What makes a Competitive athlete?
and
How we train at Jolt
Where do I even start?
General Age: 5-8
MOVEMENT, LAUGHS, and DESIRE.
We all dream of that youth athletic phenom, but even the most naturally gifted kids need countless hours to become great. At this age, the real goal is not instant stardom but building a broad base of motor skills — what we call physical literacies. Think running, jumping, throwing, balancing, and changing direction — the toolbox that makes every sport more accessible and joyful.
While kids are learning those movement patterns, they should also learn what “fun” actually means in sport. Fun here is messy, loud, imaginative, and social — games that spark giggles, creativity, and the simple delight of moving. That positive experience is what keeps them in the game.
We also teach competitive drive — but the emphasis is right: competing to get better, not just to beat someone else. Healthy competition helps kids set goals, push through challenges, and celebrate small wins. It’s about learning resilience, grit, and how to bounce back when things don’t go your way.
Put together: lots of varied movement, playful experiences, and gentle lessons in competition. That combo builds skilled, confident kids who love sport — and maybe, down the road, one of them becomes that phenom. Until then, we’ll be cheering for every skip, laugh, and bold new move.
Here’s a short list of some important physical literacies that we want to master to build a foundation for athletic development.
Running/Sprinting
Pulling/Pushing
Kicking/Throwing/Catching
Reacting
Crawling/Tumbling
Single Leg Balance
Jumping
Memory Recall
I’m in it, now what?
General Age Block: 9-12
Pick your sport — or a few. These are the most time‑intensive years of youth sports, and the choices families make now shape athletic futures.
There’s an ongoing debate: are early specializers or well‑rounded multisport athletes more likely to succeed? Both paths produce champions. At Jolt, we support whichever route a family chooses, as long as training is intentional and smart. A well‑trained athlete can explore everything.
At this stage, athletes should be encouraged to sample multiple sports and be exposed a range of coordinated, compound movements. One important point: playing frequently is not the same as deliberate training. Training is a discipline—worth the same level of commitment you give to travel, games, and practices. If you’ll drive two hours for a match, one should commit two focused hours each week to targeted training to boost game‑day performance.
This is also the time to introduce diverse forms of athletic training so young athletes learn how the body works and how to care for their development. Below are examples of Jolt’s training focuses that translate to any sport:
General Resistance Training: Learning to create force, either through our own bodies or with/to external objects.
Dynamic Core/Balance Development: Teaching the nervous system how to respond to imbalances.
Hand-Eye Coordination: Reaction to an object or a person with our tools (i.e. stickhandling or catching a puck out of the air).
General Awareness/Proprioception: An ability to imagine oneself in field of play to predict and assess future actions.
Speed and Acceleration: Learning the first couple of take off steps in various patterns as well as hitting top velocity training through field of play.
Contact Giving and Receiving: Teach how to give a legal, effective contact and how to take one safely. Learning both together lowers injury risk, wins more board and 50/50 battles, and builds confidence in physical play.
What do we do now to be competitive?
General Age Block: 13-17
You’ve now competed for several seasons and committed to this sport. The next priority is to bring intentionality to your training: increasing and managing intensity, applying structured progressions, and aligning every session with clear performance and durability goals.
Starting this age group, athletes should pursue high‑intensity, compound training that builds sport‑specific power, resilience, and transferability across movements. Volume alone—playing lots of games—is not the same as deliberate, high‑quality work. Treat training now as nonnegotiable preparation. You may only get three or four shooting opportunities in a game, so make each one count.
Key training focuses and what they look like in our sessions:
High‑Intensity Resistance Work: Multi‑joint lifts and loaded movements (squats, deadlifts, hip hinges, loaded carries, Olympic derivatives scaled for age) to build transferable force production and joint durability.
Dynamic and Reactive Stability: Anti‑rotation, loaded carries, and unstable‑to‑stable progressions that teach the nervous system to arrest and redirect force during sport demands.
High Speed Reactions: High-intensity drills using fast, hard to predict tools or implements to sharpen reactive timing: early cue recognition, high-speed handling, and stick/puck manipulation under pressure.
Proprioceptive and Field Awareness Training: Small‑space game scenarios, decision‑making under fatigue, and movement prediction exercises that improve spatial anticipation and tactical responsiveness.
Speed, Acceleration, and Top‑End Mechanics: Short‑burst, high‑intent acceleration and eccentric loading patterns, resisted and assisted sprints, and mechanics work for efficient top‑velocity transition within sport contexts.
Playing Through Contact: Once athletes have developed physical confidence, contact players must learn how to shift and manipulate opponents to preserve and sustain high speeds during play.
Make intensity and progression the default. Prioritize technique, load management, and recovery so young athletes can tolerate higher demands safely. Done right, compound, high‑intensity training accelerates physical maturation, reduces injury risk, and elevates game‑day performance across any sport.
Playing into adulthood.
General Age Block: 16+
I have spent my youth training—what should I do now with that knowledge? Our goal is to prepare athletes for peak performance through their remaining high school years and, ideally, into collegiate athletics. The priorities are clear: maximize program efficiency and maintain consistency.
At this level, training becomes more straightforward because athletes already understand the fundamentals; what they require now is the discipline to achieve mastery. Most elite athletes can execute the same techniques proficiently; the decisive factor is the frequency and magnitude of errors accumulated over the course of a season.
Athletes at this stage possess sufficient cognitive maturity to evaluate whether a given training program aligns with their broader life goals. Because many are simultaneously navigating academics, social commitments, and future planning, effective coach–athlete communication is essential to minimize wasted time and secure buy-in.
Practically, our focus remains on systematically developing strength, speed, and power with precise, individualized programming that aligns with each athlete’s current capabilities. Emphasis should be placed on maximizing outcome windows—primarily during the off-season—so athletes enter competition periods in the best possible condition.
What about adult learners and late starters?
Interested in hockey but intimidated by the learning curve? That’s understandable — hockey is demanding. Don’t let that stop you. We’ll guide you through every step.
From complete beginner to game-ready, typical progression from not knowing how to skate to playing takes roughly a year. To accelerate and structure that journey, here is our beginner hockey training blueprint — a tested, sport-specific development plan that can be adapted to other sports by substituting on-ice sessions with the relevant skill work of the desired sport.
Foundations (Months ~0–3)
Goals: balance, forward stride, basic stops, basic puck control, comfort with equipment. Ideally training 4x sessions weekly.
On-ice (1 × 60 min/week): stance, forward stride, two‑ and one‑foot glides, basic stops (snow/plow, T‑stop progression).
Off-ice (2 × 45–60 min/week): single‑leg balance, hip/glute strength, ankle mobility, core work. Include stickhandling with a ball or puck.
Skills/group clinic — 1 session/week (60 min): basic passing, receiving, slow puck‑protection drills.
Principles: Be consistent — regular sessions build confidence.
Skill development (Months ~3-10)
Goals: skate confidently in multiple directions, do crossovers and transitions, improve agility, pass accurately, develop basic shooting form, and play small-area games. Ideally training 4-5x sessions weekly.
On-ice (2–3 × 60 min/week): forward/backward skating, crossovers, tight turns, transitions, edge work, basic wrist shots, passing under light pressure.
Off-ice (2 × 45–60 min/week): lower-body and posterior-chain strength, interval conditioning, plyometrics for power, stickhandling and passing practice.
Principles: start easy and increase speed/complexity; use game-like drills to build decision-making; get coach feedback if available.
Application and readiness (Months ~9–18)
Goals: play well under pressure, hold position reliably, understand basic tactics, and be fit for games. Ideally training 5x sessions weekly with 1 beginner rec. league game.
On-ice (2 × 60 min/week): positions and support, simple breakouts, power skating, shooting under pressure, rebound control.
Off-ice (3 × 45–60 min/week): strength and conditioning, plus recovery and injury prevention (mobility, soft tissue work).
1 scrimmage/league/game/week: real-game reps for speed and physical play.
Specificity: practice like game conditions (intensity and decisions).
Overlearning: drill basics until they’re automatic, even when tired.
Periodization: alternate hard skill weeks with easier recovery weeks to prevent burnout.
The not so small details…
What is Good Recovery?
Hydration is the foundation of recovery: water supports nutrient transport, thermoregulation, and muscle repair, so prioritizing regular fluid intake before, during, and after training accelerates recovery and reduces soreness. Equally important is the concept of “active rest”: low-intensity movement-walking, gentle cycling, mobility drills-promotes circulation, clears metabolic byproducts, and maintains neuromuscular connection without adding fatigue. Combine deliberate hydration strategies with planned active-rest sessions to speed tissue repair and preserve readiness for the next hard effort.
Nutrition - Eat your proteins!
Training adaptation requires a calorie balance that matches workload; under-eating undermines strength, immunity, and hormonal function, stalling progress and increasing injury risk. Focus on meeting energy needs through a mix of proteins for muscle repair, carbohydrates for glycogen replenishment, and healthy fats for hormonal support, and distribute intake across the day to sustain recovery and performance. Track training load and adjust calories upward during heavier periods-eating enough is not optional for consistent gains.
Please Sleep
Sleep quality and quantity both matters, but sleep quality determines how restorative those hours are: uninterrupted deep and REM sleep drive memory consolidation, hormonal recovery, and tissue repair. Prioritize a sleep environment and pre-sleep routine that reduce arousal-consistent temperature, limited screens, and wind-down cues-so time in bed translates to effective recovery. When sleep is fragmented or light, physiological repair slows even if total time slept seems adequate.
Consistency in Hours
Compounding training hours means that small, consistent increases in weekly practice accumulate exponentially over time, producing far greater total training volume and improved skill, fitness, and adaptation than sporadic effort. Each additional session adds not only its direct hours but also accelerates gains from previous sessions (improved technique, recovery, and capacity), so regular frequency compounds fitness and skill development across weeks and months.
Example - Athlete who trains once-a-week vs three-times-a-week
Assuming…
Training session length: 1 hour
Training weeks per year: 52 (no weeks missed)
Once a week → 52 hours/year
Three times a week → 156 hours/year
Athlete 1 vs Athlete 2:
Athlete 2 will have an additional 104 hours trained per year.
The Difference:
The athlete training three times per week accumulates three times the practice hours in a year, leading to faster gains in skill, endurance, and strength. Those extra 156 hours compound benefits such as better technique reinforcement, greater physiological adaptation, and more consistent progress, which are difficult to match by occasional longer sessions or sporadic training.
Jolt Ice Hockey
Athletic periodization
INFOGRAPH COMING SOON!