herownshot

Unfortunately, in the world of high school sports, coaches will do what they need to to win. Since ice hockey is a club sport at my school, there were no tryouts/cuts and so some people who have never played before joined even though our high school team is known to be pretty good.

Basically the people who suck, including me, are being separated from the rest of the group and we're not even going to be playing JV games unless we get tons better by the end of the season. It was pretty discouraging to hear.

In my case, I can skate fine. I used to figure skate competitively for a LONG time and i was at novice in ice moves by the time i was 9, so i have no problems skating, stopping, and moving around. However, because I have little stick/puck handling experience, I'm being put in this outcast group even though I can out skate everyone. I'm trying to tell myself just go with the flow, but it's so annoying because i WANT to go out and play with the guys and be able to play in games. i'm getting lessons right now and stick/puck handling seems to be coming naturally to me, according to my coach.

So my question is, what can I do to improve myself fast to convince my coach to let me practice with everyone else, and will it take long if I put in enough effort? It's only the beginning of the season and I'm hoping if I get lessons and practice a lot outside of the rink (which I have been doing) I can get much better.