Youth Inc. Recommends: Four Resources to Help Hockey Coaches Plan Practice

Practice makes perfect—and coaches make practice. The quality of your practices directly impacts your team’s in-game performance, but planning them isn’t always easy. Managing dozens of players with different needs and learning styles can be a challenge. And sometimes, you just run out of new ideas for drills and mini-games.

Here are four resources to inspire your future practices and help ensure your players get the most out of them.

5 Elements of a Great Practice

What it is: This article outlines five things USA Hockey recommends in every youth practice. It touches on both skill development and team morale, encouraging consistent exposure to each. 

Why we like it: It emphasizes the importance of working on essential skills while keeping practices fun. Kids need both improvement and enjoyment to stay motivated—and this article supports both.

Warm-Ups for Youth Hockey Teams

What it is: A list of 11 warm-up drills and routines that youth hockey coaches can easily implement. It explains how to teach each drill and outlines their specific benefits. 

Why we like it: Warm-ups matter for safety, skill building, and team bonding—but they can get repetitive. This resource offers fresh options to rotate through or tailor to your team’s needs.

USA Hockey’s Practice Plans

What it is: Sample practices for different youth age groups, including goalie-specific plans. It covers both basic and advanced drills to match your players’ skill levels.

Why we like it: Planning for a large group with varying needs can be tough. These tried-and-true plans are a great fallback to keep practices structured and effective.

Drill and System Database

What it is: A searchable database of hundreds of drills, organized by skill focus. 

Why we like it: Sometimes you know what skill your players need to work on—but not how to teach it. This tool simplifies planning so you can focus on coaching, not logistics.