How difficult is it to learn how to play ice hockey as an adult?
I am 29 years old and soon to turn 30 and want to start learning how to play ice hockey. I never had ice hockey in my town growing up but always wanted to learn. However, I'm wondering how difficult it is to learn how to skate and some of the basic skills involved in order to play at the recreational level with no prior experience. I was quite athletic and played sports growing up such as basketball, football, baseball, and floor hockey, but have not played organized sports in about 8-10 years. Am I kidding myself trying to learn how to play ice hockey now at 30 years old?? It sure seems like a great hobby to take up.
As a Hockey Father and long time player I can tell you there are many middle aged and older people learning hockey. There are several steps to take first – learn to skate. This can be done on roller blades or at the rink. See if your local rink has a learn to skate program and enroll. We see retirees learning at our facility. If not, see if during open ice you can skate while holding a chair in front of you – offers the chance to maintain your balance.
If you choose the ice option, get fitted with a good pair of hockey skates, not rentals. There is no greater deterent to skating than trying to learn on ill-fitting skates and killing your feet.
If you opt to learn roller blading, again get your own skates. Once you have the skating basics down, most ice rinks have a basics hockey program. We have one for adults at our facility that starts with the basics; skate stops, turning, skating backwards and then progresses through stick handling, shooting and advanced skills.
Whatever method you choose, when you start wear a helmet, wrist, elbow and knee guards to protect yourself. We have in Chicago a well known financial king that learned to skate and play hockey when he turned 50 – Sam Zell. Also, most over 30 adult leagues are non-checking leagues to protect the players. Ask your rink about Rat Hockey nights as well.
It is fun to play but you must do all you can to learn to skate. Not just forward but backwards and be able to move side to side. That's the first thing to do. Get out on the ice and find out for yourself.
You must also be in good physical condition cause it takes alot out of you. It is great fun though.
Your never too old man, I know a guy that's 50 who still plays.
OH NOT THAT HARD.GO TO A LOCAL RINK AND TAKE SKATING LESSONS- SIMPLE. THEN GO TO THE OPEN HOCKEY SESSION OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT AND GO OVER THE BASICS. YOU WILL PICK IT UP EVENTUALLY.
GOOD LUCK
I started a month ago, and I'm 19. The whole "you have to play as a kid" thing is bogus. I don't know, I learned how to skate a month ago and I am now on one of the intramural teams here at St. Cloud State (huge hockey school). The stick handling and puck control is a lot harder to master than the skating. At your age though, I don't think anyone will be 'too' serious, so just get out there and have some fun.
I remember how scared I was to start. Haha.
It's a lot of fun.
I've been told several times that my progress has been a lot faster than most anyone though. I was.. "born to play". Haha.
If you have any questions, I can help you out. All the stuff I had to learn is fresh in my mind. Learning to stop was a monster (on one foot anyway).
P.S. Air out your equipment.
I am only 18 but this past winter I played on a men's league team with my father who is 43 and guys his age and older ….most of the team had never skated before in their lives let alone play in an organized hockey game… by the end of the season you could still pick out the guys that were new at it but they had improved greatly…especially one guy because he would go skating every chance he could just to get his skating skills up… u can practice the stickhandling, passing and shooting off the ice …in fact roller hockey players or even floor hockey players usually have exceptional stickhandling and puckhandling skills on the ice because there is less friction on the ice….. so to sum all of that up its not hard you just need to be devoted and practice
I started with roller at 29, moved to Ice at 31, and have been playing for several years.
If you are really interested I would say go for it. It is very good exercise and good stress reliever.
You may want to start with adult pickup before joining a league. Most rinks will have adult pickup several times a week and many of the players there will give you good pointers during the game. And some of these guys may be older than 60, I kid you not.
You could play, but you're gonna be a shooter tutor out there till ya get good. Just try to learn at public sessions at rinks, don't ever go out into a real game till you get good, you're just gonna get chirped by everyone. But its a great sport I say go for it.
To answer how difficult it is to learn how to play…it's not very difficult at all. What's difficult is learning how to play well. From your description you have a lot of experience in sports so I am sure that the coordination and basic instinct are all there when it comes to playing the game. The hardest part as many people mention, is the skating. If you are a strong minded, fearless person, learning skating will come a lot faster. As an adult it is a lot harder to learn how to skate properly and develop the proper muscle memory than it would if you were 5.
However hockey has a huge advantage on other sports in that it must mostly be played at an ice rink (unless you live in a cold weather state and can play outside which won't be possible for a long time now) so everything is organized. (public skating, pick up hockey) If I wanted to start playing football or baseball as an adult, it would be 100 times more difficult to learn and practice in a game setting.
30 years old is not too old at all. There are people that start a lot later than that. Just try not to get discouraged at pick up hockey games when there are 12 year olds skating circles around you. It happens to everyone just starting out. Better "late" than never.
you defintely want to be a good skater before you try to play,,,and when you join a league be sure its a no checking league,,believe me ,you will thank me….i am a 30 year old and i play for fun too..you will be kidding yourself if you want to go and check people,, thats when you can get hurt,,and thats when most players do get hurt.,,i learned how to skate with a stick too,,it does make it a little easier to keep your balance..
p.s. dont try a slapshot when you first learning how to skate,,you will end up on your back ,and believe me it takes your breath away and while trying to get air you wont be able to move and the ice will chill you to the bone.lol.
Just get out on some ice, the skating part will take you some time but you will catch on. Im hoping you know the rules from watching hockey. Practice, practice, practice. Hockey is great to play and its a great workout as well as a lot of fun. Go for it!