Essential Skills For Beginner Hockey Players
Posted: Tuesday, August 10, 2010
by Dr. Carla Goddard
There are five essential skills for playing ice hockey. Each skill has various sub skills that are worked on. To break them down for ease of discussion they are: * skating
* puck handling and stick handling
* passing and receiving
* shooting
* checking (for older players)
Becoming proficient in the order listed is recommended for very young players to give them a great foundation as they progress through the leagues.If there is one skill that is essential in making a great hockey player it is skating. As with any skill, building a good foundation of skating techniques will be the most valuable part of any hockey player becoming a star.
* Starting out always keep your feet shoulder width apart and your toes facing out, slightly bent with the weight on the balls of your feet and your head up
* The Stride is when you dig either skate blade into the ice and push out to the side with the back leg extending through the push from the ankle to the tip of the blade
* The Glide is when your back leg extends out and the front leg glides along the ice. Once the front leg extends out shift your weight to the back leg to the front leg to start the next stride
* The Recovery is when the back leg is brought back to its original position along side the front leg ready to take the next stride
* To quickly generate some speed, use the stride and recovery. The first few strides will be fast and choppy motions. Once comfortable with the motion lengthen the stride. This will require less energy than the glide while maintaining speed
Skating is the essential skill that should be taught and perfected before moving on to any of the other basic skills. One of the most popular drills to practice skating is called pulling the cart. The way it works is two skaters stand in single line formation and extend their sticks so that both players can grab onto the sticks. The front skater pulls the skater behind him using the power of his thighs to drive down the ice. As skaters progress, the skater in back can add resistance by pointing their toes inward. Not only does this drill work on power and speed but it also gets the legs used to the proper pushing motion for either gliding or striding skate techniques.
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