Four decades of Evidence

The highest priorities for off- ice training? SSQA Skating Speed, Strength, Quickness, Agility plus muscular- endurance, coordination, dynamic balance, core synergy, reactivity, and other building blocks for SSQA. Four decades of Evidence

The evidence follows Why is Hockey Athleticism = SSQA? Skating Speed, Strength, Quickness, Agility 1) July, 1979, Colorado Springs: An amazing fact!!! This story has never been published, and might seem highly improbable. Tryouts for the 1980 US Hockey Team were conducted during the US Olympic Sports Festival for many sports. The invitees were the top 80 amateur hockey players in the country. In two weeks, these players (4 teams) were evaluated in games and practices by a committee of coaches. On the second day we tested Skating Top Speed and Acceleration, outlined in conditioning books that went to players in April. Chapter 2: The Evidence We also administered an excruciating stop- start skating endurance test promised three months earlier by Coach Herb Brooks. Because of the altitude (5900 + feet), and my own inexperience, some players collapsed from altitude hypoxia. I was embarrassed (and still am) but the coach wore a smile at the end of the day. The tone was set, and he knew every player would train on his own before camp in August. This gave the winter preparation season a boost and added to Brooks legend as a taskmaster. Statistical analysis of the Top Speed and Acceleration tests was done after the selection committee picked the team. The analysis showed: The 1980 Olympic Gold Medal Team selected solely on the basis of game competition was SIGNIFICANTLY FASTER on tests of Top Speed and Acceleration than the average of unsuccessful candidates (p<0.01). No other physiological test would discriminate between two nearly identical elite groups in this way not strength, endurance, Ulexibility, etc. (We, and dozens of researchers have tested that premise). Keep in mind that all candidates were judged to be the best amateurs in the country, so this appeared to be a statistical Uluke?!?

2) It was NOT a Uluke. As we continued to test, we found that all amateur Olympic teams (1980-94) were faster on skating tests than college teams, but not different than AHL or young NHL players. Note: AHL and amateur Olympic teams were about the same age (<24 years on average), while NHL teams were older. It seems that at around 27 years of age, NHL ers stop training for speed. This is unwise if the object is to win games and extend careers. I certainly do NOT claim that skating speed, quickness, and agility are the reasons these players were successful. Nor do I recommend that training for SSQA is the most important aspect of a young person s development. Competitiveness, conuidence, toughness, and rink sense are more important, of course. However, SSQA is essential... and trainable off- ice! 3) July, 1979: At the same Olympic Festival, we were asked to test run- up velocities of the long jumpers on the US track team. Each of the top 6 jumpers (in the US) had 5 trials; without exception among the 30 jumps, the speed of run- up correlated perfectly with the length of jump. So, in one Sports Festival, on the US hockey and track teams, we were able to measure the importance of SPEED among elite athletes who s sports have a competitive objective other than speed. 4) In that same summer, we intercepted communications between Soviet sports scientists and hockey coaches, including test data. Their major off- ice priority was SPEED, and their tests veriuied what we found on every team we tested for the next four decades: running and skating speed are highly related at all ages. Analyzing data for Soviet national men s and younger teams, we saw the same plateau in speed (on- ice and off) before 30 years of age that we saw in the NHL. This is common in many sports that shift their emphasis to strength and endurance. However, this pre- 30 y/o plateau does not always occur with track athletes, because they continue to train for speed. Russian training emphasized creative strength exercises - often without barbells, and highly speciuic to skating.

5) February, 1980: Eric Heiden and his coach, Diane Holum proved to the world that if an efuicient skater was intelligently conditioned (off- ice as well as on- ice) he could win EVERY speed skating event from sprints to distances. Some might consider this the closest thing to a miracle at Lake Placid. Their training featured creative skating- speciuic strength, endurance, and explosiveness. Hollywood might promote the idea of MIRACLES, but Herb Brooks, Eric Heiden, and Diane Holum believed in intelligent, hard work. Preparation, not miracles. 6*) Further testing over 35 years (3000 athletes) showed that teams in a higher designated level of play are faster on skating tests of Speed, Quickness, and Agility than teams of the same age in a lower classiuication (Note: an agility test was added, an S- test around 2 corners. Appendix 1. All tests electronically timed, and comparisons signimicant p<0.01). Division- 1 college teams were faster in all 3 tests than D- 3 teams (12 college teams, 220 players tested). In one season we even found this to be true for the Division- 1 and D- 3 National Champions. Furthermore, both champions were faster than other teams we tested in their division. Elite national U15, U16, U17, U18 teams were faster than AAA teams, which were in turn faster than A teams, which were faster than B teams, which were faster than non- traveling house teams of the same age. Of more than 3000 players and 150 groups tested there has been only one exception: older NHL players were not signiuicantly faster than their younger AHL afuiliates or Olympic teams. For some reason, training for skating speed is no longer a high priority at this level; the emphasis is on strength and endurance. The faster NHL speed of play is apparently due to quicker decisions and puck movement. Recently, Peterson et.al found skating Top Speed, Acceleration, and Endurance were greater for D- 1 college and junior teams compared to a D- 3 college team. They also reported greater measures of bicycle (Wingate) peak power and vertical jump height, but no difference in aerobic capacity Vo2peak (Peterson, 2015a).

Summary of Test results of 35 years: Teams in a higher designated level of play are faster. 7) Over 35 years, every coaches group told us Skating SSQA was their top priority for off- ice training. Apparently this was not communicated to their strength coaches?

8) Relationships to skating were investigated by off- ice testing with more than 150 teams over 35 years. We found the same results every time, at every age: Off- ice sprints and vertical jump are highly related to skating Acceleration. (see graphs that follow) Among teams we tested or were asked to observe, tests of strength, endurance, core stability, Ulexibility, and Olympic lifts were not statistically related to skating tests. This does not mean they are unimportant. They might represent an essential base upon which SSQA is built. Strength is an important part of development, but ATHLETICISM is much more than strength.

FulUilling Your Target Dream Anyone who has coached for a few years understands Igor Larionov s comment It s not how fast you skate; it s how fast you THINK. However, it also matters how fast you skate! Chapter 2: The Evidence Below is a graph of skating times (Top Speed and Acceleration times) during a high school tryout. Coaches didn t see these results until after picking the teams. Those who played varsity (age=16.9 years) were faster on both tests than those who made the junior varsity (age=16.1 years), and JV was faster on both tests than unsuccessful candidates (age=16.7 years). Study the graph carefully, because the Red trend line represents 3000 players and 37 years of testing. On the next pages, we will discuss the question: why are today s players often above the trend line compared to athletes before them? In other words, why are today s players better at the Top Speed skating test than the straight- ahead Acceleration test?

Some interesting facts regarding these tests. 1) The Top Speed Test involves a lengthy run- up including a high speed corner the width of the rink before measuring time between two photocells 50 apart in the neutral zone. Acceleration test is just a straight ahead sprint of 80 after a 10 run- up (see appendix 1). 2) Therefore, those who do well on the Top Speed test are good skaters technically, and can corner at high speed. Those who do well on the Acceleration test may not be classic skaters, but are explosive athletes straight ahead, as measured on- ice and off- ice (short sprint and vertical jump). 3) At all levels, the times on the Top Speed test are signiuicantly better today than 30 years ago (by about one standard deviation). Acceleration test results have not improved at the same rate (only by about 1/3 standard deviation). This is apparent in the high school group from the previous graph, which is typical of most teams. Today, a majority of the points on the previous graph are above the red trend line of 37 years, meaning players corner and skate at high speed better than they accelerate their bodies straight ahead. This means they haven t trained adequately for acceleration off- ice. The next two graphs suggest solutions: Players who sprint faster and jump higher are likely to accelerate quicker on skates.

< > Same graph, but isolated on player A A The graph (upper left) is what we see every time we test (Graph upper right is a duplicate). Correlations ranging from (0.6 < r < 0.9) are extremely important if they occur EVERY time we test (hundreds of teams), because they suggest that improvements in sprinting and skating acceleration go hand- in- hand. Example: if Player A trains totally off- ice to improve 20m sprints (by just 0.15 seconds), his point on the graph is more likely to move in the direction of the red arrow than the blue one. This means he has improved his skating acceleration by the amount of the green arrow without skating. Count the number of National Team candidates he passes up by this training. That s a mathematical prediction with a high probability. But in a 6- week off- ice training program to improve acceleration, this was the reality.

A similar relationship between vertical jump and skating acceleration existed for every team we tested. Correlations do not prove causality, so it is not correct to say that vertical jump or sprinting improvements cause skating acceleration to improve, until that is established in separate longitudinal studies. We found this to be the case in two longitudinal studies: one with a group of high school boys training off- ice, and one with college players (Blatherwick 1983, 1989). Improving vertical jump and short sprints is likely*** to improve on- ice acceleration. ***Because we have found the same result with more than 150 teams, the probability approaches inminity.

Why Short Sprints and Squat Jumps? We have never found a player who improved on the skating acceleration test, who did not also improve in the short off- ice sprint and vertical jump tests. This does not mean they all worked on sprints and jumps. Some did not. But improvement in one goes hand in hand with improvement in the other. Are these called Plyometrics? Skating Squat Jumps There s no formal deuinition for plyometrics, but skaters and sprinters have different needs. At high speed, sprinters make brief contact with the track so their plyos emphasize exaggerated brief contact. Skaters need deep knee bend, and great impulsive force with each stride, so there is no attempt to rush. The priority is knee bend and maximum force (Impulse). Jumping without much knee bend is wasting an opportunity to improve skating habits. Skating jumps should be done in sets, without stopping. Isolated single jumps don t stimulate the stretch reulex as much as repeated jumps. Jumping up to a box looks cool, but repeated jumps are better.