Beginners: Tips/Exercises/Drills for New Skater?

[ThisisBen]

Hi,

So I've decided that I very much want to improve my skating ability and be able to play some sort of organized form of hockey. I didn't get into hockey until post high school but I'm now an avid hockey fan(4 years and counting) and very much want to play the sport I love(I currently play a lot of ball hockey).

I'm not totally new to skating(I can skate forward and don't feel uncomfortable on ice) but I don't consider myself good at it in any sense of the word.

anyways, I've been going to public skates in my local rinks since mid-December and I try to skate at least 2-3 days a week for about an hour and a half each time, and my current end goal is to be a good enough skater to play at least rec league hockey by December of this year(so by the end of the year).

Having said all of this, these are the questions I hope to have answered:

What is the best order for learning the basic hockey skating techniques(BHST)? As far as I know this is how I view the order:
-Forward Skating
-Backward Skating
-Hockey Stops
-Forward Crossovers
-Backward Crossovers

What are the on-ice Exercises/drills that I can do to learn/improve on the BHST above and also to improve my balance?

What are some off-ice exercises that I can do to learn/improve on the BHST and also to help strengthen my feet/ankles/legs as well as improving my balance?

What else do I need to learn apart from the things I've already written?

Before I even think about adding a stick and puck to my skating(although I have already done that lol), I want to become a proficient skater without them first and I feel very driven and passionate to make it happen

Click to read more...

 

[Canadiens1958]

Skating

^^^ Welcome Ben.

Suggest an adult LTS - Learn To Skate program. Balance and stopping are more important then you seem to believe.

 

[ThisisBen]

^^^ Welcome Ben.

Suggest an adult LTS - Learn To Skate program. Balance and stopping are more important then you seem to believe.

Thanks!

I believe that balance is extremely important(considering I can't shoot properly on the ice and can't put my lower body into a shot without falling lol) as well as stopping, and one of the things I have currently been working on is gliding on one skate for the length of the rink.

I'm simply looking for some guidelines on what to do on and off the ice on my own to improve.

I will hopefully be giving updates as well on my progress throughout this learning process!

 

[Sureshot]

Also, some rinks offer leagues that are specifically open to beginners with little hockey experience. So don't feel like you have to wait before you can sign up for a league - see if there's one around you that caters for your level as there are some things that come a lot more naturally in game situations.

Welcome to the boards!

 

[YMCMBYOLO]

Stopping and balance are the two most important part of skating, imo. Balance because if you cannot take a hit, you will fall everytime while losing the puck. As for stopping, you don't want to take half circles around the ice, so stopping is definitely important. Not only that, but you could seriously hurt someone if you cannot stop.

I'd take time doing some sprints and just run a mile a day imo (even a half mile is fine, too). 50M sprints are also very helpful.

 

[ThisisBen]

Also, some rinks offer leagues that are specifically open to beginners with little hockey experience. So don't feel like you have to wait before you can sign up for a league - see if there's one around you that caters for your level as there are some things that come a lot more naturally in game situations.

Welcome to the boards!

Thanks a lot! I'll look into it for my area but I really want to improve on my skating basics before getting into the hockey stuff.

Stopping and balance are the two most important part of skating, imo. Balance because if you cannot take a hit, you will fall everytime while losing the puck. As for stopping, you don't want to take half circles around the ice, so stopping is definitely important. Not only that, but you could seriously hurt someone if you cannot stop.

I'd take time doing some sprints and just run a mile a day imo (even a half mile is fine, too). 50M sprints are also very helpful.

Thanks for the advice!

I agree with everything you say about stopping and balance and I'm pretty out of shape anyways so the running will do good for me in all aspects.


What about skating-specific/hockey-specific off ice drills/exercises?

 

[jazzykat]

Balance and finding/trusting your edges. Once you have these two things then everything else is just practice.

That sounds stupid right? Think about it this way, you are on ice with a maximum of 4 thin blades as contact points. You are often on one foot and a lot of elements of hockey require weight transfer. Try to do all that without having good balance.

If you are serious about skating well buy the Laura Stammn powerskating book or a similar high quality book but nothing will beat actual lessons. For me being told what I'm doing wrong and getting help correcting it is just as important as knowing what is correct.

Off ice stand on one foot, do yoga, use a balance board, strengthen your core, etc.

 

[Jmp123]

Look up Laura Stamm stuff on youtube and (or) buy her book (http://www.amazon.com/Laura-Stamms-...XHY_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389693955&sr=1-1)

Full of drills and plenty to help with technique too.

 

[ThisisBen]

Thanks for all of the advice! Very helpful!

I went to an adult public skate this morning and noticed a dude who was a very smooth skater. Turned out that he had been skating since he was 11 and taught hockey part-time.

I asked him to critique my crossovers(I can sort of crossover going to the right) and he noticed that my back(right) skate dipped too much when i crossed(something I also felt and noticed).

He told me that my ankles weren't quite strong enough to support my full weight and that my skate didn't support my ankles enough. He told me to use my upper lace holes and tighten my skates a bit more(he said that as I improve I should loosen a bit in order for my foot to be freer to move around but that for now i needed the extra ankle support) and also to do ankle strengthening exercises off the ice.

I automatically noticed improvement in my ankle support when I did what he advised.

Anyways, my question is, what are some off-ice ankle strengthening exercises I can do from home? The dude advised doing toe lifts while doing presses in the gym but I'm not much for the gym and I don't have a membership...

 

[hilega]

In my LTP class we did a few skating-focused drills:

1. Lay your stick (an old one) on the ice or use a line. In a figure eight pattern, cross over forward stepping over the stick (one step). i.e. right over left, tight turn right around end of stick, then left over right, tight turn around end of stick, repeat. Then repeat this with backwards crossovers.

2. Stick on ice. Skate around the stick facing one direction practicing transitions. i.e. Skate forward on right side of stick, hockey stop, transition to left side with a few backwards crossovers/skating backwards, Mohawk around the end stick back to the right side and proceed with the same loop. Repeat this five times counter clockwise, then clockwise always facing the same direction.

3. Practice skating and stepping over sticks (or lines) with your right foot and left foot. This can progress to hopping over the sticks/lines with both feet.

4. Tight turns both left and right around sticks or cones, weaving cones, etc. Use face off dots if at public skate.

In general practice your weaker side twice as much (especially for hockey stops) until you are pretty good on both sides. You have to be able to sprint and hockey stop from full speed on both sides!

Off ice do squats, lunges, calf raises, one-leg squats (you can just use your body weight). Also do interval training/sprints. Think about doing a one minute, thirty second "shift" If you have a track, a 400m should take you less than 2 minutes (8min mile pace). You could sprint a 200 or 400, walk a 100 or 200 and then sprint, repeat several times.

Also go to Home Depot, get a piece of the 8x4' white board panel for $12, have them cut it in half or to whatever size you want and practice stick handling/shooting with a real puck. Cut an old stick down to the proper length so that you can handle with your hands in front of your hips without being on skates.

 

[ThisisBen]

Are there also specific things that I can do off the ice to work on my weaker side?

I can transition from forwards to backwards skating on my strong(clockwise) side but going the other way is bothersome...

 

[Rosen Plevneliev]

Don't forget to bend your knees, you'd be surprised at how much easier it is to stay balanced with your knees bent- compared to straight