lighter-faster?

Question
Martial
In most sports, with the exceptions possibly being football and baseball, do the lightest atheletes tend to be faster?
I have noticed as a soccer/hockey mom that the fastest, but not necessarilly the most skilled, kids tend to be smaller and lighter.
I have a big family of jocks, and my husband thinks that the boys need to put on more muscle to get faster and stronger mostly for hockey.They play house league but want to get faster and more agile. He thinks they need to 'bulk up' with lots of squats, cleans, etc. I dont know if that is a good idea. Most of the pro soccer, hockey, and other speed type players tend to be muscular but slim-like a swimmer. I think the boys should stay away from weights to stay light and just work on speed drills, or just do light weights with lots of reps. Both the boys are stocky build-not fat-but going by BMI are obese. I think they should work on losing a few pounds of fat instead of gaining a few pounds of muscle.
I know myself I have lost ten pounds recently and I feel lighter on my feet-but what do I know ;-)
Thanks for your thoughts!

Answer
Hello Bar!  

GREAT question!  Great observations!  And for the most part you are accurate in your assessment.

That said - there are pros and cons to "being light and fast"!!  

One of the first things you probably need to do, in discussion with your boys and husband, is ask them and decide together what their goals for hockey are...  big picture (future? aspirations? Fun?) and "smaller picture" (style of player, type of person, what is fun?).

Once you have those set, then you can decide if light and fast FITS?

i.e. light and fast can meet up with strong and agile...  and sometimes light will get you falling to the more often then not.

The "best" answer may end up being somewhere in the middle.   I can actually think of one of the fastest skaters ever recorded in NHL - and he was not exactly "light" -- he was strong, had great technique, a huge heart and fearless.  (Mike Gartner - you can google him maybe!).

The thing that makes a hockey player better than another in this game is who can acquire and keep "space and time" more than the other to be able to skate, pass, shoot and stick handle more freely.  Light and fast may get some of that (chases, breakaways).  And yet being stronger and a bit heavier may get your more "space and time" in other situations (front of net, corners, puck battles in general).

So as you can see - this depends on the type of player/mind set each person IS/HAS.

From there, one can decide how much, if any, bulking up, gaining weight, etc. will serve.

In the end it's all about having FUN, feeling good about oneself ON AND OFF THE ICE, and BEING WHO YOU ARE by creating the WHO you feel most natural being...  and this is a process for everyone - young and old eh?!  

Make sense?  

Hope this helps.

Feel free to follow up if you wish!

Thanks for the questions and ENJOY this great game!

Cheers,

Martial