On the Hockey Range?

Yesterday I spent some time at the driving range working on my swing.

Like hockey, I have taken up golf somewhat more seriously later on in my life.  To be honest I see more longevity in my golf career.  My uncle played hockey into his 70s and that's an inspiration, but he had a lifetime of experience to draw upon, whereas I try to muscle my way through crossovers and backwards skating with more determination than grace.

We joined a golf club this summer and with that, I started working with a golf pro.  Now private golf clubs in the heart of Toronto are not an inexpensive commodity, so frequent usage is the best way to get one's money worth.  So I'm to be found whacking away at golf balls with varying degrees of success, but just like my mother told be about my piano playing, the only way to get better is to practice.  So, lo and behold, the more I practice my golf swing, the better I get.

I was thinking that if only I could have the equivalent of a golf range for my hockey skills.

When you're my age (soon to be 48) and still rather unsteady on your hockey skates, you need to practice to get better.  The problem being, when you take up a sport later in life, the learning curve is steep and athletic abilities plateau rather quickly.  I need a hockey range.

I need a place where I can go to perfect my crossovers, stick handling, wrist shot (I have resigned myself to the fact I'll never have a slapshot) and all round skating skills.  Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Outliers,  concluded it takes 10,000 hours of practice before one masters a skill.  In fact he started his book with the example of hockey, but extrapolated his argument to music, computer skills and great deal more.  Even with my current obsession with hockey, I haven't dedicated anywhere near 10,000 hours.  When I took hockey skills level one, it was an hour a week for 2 months - that's 8 hours, I probably put another 8 hours into another skill development class, and for the last two years I've played twice a week.  Of course in a game, you're not always on the ice, so I during a 45 minute game, I probably had about 20 minutes of ice time.  So over two years that's 34 hours.  Throw in the odd shinny game, where I probably picked up 10 hours of skating over two years and that gives you the grand total of 60 hours on the ice.  That's a far cry from  10,000 hours!

I know there are various places that offer low level hockey skills, but I've tried them and most of them are filled with 20 something, testosterone filled males, or worse, 20 something, testosterone filled females.

I need a hockey range, where I can go on my own time, and practice for as long as I like.  I need hockey pro, who like my golf pro, is endlessly patient and who knows that some improvement will need to be seen for me to continue payment.  I need a place where I can go and just practice.

The average player in the pros, had his 10,000 hours in by the time they were 18.  It's unlikely that I'll ever reach mastery level of hockey, but I can keep trying, keep having fun and keep meeting new people.  If only I had a hockey range, I might even amaze myself, acutally, I already have.