Kevin Neeld — Hockey Training, Sports Performance, & Sports Science

A Valuable Coaching Lesson

This Summer I’ve been fortunate to work with a group of highly motivated hockey players pursuing various levels of professional hockey.

Last week one of my guys said something that stuck with me. Something that I wrote about in my Off-Ice Performance Training Course.

He said something that went like:

“I hate Wednesdays.  This day is BRUTAL.  I can’t even complain to you though because I know you’re doing it all too.”

So what’s the big message here?

I put that group through tough training sessions.  Need a partner to push you through it, tough.  Need to take a look inside yourself and see if you’re mentally strong enough, tough.  Tough.

And I know how tough they are because I do every single training session, exactly as written.  My athletes know that.  They respect that.

Coaches that preach, but don’t do (or haven’t done, in the case of some of the older coaches) rarely have the respect of their players.

Think about it-Would you want to be bossed around by some lazy loud mouth with a whistle?

I’m not saying every coach needs to follow the same training program as their athletes, but every coach should be setting a good example.

Athletic development coaches should stay fit.

Youth sport coaches should maintain and seek to improve their skill levels in that sport.

And last, but not least, nutritionists should not be fat (I’ll save that rant for another day).

Train your athletes hard. Train yourself harder.

-Kevin Neeld

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Kevin Neeld

Kevin Neeld Knows Hockey

Kevin has rapidly established himself as a leader in the field of physical preparation and sports science for ice hockey. He is currently the Head Performance Coach for the Boston Bruins, where he oversees all aspects of designing and implementing the team’s performance training program, as well as monitoring the players’ performance, workload and recovery. Prior to Boston, Kevin spent 2 years as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the San Jose Sharks after serving as the Director of Performance at Endeavor Sports Performance in Pitman, NJ. He also spent 5 years as a Strength and Conditioning Coach with USA Hockey’s Women’s Olympic Hockey Team, and has been an invited speaker at conferences hosted by the NHL, NSCA, and USA Hockey.