player tips

When it comes to summer and off-season training for youth hockey players, it’s super important to choose the right training method. While there are plenty of options, after 35 years of running successful hockey schools, we invite you to train the CARTER method this summer, and to train with the best!

What exactly is the CARTER method?

Control

Our hockey camps educate all players on the importance of body control. We have designed a sequence of drills to help players understand and enhance body movements to improve overall balance and body posture. 

Agility

Our unique training methods focus on quick lateral movements and foot work. With proper body control and weight distribution, players will develop evasive techniques, making them more effective hockey players. 

Reflex

Hockey is a read and react game. Reflexes and split second decisions affect the game. Increasing your hockey skills (skating, stick handling, shooting, checking and edge control) helps to improve all aspects of the game. Through the CARTER method we raise the level of play and quicken your reflexes.

Technique

We teach and improve hockey techniques under controlled situations and through repetition. We then incorporate speed once the proper techniques have been mastered. 

Edge

Edges are challenged and enhanced throughout the week using control and overspeed drills. Edges are incorporated into the skating stride through power skating and dynamic skating.

Retention

Individual Skill Development. All of Greg Carter’s European Hockey School Training Camps work on total skill development through the use of European training equipment, parallel bars, and carousels. 

Want to learn more and take your game to the next level? While many of our summer 2025 hockey camps are sold out, we have limited space available at select locations.

To check dates and locations, click HERE.

Thanks for reading!

When the final buzzer sounds on your season the focus turns to “What’s next” . . . “How do I improve my game?” While most players share this thought, it’s the players that actually follow through, set goals and work hard tha hit the ice next season as a better player.

So the question is, how are you going to make the most of your off season training?

Here are 5 tips to take your game to the next level: 

1. Start with a plan. This seems simple and obvious, but a plan isn’t a plan unless goals are identified and written down. Think back to last season and the difficulties that you had, identify areas of improvement and create a plan that will improve skills in areas that need the most work. Many players work on areas in which they are already strong. The great players spend time focusing on their weaknesses.
2. Choose a program. There are many options on how and where to train. Do your homework, and research opportunities that are reputable and offer training and skill development in the areas that align with your goals and objectives. Once you make this important commitment, you will be once step closer to your off season goals.
3. It’s summer, enjoy it! Off season training should be mixed in with a good balance of traditional summer activities. Hockey players that create a mix of training and fun are more likely to reduce injuries and also will stay with the program for a longer period of time.
4. Dedicate yourself. When it does come time for training, whether it’s before going to the beach or after a round of golf, focus on what you need to improve on. Put yourself back into the place you were last season and think about the areas of your game that frustrated you. Listen to your instructors and coaches and skate each drill with the same intensity that you play the game. Dedicate yourself to the moment!
5. Split the summer into 3 periods. June, July and August come and go very quickly. If you split your training and define goals for each month, it will allow you to focus and access your progress on a monthly basis. Players that we have trained at our summer hockey schools have told us they will identify 3 key areas of focus, and while they train all summer with them in mind, they may spend more time in June in shooting for example, and then shift the focus of July to power skating, and then August is all about stickhandling.

The goal of your off season training should be to improve your skills, increase your love of the game and to hit the ice this fall as a better hockey player than you left it in the spring. Good luck in all of your training and we hope to see you on the ice at one of our summer hockey schools located in 13 states this summer!