Juraj Slafkovski’s rookie season in the NHL was neither exceptional nor successful. Just when it seemed that the first pick of last year’s draft finally got a feel for game pace, the knee did not allow him to play more than 39 games and collect 10 points in the jersey of the Montreal Canadiens. However, everything may be different in the near future.
The nineteen-year-old decided to work hard on his improvement. He does it with the help of Czech fitness coach Michal Břetenář, who invested in his development in the off-season with the most modern technologies and procedures. His priority is to enable Slafkovski to manage a better “economy” of movement.
“He realizes the importance of the situation and wants to take his game up a notch or two. If he can do that and regularly show some of the potential that has made him such an exciting prospect, then that will help quell the anxiety around his development.” the Montreal Hockey Now portal wrote about Slafkovski.
HOCKEY REQUIRES REPEATED EFFORT
The Canadian sports channel TVA Sports claims that the magic of science could help the talented Košice native to let his strength and skills on the ice fully stand out in his second season in the NHL. Strength expert Michal Břetenář praises the best shooter and bronze medalist from the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, that he approaches everything with maximum effort. But he has to do it regularly and for a long time. “Hockey is an activity that requires repeated effort. It’s all about the muscle’s ability to contract and relax. We want Slafkovský to be able to do everything necessary on the ice 20, 30 times, but not at the expense of the quality of the game.” explained Michal Břetenář.
To achieve this “economy of motion,” the human body’s multiple systems must work in harmony to use energy efficiently. Some of them prevented Slafkovský from working at full speed. One of them was the respiratory system.
Břetenář forced Slafkovský to undergo spirometry, that is, a kind of evaluation of the functioning of his lungs. “Then we did another test on a stationary bike and that revealed metabolic limitations. We also measured the oxygenation performance of the heart muscle and the muscles of the human body using a sensor called MoxyMichal Břetenář continued.
Armed with new information, the Czech expert set about the long-term task of changing the way Slafkovský breathes during physical activity. While skating, he did precise exercises with a breathing mask. “The mask allows us to monitor the frequency and volume of breathing in the game with and without the puck. We can observe when an athlete is holding their breath or breathing quickly and inefficiently. We want to make it more efficient. However, adopting such changes takes time. If all goes according to plan, it will help him perform more rotations and at a higher intensity.
He will recover faster and his first three steps will be stronger.” emphasized Michal Břetenář, who works remotely with Slafkovský’s head coach Daniel Kičura. And now the most important from the mouth of a Czech expert: “Within a few weeks he had made remarkable progress. We managed to increase his vital lung capacity by 20 percent, which is a significant number.”
Adam Nicholas and Juraj Slafkovský Source: nhl.com
FRACTIONS OF SECONDS AND THE APPEARANCE OF THE TERMINATOR
You may have noticed a photo of Slafkovski during training with opaque black glasses on his face. A look worthy of Arnold Schwarzenegger as if evoking his famous line from the movie Terminator: “I’ll be back!”
In the case of Slafkovský, it could be a promise that he will really come back stronger and more efficient after the summer break. “Those glasses flash at different speeds and thus change the field of vision and the blinking of the eyes. They help Juraj improve his ability to estimate distances and quickly react to dynamic changes. They also improve his spatial orientation. In a split-second league like the NHL, the difference between a turnover and an accurate pass is very small. Increasing the brain’s reaction time is a sign of a lost war,” thought Břetenář.
Any necessary changes must go hand in hand with the player’s approach. If Slafkovský had not cooperated, the technological tricks in his preparation would not have had the desired effect. “Genetics will always play a role, and Juraj has certain physical predispositions that work in his favor. But it’s only part of the equation. Humility, openness and willingness to work on yourself are very necessary. I think that Juraj has these qualities,” Michal Břetenář concluded optimistically.
2023-07-18 07:00:00
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