Wayne Gretzky by Emily Stewart

Athlete profile

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-20 15:19:04 UTC

Wayne Gretzky is a 63 year old man, born on January 26th, 1961. Parents are Walter Gretzky and Phyllis Hockin, and siblings: Brent, Kim, Keith and Glen. He joined the NHL in 1979 for 20 seasons.

1961

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-20 15:22:39 UTC

Wayne Gretzky was born. Nobody predicted he would become one of the best hockey players and the impact he would make in the league.

1972

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-21 15:39:03 UTC

Wayne Gretzky witnessed the summit series which is a big rivalry between Canada and the Soviet Union. This series impacted him by showing him the global importance of hockey and competitiveness.

1979-80

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-21 15:43:36 UTC

Wayne Gretzky at just the age of 18 joined the NHL, playing for Edmonton Oilers. At the start of his career, he faced many barriers such as his size, being 5'10'' and 185 lbs. That making him one of the smaller players on the ice, but he overcame such as developing skills, skating, and his IQ for the game.

1987

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 13:30:56 UTC

Wayne Gretzky participated in the Canada cup as hockey was on in the Olympics during his time where between Wayne and Mario Lemieux scored 29% of Canada's goals between the two of them. Canada ended up winning which made an impact on Gretzky's career.

1967

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 13:37:28 UTC

At age 6, growing up in Brandtford, Ontario, Wayne had access to community arenas and programs for hockey. The local minor hockey system provided house league and competitive league for everyone.

1979-89

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 13:52:22 UTC

During Wayne's early career with Edmonton, his signature quick lateral movement to evade defenders became quick to look at.

When he executes his lateral movements to his right, his right hip joint undergoes abduction while his left hip joint undergoes adduction. He flexes his knees to stay low and balance. His gluteus medius and abductors help stabilise his movements. In the 1980s, Wayne's slap shot became an iconic move by him. The deltoids, chest, quadriceps, hamstrings and latissimus dorsi power the lower body during the movement. The core muscles help stabilize and generate rotational force during the release of the puck. The shoulder, wrist,elbow, hip, knee and ankle joints are involved while doing the slap shot in different ways. While the femur,tibia and fibula in the legs support the lower body movements and the humerous in the arms support the upper body movements.

In hockey, anaerobic and aerobic energy systems play key roles as hockey players use quick bursts of power using the ATP-CP system for 10-15 seconds. For Wayne, his VO2MAX would be high ranging between 55-65ml/kg/min. The Cardio output would also be high to pump blood to his muscles.

1980s-90s

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 15:16:54 UTC

Off and on season training: for the off season training, he would have to focus on strength training and endurance to prepare himself for the high demands when the NHL season starts. During the season, the workouts should focus on balance, agility, speed and recovery. His training would increase the intensity, for example increasing the weight and complexity. For specifically, he would focus on workouts to improve his skill on the ice like shooting, skating etc. recovery would be ice baths,stretching, and low intensity activities. Wayne Gretzky during his peak era between the 80s-90s could have used caffeine products to improve reaction time and mental focus. For strength training, it was common to use creatine and protein supplements and to enhance short burst power. Another common thing throughout his career, carbohydrates before the game would help maintain energy such as gatorade.

1961-1975

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 15:27:56 UTC

Wayne learned how to skate by the age of 2 and by 6 he was playing with older kids. This would be the fundamental stage and then by age 10, Wayne was playing with 14 year olds. He will also be in the cognitive stage of motor learning, learning the skills of shooting, stick handling, skating, and passing.

1979

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 15:32:00 UTC

Wayne continued playing high level hockey including his time in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) for Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. At that point, Wayne would be in the associative stage as his movement became clear and smooth and more efficient. This would be the developmental training stage as he progresses to get better and better. This year he then joined the NHL for Edmonton, going into the autonomous stage where his skills were so good that it was like automatic and effortless.

2001

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 15:35:46 UTC

In his late 30s, he had to persevere to be even better as more young strong players started to join the league, may he have slowed down a little bit, his mental skill level and his leadership. At 40, he announced his retirement playing his final seasons with New York Rangers.

1988

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 15:56:14 UTC

In the Stanley cup final game in overtime, Wayne Gretzky did a massive slap shot, scoring the game winner goal. The slapshot uses linear and rotational motion.

Linear motion: puck travels straight to the target which is the net

Rotational motion: Wayne rotates his upper body using core muscles to generate force

Newtons first law: Puck and stick remain at rest until using external force. When the puck is striked, he overcomes the inertia.

Newtons second law: Force that is applied to the puck is proportional to the mass of the stick and acceleration when the stick is swung

Newton third law: Force to the puck, the stick experiences an equal and opposite reaction.

1988

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 16:00:52 UTC

Preperation phase: Wayne lowers his body flexing his knees and positions his stick behind the puck. The phase uses muscle contraction in the hamstrings, quadriceps, and core to enforce the explosive shot

Execution phase: The strike of the puck from the force of his swing as the core rotates and force coming from the shoulders and arms.

Follow through phase: After the puck is striked, Wayne follows through still in motion with his body and stick to maintain control.

2002

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 16:10:05 UTC

Wayne Gretzky is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He gets involved in the business side of hockey and sports management.

2006

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-22 16:17:44 UTC

Wayne Gretzky plays a significant role in the Olympics in Turin, Italy as the Executive Director of Team Canada

He helped choose the roster aiming Canada to gold. Although Team Canada does not win gold and gets 7th.

2014

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-23 00:46:37 UTC

Wayne continued to be involved with the Hockey Hall Of Fame, going to events and being a central figure. He also took on more advisory roles helping the growth of the game.

2017

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-23 00:50:31 UTC

Wayne Gretzky sold his stake in the Phoenix Coyotes, as well celebrated the NHL's 100th anniversary. Gretzky was featured as one of the greatest hockey players in league history.

2019

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-23 00:54:15 UTC

Wayne Gretzky made an appearance at the All Star Game, his legacy being talked to, to this day, and central in hockey discussions. Throughout all this time, Wayne was a family man, supporting his wife and kids.

2020-24

stewarte1_3 — 2025-01-23 01:00:02 UTC

Wayne was a continues figure in the hockey field, always being talked about and often appearing in media and the public eye. In 2020, Wayne expressed that he has a close relationship with the Edmonton Oilers still being an advisor to them. In 2021, sadly his dad Walter Gretzky passed away due to parkinsons, where Wayne paid a big tribute to his father and how great of a man he was to everyone and the impact he had on him. 2024, media thrives off of Gretzky whether that's documentaries, movie, interviews or commercials. Wayne still goes and appears on the media in sports to continue his impact on the league.