Video: Teaching Hockey Players How to Fight
There is a video making the rounds of a youth hockey practice that have some people shaking their heads and questioning the coach… Libor Ustrnul is now a coach in…
There is a video making the rounds of a youth hockey practice that have some people shaking their heads and questioning the coach...
Libor Ustrnul is now a coach in Chicago but before that he played for the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL and was known as a fighter.
He coaches a junior varsity team and elite minor hockey in the Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills, and on-ice sessions with players who want to improve everything from their defensive play to their battle skills.
On August 1st he had players ranging in age from 11 to 13 engaging in full-on fights, with players taking turns slugging each other in the helmet with gloves on.
Click here to see the video:
Libor made it clear that this was done among players who paid for Ustrnul’s training and were willing participants.
“Almost all those guys on the ice are family friends and I’ve worked with them for three or four years,” Ustrnul said. “I work the boys hard and after practice, I ask the boys, ‘Hey, you guys want to do some battles, a little scrimmage or do you want to go in a circle and we’ll fight?’ And most of the time they say, ‘Let’s fight.’
“They’re not getting this in schools, they don’t even let them climb trees,” said Ustrnul, the father of two girls. “What I’m teaching them is to stand up for themselves and respond. If your teammate is getting jumped, you have to stand up for him.”
