Improving Ice Hockey Practice with Waterproof Paper
It may feel like we are still at the height of summer, but ice hockey season is just around the corner! Whether you coach at the collegiate level or you help out with your kid’s mites team, you likely understand how much goes into each practice and game from a coaching standpoint. Balancing the mechanics of drills and gameplay with the more ephemeral components of hockey — think teaching respect, confidence, and discipline — is a lot to take on, no matter what level you coach. While we can’t give you the tools to teach every kid teamwork, we can give you tools to make coaching a little easier. Enter TerraSlate waterproof paper!
Why Waterproof Paper?
When it comes to successful coaching, hockey can be a bit more complicated than other sports. The combination of strapping blades to kids’ feet and managing a group on slick ice is tough enough. It’s a lot harder than, say, soccer practices for organizing drills or splitting your team into their lines quickly. The nature of ice (and the snow your kids kick up) is also pretty hard on paper products. This is where TerraSlate waterproof paper comes in. While we can’t help you corral a crew of six-year-olds on skates, we can hook you up with waterproof paper that will handle just about everything that hockey life throws at it — and that includes really rank glove hand.
Our products are all waterproof, rip-proof, colorfast, and solvent- and grease-resistant. That means you don’t have to worry about dropping plays on the ice, or rough handling when you leave your notes in a bin full of pucks. Short of actually taking a blade to our paper, it will stand up to pretty much anything your kids can throw out — though, we haven’t tested what happens when you skate over our waterproof paper, so let us know what happens! Better still, our waterproof paper works with your standard at-home laser printer as well as copiers and most pens and markers. There is no need for any post-printing finishing process to enjoy the waterproof benefits, so you can easily create any diagrams, charts, or other materials you need.
A few ways our waterproof paper products can help:
Easily Create Diagrams of Plays & Drills
We know a lot of coaches across different sports disciplines like to use a whiteboard and dry erase markers for demonstrating plays or drills during practices and games. We will do one better: instead of a whiteboard on which you can only show one diagram at a time, waterproof paper gives you that same ease of use, but with a bit more permanence. Simply print sheets with the typical rink markings, and then use pen or markers to illustrate as needed. Instead of wiping the slate clean, keep them handy to show your team later for better reinforcement or a quick reminder during games.
Separate Drills by Position or Line
Similarly, using waterproof paper is a great way to run multiple drills simultaneously and make sure everyone on your team knows what they’re supposed to be doing. Send them out in line groups or get the D-men doing one drill while the centers and wingers practice something else entirely. The benefit of using waterproof paper to draw up your diagrams is that they can easily be taped to the glass so your team can reference as needed instead of relying on a single quick glance.
Track Line and Player Statistics During Games
As a coach, it’s important to know what each of your kids is capable of, and how much they’re living up to their potential. That means tracking stats for everyone, not just watching how lines work together during gameplay. But, again, you’re working in an ice rink with a bunch of rambunctious hockey players. When you track everything on our waterproof paper, that means you don’t have to worry about blurring or smudging from moisture. Our waterproof paper products all work with ballpoint pens as well as printers, so your notes won’t get wrecked by moisture. Better still, our waterproof paper is colorfast, so you don’t have to worry about pen marks smudging printed grids, and you can trust that your notes will stick around after you jot them down. When you have a comprehensive set of stats for each player and every game, you can use that information to work each player based on where they’re doing well and which areas could use more attention — and it provides a concrete way to demonstrate what you discuss with them, and to show improvement over time.
Adjust Plays on the Fly
Did you see your third line really click in the midst of a game? Jot down those moves before you forget! Waterproof paper is a great way to both make notes and share information quickly. As we mentioned above, using waterproof paper means you can trust that your notes will last and remain smudge-free so you can reference them later. It’s also a great way to adjust plays or make changes mid-game. It can be hard to hear in a noisy rink, even with the sound protection that the glass provides. Instead of yelling semi-comprehensively, jot it down and pass it to the next guys to take the ice. When you use our waterproof paper instead of a whiteboard, you can trust that each little mark will be in place when your players see it — no more worries about unwieldy gloves smudging away marks while your board is passed.
Split Practices Easily
As your team progresses through the season and each player’s skills improve, it becomes more valuable to give your team time to work as individuals as well as a cohesive unit. Use waterproof paper to split practices and give every group guidance so they can get down to work. Whether you’re splitting players by position or by the skills they need to focus on, you can use waterproof paper to provide easy-to-follow directions and tape them up around the rink. It’s a good way to run split practices when you don’t have much (or any) support staff, and this way you won’t have to worry about those “The paper got ruined, Coach!” excuses for distraction.
Create Some Fun
No matter what level you coach, it’s important to remember that your team plays for the love of the game more than anything else. Make sure you are leaving time for fun, not just dull drills. You can use our waterproof paper to create some fun in the rink that will also help hone skills. Maybe that means marking one puck with a waterproof adhesive and playing “keep away” or testing skills with a “no touching obstacles” test. Or maybe that means playing an on-ice version of flag football to focus on footwork and speed. Whatever you choose, waterproof paper products give you an easy way to create custom tools to use for fun.
Are you ready to make coaching life a bit easier? Explore TerraSlate’s full array of paper products online and grab what you need to simplify some of the most common coaching frustrations. Want to learn more? Connect with our team online or give us a call for answers to all of your questions!