Current Section
Srength & Conditioning Coach
Julianne Vasichek
Julianne Vasichek, a NAHA Alum from 2001, returns to NAHA after working as the Strength & Conditioning Coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth where she completed her Masters after a successful career there..
A two-time women's hockey All-American, and two-time All-WCHA selection for the Bulldogs as a player between 2001-05, Vasichek chalked up 77 points in her career (11 goals and 66 assists), numbers that still rank her as the third-highest scoring defenseman in UMD history. Her 138 games played places her fourth all-time among career skates in the Maroon and Gold, and she was part of the Bulldogs’ magical 2002-2003 NCAA Championship , helping UMD win in double overtime in front of a DECC crowd of 5,167 on March 23, 2003.??
Vasichek earned a BA in exercise science from UMD in 2005, and a Master degree in education from UMD in 2007. While earning her master degree, she was the strength and conditioning coach for soccer, women's hockey and softball at UMD. Prior to coming back to her alma mater in 2008, Vasichek spent a year as an assistant women’s hockey coach and strength coach at Bowdoin College in Maine.
NAHA PreSeason
Early season at NAHA focuses on preparation on and off the ice. Preseason testing, daily strength and conditioning program, off ice skills work, on ice practices and assessment by the training staff all to help athletes reach their peak potential.
Early season testing sets the benchmarks that athletes can look back at and compare their mid-season and exit results to see the benefits of their hours of hard work.
Training Photos
NAHA In-Season Training
NAHA has worked with top strength coaches in both the US and Canada to bring its athletes state of the art, hockey-specific training program. It has been carefully planned to be in sync with the competition and travel schedule of the NAHA athletes. The program seeks to balance maximum benefit to the athletes with an understanding of in-season capacity, training levels and intensity. Our goal is to assist the athlete each day to maintain her in-season strength, focus on key areas where progress can be made, and work to prevent injuries during competition.
In-season our focus is on low impact work with strength balls, band-workouts and hockey-specific flexibility, focusing on developing and enhancing core strength, hockey-specific movements, unbalanced training, all to enhance the abilities of the NAHA athletes to reach their peak potential. Consulting with USA Hockey and NHL team strength coaches and exercise physiologists, the NAHA athletes are at the cutting edge of training for their sport.
Unlike many strength programs which rely heavily on football based strength training techniques, the NAHA program and approach is specific for their sport and targets areas that have been tested in our functional testing to be weak, namely core- abs, back, glutes, hams and quads. The athlete's body is the engine that powers her in her sport, and is only as good as its weakest link. Our goal is to provide a strength program that allows the athlete to excel when it's time to perform.
