Dr. Jeff G. Konin, The Rehab Doc
Did you ever try to figure out the connection between a pre-game warm-up activity amongst teammates tossing a soccer ball to each other and
what actually happens on the ice? Is there science behind this activity that says you will play better? Is it just for fun? There must be some
connection since we see the professionals participating in a soccer toss before every game, right?
The professionals spend hours before each
game preparing. This involve both mental
and physical preparation in an attempt to get
focused and ready for the competition that lies
ahead.
At the pro, or even college or high school level in
most cases, on-ice warm ups provide ample time
to get one’s heart rate up and the muscles warmer
and better prepared for the rapid movements
associated with ice hockey. Skating around,
shooting, stickhandling, and passing on-ice
during warm-ups all contribute to being optimally
prepared.
It usually takes the body 3-5 minutes of some
form of light activity to start to change the
tissue temperature of muscles. Once this
happens, muscles are warmer and better able to
accommodate being stretched. No matter what
level you play, it makes the most sense to step
on the ice once your muscles are already warm.
This allows you to take maximal advantage of the
pre-game on ice routine and focus more on skill
sets like stick handling and shooting rather than
only warming up the body.
When playing in youth ice leagues, on-ice warmup
time is at a premium. As you know, it is very
common to have a game finished, the ice cleaned,
and at most a quick 2-3-minute warm-up before
the puck is dropped. In these cases, the on-ice
warm-up isn’t really sufficient enough to prepare
muscles for rapid, extreme, and even unprepared
movements.
This is where the soccer toss comes in. To
begin with, it is simple fun activity. Some teams
opt to do a light jog as a warm-up activity. This
is also good, and it is usually done as a team,
so it forms a bonding-like activity. The light jog
is usually accompanied by a static team stretch
that can be helpful to slowly stretch muscles and
prepare them for movement.
The soccer ball toss is designed to be slightly more
dynamic, yet laid back. The movement is not
static, but it is also not aggressive and ballistic
in nature. The key to the soccer ball toss is to
have only so many people in a circle so that you
can maximize the amount of touches. If you have
too many players participating, you will spend
more time standing still than actually warming up
with movement. If you have enough soccer balls,
a partner toss will maximize touches. However,
using anywhere from 3-5 players forms more of
a team warm-up approach. Much more than that
will not serve as an effective warm-up.
As you have likely seen, many players listen to
music while participating in a soccer ball warm
-up toss. This is usually done as part of one’s
mental preparation and is easily combined with
the soccer toss. Each player is able to warm
up muscles together while listening to their own
favorite music.
One thing to keep in mind is safety. While the
soccer ball toss is not a dangerous activity,
there are people around you, possibly even little
kids, that could get hit by the ball or by your leg
as you attempt to make a turn and kick a ball
back to a teammate. On a rare occasion, players
participating in a soccer ball toss and goofing
around can get injured themselves.
The soccer ball toss as a warm-up activity can
be a fun and meaningful activity prior to stepping
on the ice. Enjoy it and don’t forget to pack
the ball!
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