Senior Ice Hockey

Recreational and Sports Amenities in Birmingham

Apart from the well known sports teams that play in the city, there are few cities in Europe that can lay claim to having hosted such a wide variety of European and International sports championships that Birmingham can. From Show Jumping to Table-Tennis and Motor Racing to Badminton, Birmingham has been thehost in recent years.

A major reason for so many championship events being held in Birmingham is the presence of the National Indoor Arena (The NIA) in King Edwards Road, behind the International Convention Centre. It is used to host a wide variety of championship events including; Martial Arts, Athletics, Trampolining and Davies Cup Tennis to name but a few. The NIA is part of the NEC group, the National Exhibition Centre. The NEC is owned by Birmingham City Council, but is actually located in Solihull to the east of the city. The NEC Arena is now the home of the Horse of the Year show.

Birmingham has two football teams playing in the Premiership of the English Football Leagues. The senior of the two clubs is Aston Villa FC, known locally as 'The Villa'. Their ground 'Villa Park' is in the suburb of Aston and was regularly used for FA Cup semi-finals. Formed in 1874 from a cricket club in pursuit of "...something to do during the winter months", they are one of the twelve founding members of the Football League in 1888. Villa are one of only three English clubs to have won the European Cup, in 1982, beating Bayern Munich 1-0. Since then, apart from winning the League Cup a couple of times, they have failed to win any major trophies but remain one of the countries best known clubs. Many famous footballers have played for and managed Aston Villa, but the name of Peter Withe is probably the most memorable for scoring the winning goal in the European Cup, along with a prolific 90 goals in total in 232 games.

Birmingham City FC, also known as 'The Blues', play at St Andrews in Small Heath. Formed in 1875, it was in 1945 that they became Birmingham City FC, having started out playing under the name of Small Heath Alliance. Despite having never won a major trophy The Blues have a consistently large and loyal set of fans. Technically just outside the boundaries of the city is West Bromwich Albion FC. Despite the fact that their ground, The Hawthorns - which is the most elevated in the country at 168 metres above sea level, is actually a few metres inside Sandwell, they still have many followers who are resident in Birmingham.

The Edgbaston Cricket Ground is home to the Warwickshire County Cricket Club, one of the top teams in the country. With historical associations going back to the 1820s, the first Warwickshire Cricket Club as we would now recognise it, was established in 1882. The Bears, as they are known locally, are regular winners of trophies and have had many illustrious players in their team, such as: Eric Hollis, Dennis Amiss and Brian Lara. With one of the best grounds in the country Edgbaston has been used as one of the elite venues for international cricket test matches since 1902. About 1 km away from the cricket ground is the Edgbaston Priory Tennis Club. This is home to the DFS Classic, which is played here annually and is one of the few international ranking tennis events in the UK that is played outside of London.

The Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr is the home of the Birchfield Harriers AC. The athletic club has been in existence since 1879 and now enjoys considerable success; current team members include athletes of great quality such as Denise Lewis, Kelly Southerton and Glen Smith. Team alumina include; Ainsley Bennett, Derek Redmond and Geoff Capes. Their home stadium, The Alexander, is one of the premier athletics venues in the country, hosting national and international competitions and championships.

The top basketball club in the city is the Birmingham Bullets, who play their games at Chelmsley Wood. They are one of the clubs with a franchise to play in the top flight of British basketball - The British Basketball League. There is an ice hockey club, the Birmingham Eagles, who play in Division One of the British Universities Ice Hockey Association. Bournville Hockey Club was founded in 1902 making it one of the oldest in the country. The men's first team play in Division One of the English Slazenger League and the women's first team plays in the Midlands Conference league. As well as having many excellent municipal golf courses, there are nearby two international standard courses. The Belfry, just outside of Sutton Coldfield, has hosted the Ryder Cup and the British Masters on several occasions. It has three courses; The Derby, The PGA National and the world famous Brabazon. Near Hampton-in-Arden is the Forest of Arden course. This is a regular venue on the European Golf Tour; it is also used for the British Masters event as well as the English Open.

The City of Birmingham has some excellent municipal sports and recreational facilities including seventeen municipal swimming pools. The leading swimming club in Birmingham is the City of Birmingham Swimming Club.

About the Author

Susan Ashby of Birmingham Singles has travelled extensively around the United Kingdom writing articles on each of the major cities. To read more articles on Birmingham or for dating in Birmingham visit http://www.birmingham-singles.co.uk

College Hockey Workout Program - Girls Hockey Players Must Train Like 'Pros'

College Hockey Workout Program

Many girls' hockey players dream of playing like the 'pros' they idolize. They spend hours practicing the same moves as Olympians and NHLers and wear their same numbers. If they are emulating their heros on the ice, should they try to do the same off the ice? If a young female hockey player wants to 'play like a pro', should she 'train like a pro' as well? College Hockey Workout Program

A few years back, when I was fresh out of university and still relatively new to training young athletes, my answer to that question would have been 'NO'. Intuitively, it seemed like a bad idea to have girls doing the same workouts as elite players, as they lack the athletic experience and lifestyle patterns conducive to high-level training.

Although my first instinct used to be to say that girls' hockey players should not train like the pros, my mind has been changed. In fact, when talking about certain aspects of player development, my answer is unequivocally 'YES'.

Coaches, parents and players in girls' hockey seem to think that there is some 'mystery formula' that they must follow in order to get to the highest levels of performance. And there is - you have to 'train like a pro'.

But training like a pro does NOT mean that you need to lift huge weights or train until exhaustion.
In fact, it often means lifting no weights at all and working smarter (instead of harder).

I have had the opportunity to work with a number of world-renowned hockey strength and conditioning gurus and hundreds of elite male and female hockey players over the last 10 years and I have seen a pattern emerge.

It all started 6 years ago...

On the day after my college graduation, I started my internship with one of the world's leading experts on the off-ice development of elite hockey players. In addition to having the chance to work with the young players for upwards of 10 hours a day, I had the amazing opportunity to watch this guru train a group of professional players every morning. I not only got to learn about the advanced training techniques that allowed these athletes to reach the highest levels of success in their sport, but I got to see a true strength and conditioning guru in action.

On the first day that the summer training program began, a group of professional players that I had been watching on TV for years walked in at 7 a.m. ready to train. I expected to see these elite athletes perform complex exercises and drills that I had never seen before. College Hockey Workout Program

You could imagine my surprise when these professional athletes began doing the EXACT SAME WORKOUT that the group of 13 year olds would be doing later that afternoon! Sure, the speed and precision with which the exercises were executed was greater by the pros, but the exercises were fundamentally the same as those done by the young players!

Why were all the players doing the same exercises, irrespective of age and ability?

They were building and reinforcing a solid foundation of strength and stability.

I have recently begun working with the Canada's Under-18 Program and have had the opportunity to train the best young female hockey players this country has to offer. These athletes have been hand-picked out of a pool of 12,000 as the 40 best players in their age group. The training programs that we are using with these girls (most of whom have never done any hockey-specific off-ice training before) are extremely similar to the ones being used by the Senior National Team. Again, the weights and the speed may be different, but the same fundamental principles apply.

I realize that every player is unique and has individual needs that must be specifically addressed in order to reach their full athletic potential on and off the ice. That being said, all players must use the same muscles and movements to play hockey and will therefore have very similar needs in terms of building a solid foundation of strength and stability.
Every player must be strong and stable through their shoulders, core, knees and hips. Young female hockey players must put that solid foundation in place in order to progress to elite levels of performance, and the 'pros' must constantly reinforce these strength and stability needs throughout their careers in order to maintain an elite level of performance. College Hockey Workout Program

About the Author

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