to assist in purchasing equipment and materials. a suggested donation is between £10-20. We appreciated that not everyone will be able to donate and we fully understand. This is a one off request and all monies received will be put towards training equipment. We would also like to request any donations of old hockey sticks, pucks or materials to build training aids.

As a final request we would ask if you have the skills to build or create we would love to use your help. Any donations of funds can be made to MKJIHC account number: 43133390 sort-code: 09-06-66. If you would like to volunteer help to build or donate materials please just let your age group manager know.

Off Ice Training

One part of becoming more serious about a sport is to engage in additional training. Any player with professional hockey in their sights will work harder at practices and listen more intently to their coach. Some will also recognise that eating healthy is a huge part of success in sport, and they will improve their diet. However, one of the most crucial aspects of developing the lifestyle of a professional hockey player is to train at home; work on your skills off the ice.

Why Off-Ice Training is Important

Develop Hockey Skills Faster
Body conditioning
It gets you ahead of the game
It becomes habit

Please have a read through our new 'Off Ice Training' which an be found on the club website at: https://www.mkjihc.co.uk/off-ice-training

Some of it will be very new to the children and they may find it tricky to begin with. It would be great if everyone could give it a go and gradually build, focusing on technique first.

The Activity Tracker is there as a guide rather than a must. All Off Ice Training is optional.

There are links included to YouTube videos showing how each drill and workout should be done.

Team App

As a club we have decided to use Team App for our club fixture scheduling. Team App can be found on all app stores and is easily downloaded. Once you have downloaded the Team App search for Milton Keynes Storm and request to join the group. All age group fixtures will be published on here and you can mark your player as attending or not.

Team App is also useful to access other Ice Hockey related events. In particular Ozone Ice Hockey (Bracknell) have moved to putting all their lessons, courses and drop-in games (where you can book a space to turn up and pay to play) up on Team App. As with the instructions before if you launch Team App, search for 'This is hockey' and join the group.

Another great group to join is the English Ice Hockey Association, EIHA. This group will advertise different age group events such as Jamborees which are great development events for players of all ages.

Need more hockey in your life?

Bobcats inline hockey club are looking to recruit new players to play inline roller hockey. Ice Hockey and Roller Hockey share many similarities in terms of team play, player movement and skill sets and can therefore be beneficial in developing skills across both sports. Roller Hockey requires player to use protective equipment which is identical to that of ice hockey, minus the ice skates. A number of MK Storm players already play Roller Hockey and if any others are interested you can contact Bobcats using the details on the flyer. The registration form can be found here https://forms.gle/xz5cb2cZCv88kP3s8