As a hockey parent, you’ll probably find this familiar. Your kid watched some highlight reels or an NHL/PWHL/Olympic game and got fired up to take their hockey to the next level, announcing that they want to train like Connor McDavid or Sarah Nurse.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s an exciting moment. This type of enthusiasm is exactly what youth sports are made of.
But before you jump all in to encourage them in that direction, take a few minutes to read this article. Why? The short answer is that a training approach that works for a 30-year-old superstar might be counterproductive for your child.
Training like a pro as a 9-year-old doesn’t mean copying a great player’s routine. It means training with the same intention and discipline, but following a program that makes sense for their age.
A Growing Body Has Different Needs
Youth athletes are not small adults. Between the ages of 6 and 13, kids go through significant physical development. Their bones and muscles are still growing, their connective tissues are maturing, and their nervous system is actively developing coordination.
For these reasons, this period is fantastic for skill development, more so than physical attributes. A young player can make major improvements in their skating technique, stickhandling patterns, and spatial awareness. USA Hockey’s own American Development Model identifies ages 9-12 for girls and 8-11 for girls as a particularly key window (1).
But the thing to remember is that they still have physical limits that need to be respected, not pushed.
The high-volume, high-intensity training of a pro athlete could look great on paper, but it puts significant stress on growing bones, muscles, and connective tissues. If overdone, this training can lead to overuse pain and injuries, growth plate stress, and burnout – physical and mental (2, 3).
The goal at this age isn’t to push to the limit but to build a foundation that allows a player to keep improving for many years.
What Age-Appropriate Intensity Actually Looks Like
For players aged between 6 and 10, training sessions should prioritize fun, fundamentals, and short bursts of focused effort. Think 30-45 minute sessions with natural breaks built in. The focus should be on skating mechanics, edge work, puck control, and simple decision-making, not conditioning sprints or heavy repetition drills. This applies to both on ice training and off ice training. Off ice training can even be done in short 10 – 15 minute sessions several times a day at home with a personalized plan just like the plans we build for each athlete and their needs at Made4Kids Hockey Training. Consistency over intensity wins every time.
Players aged 10-13 can handle a moderate step up. Sessions can be a bit longer and include some structured conditioning as their cardiovascular system develops.
That said, it’s worth noting that popular developmental models have proposed specific ages for training speed or endurance. However, a 2020 paper argued against the idea, claiming that rigid windows don’t exist and that programming should evolve with each player’s individual abilities and needs, not based on a fixed age chart (4). This is where having your child work one on one with a personal trainer is extremely beneficial as opposed to being in a large group training class where everyone is doing the same thing. Made 4 Kids Hockey Training gives every child an affordable option for personal training.
Why Copying an NHL/PWHL/Olympic Routine Backfires
A pro player’s training week might include twice-daily skating sessions, resistance work, and conditioning, often with only one day of rest that’s often spent traveling. Such a routine is possible because the pro player’s body has spent a decade or longer adapting to that load. However, when a young player tries to do the same, research is fairly clear about what happens.
With regard to injuries, young players who specialize intensely in any sport before age 12 are at a much higher risk of overuse injuries than those who play multiple sports and focus on fitness training at a moderate volume (5).
On the burnout side, a review found that intensive specialization before age 14 is linked to psychological burnout, loss of interest in the sport, and dropout (6). A questionnaire study found that specialized athletes were more likely to feel exhausted and to struggle with a sense of accomplishment compared to athletes who played multiple sports and engaged in fitness training (7).
A Tailored Approach Wins Long-Term
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, professional athletes are completely different from children. More importantly, they didn’t get to where they are by training like professionals at age 9. Look at what your child’s favourite player did at age 9, not at age 27.
They became professionals by mastering the basics, staying healthy, and maintaining the motivation for the sport through the years.
A program designed for young players respects their biology, nurtures their love of the game, and builds the foundation that advances their training intelligently. The science is clear: meet young players where they are developmentally, not where an NHL/PWHL/Olympic highlight reel suggests they should be.
- https://www.admkids.com/page/show/990393-w-windows-of-trainability
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2564388/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12251496/
- https://www.ovid.com/jnls/nsca-scj/fulltext/10.1519/ssc.0000000000000545~sensitive-periods-to-train-general-motor-abilities-in
- https://puresportsmed.com/blog/posts/youth-athlete-development-and-overuse-injuries/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11299332/
- https://unthsc-ir.tdl.org/items/7656b408-a645-490e-8efb-4a805147428e