When I had the chance to sit down and talk with aspiring young players about the opportunities that lay ahead of them, I always started with the same message: If you want more, you have to do more.

Seems simple enough, right? If you just do what everyone else does, you just end up like everyone else. If you only do what the rest of your teammates are doing, you end up the same as 15-17 other players. If you want to separate yourself, if you want to dominate, if you want to stand out and get noticed, you have to do more.

Let’s say your coach has given you a workout program to do this summer. Or a shooting plan where you shoot a few thousand pucks. If you are doing that program, the way the coach wrote it out, you are only doing the minimum. You aren’t separating yourself. You aren’t pushing yourself to be better. You’re just doing what you’re told. Not very inspiring when you think of it that way.

If you are doing extra stuff, over and above what you’re expected to do, you will stand out for all the right reasons. Those extra push-ups you’re practicing, you’ll see the difference when you start up those 1-on-1 battles in the fall. All those extra backhands you’re taking, you’ll score a few extra goals early in the season with that new-and-improved shot of yours.

And the funny thing is, when you do more and you get better, everyone notices. I know you’re not doing it so that everyone talks about it, but it is great to be recognized for exceeding expectations. And a lot of people will think you did something magical to gain that advantage.

There’s nothing magical about hard work and putting in the time to get better. As one of my favorite quotes states, “There is never any traffic on the extra mile.”

For a lot of us, there are now only 4-6 weeks left until training camp starts. Maybe your team is already skating and training together over the summer.  So if you want to make a splash once the season starts, your time is now. Do more. Those extra workouts, extra shooting sessions, time spent on your mental game and extra skills’ sessions – they add up over time.  

Doing 1 or 2 extra workouts each week for the next months means that you’ve pushed yourself to get stronger, faster and fitter 4-8 times more than your competition. An extra shooting session each week is probably another 1,000 shots taken between now and training camp. Skating once a week or doing 45 minutes of stickhandling in your driveway will pay off once September rolls around. Always take the extra mile if you want to gain an advantage. 

To learn more about getting to the next level, visit www.totalfemalehockey.com. Kim McCullough, M.Sc., YCS is a highly sought-after expert in the development of aspiring hockey players and has played and coached at the highest level of women’s hockey in the world for the last decade. She is a former NCAA Division I captain, strength and conditioning All-American and played in the NWHL/CWHL for seven years. She is the Director & Founder of Total Female Hockey and is currently coaching the Toronto-Leaside Jr. Wildcats of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).