Evaluating Roller Hockey Gear

Although I’m a little late in making this special entry, I’d like members to know that I’ve been evaluating Jerry’s roller hockey gear from Day One. If you can appreciate it, one can’t learn to move around the roller court (or the ice) if the skates aren’t right; nor can a player dribble or pass or shoot very well if the hockey stick and surrounding protective gear are holding him or her back.

What’s delayed things to this point is that my observations have been ongoing, and because one piece of gear, in particular, has been a sticking point for me. But, let me explain that in a little more depth…

– Dennis Chighisola

Evaluating Roller Hockey Gear

As it turns out, Jerry Z dresses like most guys who play roller hockey recreationaly. I mean, he dresses on the light side as far as gear goes, wearing most the bare necessities.

As an aside here, it might not be a bad idea for the reader to view some of what I’ve written or shown in some videos when it comes to “over-speed training”. To give you a shortcut version, though, let me point-out that:

1. heavy or bulky gear is going to slow a movement (or movements); and,
2. however we practice a movement (be it slow or fast) is going to be the way we ultimately do it.

That in mind I watched Jerry as he moved around the floor in our first few sessions together, and I noted that nothing really obvious was either slowing or inhibiting his movements. (For the most part — and I’m sure Jerry would agree, his early struggles had mostly to do with inexperience.)

Now, I mentioned earlier that my assessment of hockey equipment is an ongoing thing, and this is true no matter the atmosphere or the player. Younger players outgrow gear quickly, or they replace pieces without letting us coaches know.

Then there’s another reason I keep re-evaluating Jerry — or any other fast improving player… What I mean is that certain things might not matter when a player is at one level, but they could suddenly have a great impact as a given player improves. And, such has been the case with Jerry over more recent weeks.

Okay, I have to chuckle a bit as I type this, because my roller hockey buddy has driven me a little crazy ever since he started feeling better about himself in his Thursday night games. Oh, I mean that in a nice way, but he did start telling me about some of his offensive and defensive plays, and he’s also recently begun asking me some questions about the game’s X’s and O’s.

The reason I raise this point, however, is to suggest that I soon felt the need to help Jerry with his puckhandling and a few other areas of his game. And, while I’ll have no problem showing him the right things to do to improve in this area, something now has to be done about that log of a stick I’ve let him get by with for a time. Ya, it’s a full-grown sequoia, and I’m often heard to mutter something about maybe hurting myself when I chance to hold that thing. Right now he’s resisting me on a move to something lighter. But, real positive change is not going to take place until Jerry’s stick allows his hands to move much, much quicker. (For great advice in this area, please see my video on “YOUR Hockey Stick“.

Now, I mean to tell you that Jerry has really come a long way in his skating. In fact, I started giving him some greater challenges about a month or so into our work together. And, here again, some gear that was okay in the beginning suddenly looked like it was holding him back.

What I’m talking about are Jerry’s in-line skates. You see, in the early going I think Jerry had enough to worry about just striding around the rink. The most we’d done beyond that in the earliest sessions was some very basic crossing-over and a little bit of cutting towards the left and towards the right. Suddenly, however, his skates — or should I say the configuration of his wheels — began seemingly holding him back.

In this aside, I need to say that I pretty much pioneered the use of in-lines for the training of ice hockey players as soon as they became available to the masses. Long-time members know how much I value off-ice training (ever since my 1979 studies in Moscow of the old USSR). But, as much as I love using dryland to enhance a player’s game, imagine my excitement at my students ultimately being able to skate away from costly ice-time. Yes!

My son actually owned the first pair of in-lines in our house, these having an old Erector Set kind of arrangement that held the wheels under a real hockey boot. My first pair weren’t quite as nice. In fact, I felt like a beginner in them, which caused me to seek the help of an old friend and former student, Olympic speed skating Silver medalist, Eric Flaim. Eric owned a pro shop in Boston at the time, and he knew tons about in-lines, having used them as part of his speed skating training.

The difficulty I was having with department store in-lines had to do with a flat configuration of the wheels. So, Eric made for me a special frame that allowed the four wheels to be raised and lowered. And, with that, I could come very close to simulating the rocker — or radius — shape of my on-ice skates.

By the way… Since my students didn’t have the kind chassis Eric introduced me to, I suggested they simulate the radius of their ice blades by putting slightly larger diameter wheels in the middle and slightly worn or smaller ones on the back and front.

Back to troubleshooting Jerry’s problems, I was noticing that he had difficulty making really sharp cuts. And he really struggled in his attempts to pivot on either skate — from forward to backward to forward.

Now, understand that various ice skate blades are designed to meet the unique demands of their sport. (For lots more on this, please see my article on “Comparing Hockey, Figure Skating and Speed Skating“.) I’m sure you already realize that speed skates are long and flat to accommodate most long, straight ahead skating with minimal turning; while figure skating blades make it easier for athletes in that sport to spin and cut. Hockey skate blades, on the other hand, are shaped almost like the figures blades, but just a little flatter to facilitate more straight ahead speed.

I mention all that so you might appreciate what I thought I was seeing as Jerry attempted to spin. For, once I noticed his difficulties in that area, I got down on my hands and knees to inspect the way his wheels contacted the roller hockey floor. And, sure enough, all four wheels on each skate were touching. In effect, he was trying to perform figures or hockey moves with the equivalent of speed skates. Or, as I’ve said to Jerry, it’s like he’s trying to do sports car moves while driving a tractor trailer.

It’s nice to have friends in high places (as with Eric Flaim). So this time I touched base with an old friend I consider “The Man” when it comes to in-line hockey equipment. And Mike W confirmed my suspicions, along with adding a ton of additional advice. As it pertains to the problem at hand, though, Mike suggested the kind of chassis arrangement that has bigger wheels in the back and smaller ones towards the front.

New problem: Jerry had that exact so-called Hi-Lo configuration. Hmmmmmm…

Interestingly, a group of really good in-line players followed us onto the court one Saturday. And, man, could those guys skate. So, chancing to ask a couple of the better players, they told me they had no problems with the Hi-Lo arrangement. So again, hmmmmmmmm…

Back to working with Jerry, something else struck me: My older Team NEHI players move just as nicely as the guys I just mentioned, and they do it with store-bought skates (or without having to make the adjustments I used to recommend). So, could it be that experience matters? I mean, others are doing awesomely while Jerry surely isn’t.

Then, Jerry mentioned that he had another pair of in-lines — his “back-ups” he called them, IF I’d like to see those. Geeeeze, would I ever!

As it turns out, what Jerry referred to as back-ups were really, really nice skates. Better yet, I discovered that only one or two wheels touched as I ran them across a flat surface. Bingo!

Then, one thing I’ll share with you that I also mentioned to Jerry, in that the less blade or wheel touching the ice or floor, the less glide. In other words, there’s a trade-off. With only a small area to spin on, he should have a lot more mobility. At the same time, he’ll lose just a little straight ahead speed. And, considering the (small) size of the floor he usually plays on, I’m thinking this is a very, very worthwhile trade.

As a final aside here… Jerry’s two pairs of skates are made by the same company, and one noted for great roller hockey gear. Still, the skates I like look a lot better than the others in more ways than just the chassis. Ya, my guess is that the ones I like are the real thing, while the others may have been made for less serious — hobble with your girlfriend for a stroll — skaters.

Okay, so that’s it for now… Jerry and I have a lot more work to do together. And, I’ll be sure to keep you posted on his equipment escapades and lots more.

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Our First "Mighty Mite" Hockey Practice

Over the coming months (and seasons) I’m hoping to share with members what I’m doing in my various Team NEHI programs.  And a lot of the time I’ll also want to let you in on my thinking as I prepare for each of those.  Let’s face it, you’re not going to get a real handle on things if I just tell you, “Do this!”  Naw, I think I’d serve you best by letting you know the whys and the wherefores of a given practice.

As an aside here, I’m chuckling to myself as I think about my latest undertaking.  I mean, I had a number of minor league pro coaching and GM interviews, I head coached in high school and college, and for about the past decade I’ve run teams for junior and senior high school players.  But, don’t you know, I just couldn’t resist an invitation to coach a team of beginners from my Learn-to-skate/Learn-to-play clinics.  Ya, “Mighty Mites” we’ve dubbed them, ranging in ages from 4- to 8-years old.  And, don’t you know, I’m already loving it!

Anyway, I wrote earlier about our first get-together (Teaching the Beginner Hockey Player) , or our so-called tryout.  But the following will describe our first real practice, as well as my thinking behind each drill.  (Oh, and click on the thumbnail photos below for a brief video showing a given drill in progress.)

– Dennis Chighisola

Our First “Mighty Mite” Hockey Practice

As I’ve said countless times within these pages, “It’s important to know where one is!”  And by that I mean that we coaches — AND PARENTS — have to adjust everything we do according to the ages and experience levels of our players.  In my case, for example, the game changes drastically from my college-playing grandson to my high school guys to my junior high kids and now to my “babies”.  And so do the challenges they each face.

1- I did a little brainstorming based on that thinking, and my wife actually helped me arrive at the first drill (as well as some others)…  She’s raised two players to pretty high levels, so she knew what she was talking about when she discovered I was headed to an instructional level practice.  “Oh, that’s the funnest age!” she beamed, adding that, “I love it when they all fall down!”  (Grrrrrrrr…  Not my little Weebles!  As a matter of fact, take a look at the video below — just click on the photo — to see that my kids actually learned to stop in our clinic, and I can call them together without anyone getting hurt!)  Of course, she was still right — on both counts.  So I decided to start things with a basic body-checking drill that had the kids bumping the boards with their shoulders, and a little later bumping a partner’s shoulder.  The idea is for the kids to gain a sense of what it takes to be stable, and what it takes to resist the occasional bump during game action.  And, make no mistake about it:  although body-checking isn’t allowed in instructional hockey, collisions take place in absolutely every level of hockey.

2- Hockey skating, in general, is a lot like playing one against one tag.  So we did that in pairs, sending several sets of twos at a time into an end zone.  We limited their time on these to about 8- or 10-seconds.  (Sorry, no video of this drill.)

3- Next, I dumped a bag full of weighted pucks for the kids to experiment with.  First, I had pairs passing those heavy things as far as they could, and I also suggested they try spinning the pucks so they’d stay flat on rough ice.  The concept is explained more in Passing Basics in Hockey , but what I was trying to do is give my kids a sense of what it took to get a firm grip on the puck and to generate decent power through their sticks.  (Really, the idea is much like the boards bumping drill, in that I wanted my kids to search for their strength.)

4- I then had my youngsters try to fire those weighted pucks off the side boards.  Standing only about 6′ off, I asked if they could make the loud booming noise demonstrated by a few of us coaches.

5- From there we switched to the blue, lightweight pucks used by all younger USA Hockey teams.  Now, to me puckhandling is about experimentation.  So I gave the kids a brief demonstration of side-to-side dribbling and then sent them on their way around our half of the rink.

6- Having already said that skating in the little guys’ and gals’ game is a lot like playing tag, I next went to games of pairs keepaway.  Yes, that’s basically what the puckhandling game will be like for them — trying to keep that biscuit away from their opponents.  So we sent the kids into a zone again in twos, this time having each player attempt to keep the puck away from his partner for as long as possible.  (Click on the thumbnail to see a brief video.)

As an aside…  When I ultimately intend to put together a number of skill drills, I begin by teaching each segment separately (usually starting with the end skill, then working backwards).  I did that in the following series of drills that begin with us beating a defender of some sort and end with us attacking the goal.  But, let me explain that further…

7- The end result of many later attack drills was going to be for our kids to shoot on a simulated goalie.  In this case, I borrowed a mini-net from the rink to place (backwards) inside the larger net (see the photo to the right).  We gathered around the goal for a time, as I explained the difference between hitting the goaler — and making him look good, or hitting an opening to get the goal (see Creating the Early Goal-scorer for great help in this area).  And, as you can hear (by clicking on the following thumbnail), I’d asked the coaches to make a REALLY big deal out of whether a kid scored or not.  After all, that’s what it will be like in a game.  S0, why not make things exciting right here in the practices?

8- We then took the puckhandling to a typical pylon course, except that I used large foam dots to represent what my kids hear me refer to as “the bad guys” (LOL).  If you might notice (click on the thumbnail to see a brief video), and thanks to our weekly Learn-to clinic, my little ones are starting to get the hang of using both sides of their sticks as they do this one.

9- Now, I had in mind using some different training devices in place of rival defenders.  But I had to first show the kids what those devices represented.  So (as shown in the thumbnail and the next video) a coach stood stationary to act as an “open triangle” the kids could attack.  This is a typical Mite level play, as the attacker tosses the puck through the defender’s legs and then retrieves it on the other side.  You might also hear us coaches correcting the kids on the forcefulness of their passes, since this play calls for just a soft tap ahead so the puck ends-up sitting right where the attacker needs it to be.

10-  I eventually brought a metal device out (see the thumbnail below) and placed it in front of a coach, this so the kids could appreciate that the device’s legs would now simulate those of the coach.  In this way, the coaches were freed to do what they do best:  coach.

As another aside…  At one point I teased a very experienced helper about (not) stationing himself at the front of a line.  My point in that brief exchange was that he was far more valuable getting out and among the players.  And, while I had only a little luck with teaching these really young ones my way of dealing with lines, I suggested to each that, “A coach won’t tell you when to go for now on.  Instead, take your turn when the player in front of you gets to such-and-such an area.”  Oh, they’ll get this over time.  And when they do, our practices will run all the better.

11- Ultimately we put things together, having the kids beat a given obstacle, then move-on to score against the simulated goaltender (click on the photo to see a video).

12- The practice ended with pairs of players racing for a loose puck, with the winner scurrying to the net for a shot on-goal.  This also simulates what happens in the little one’s game, in that races to loose pucks determine a lot, as does scoring under at least a little pressure.  (Click on the photo to see a brief video.)

Now, I’m betting a lot of readers are going to be a little surprised at how many drills I fit-in during an hour of ice-time, or how much we got accomplished with those little rascals.  That’s my (our) job, though, to get as much accomplished as possible on a kzillion dollars worth of ice-time!

Oh, and you might also be surprised to see (or hear) how animated I am with the kids.  Well, that too I think is super important to my work.

– Dennis Chighisola

Special thanks to Andy L. for taking the videos! 

Did you know your Comments really help me?  So, please get involved.  Just use the box below to offer your thoughts, questions or suggestions.  (And thanks — a bunch!)

(A Different Kind of) Hockey Warm-ups

I was psyched to receive the following article — about hockey warm-ups, and I was even more excited to see the awesome videos Maryse Senecal produced for us!

To be perfectly honest, though — and as much as I learned from the following, I ended-up having a ton of questions (let’s face it, a lot of this stuff is quite different from what most of us coaches have been doing).  And my guess is that a lot members will similarly want to know more.  That pretty surely being the case, please see my note at the end once you’ve gotten a grasp of what Maryse is showing us.

– Dennis Chighisola

(A Different Kind of) Hockey Warm-ups

By Maryse Senecal

As an orthotherapist, I see many athletic injuries. A few weeks ago, I received a 13 year old athlete in my clinic. She had sprained her lumbar spinal region during the pre-game warm up.  (During a warm up?)  As I treated her with heat, massage and mobilisations, I asked the questions:

How do you warm up?

How much time is allotted for warm up?

What is the warm up routine?

True to all thirteen year olds, the answers were vague.  So I decided to go see for myself.  I should have stayed home, because what I saw made my skin crawl.  I strongly believe that the coaches who take on that position at that level should be commended for their dedication and their time.  Without them, we wouldn’t have organized sports, and let’s face it, it’s all volunteer work.  What amazes me is that there is very little training for these coaches.  One weekend certification program is all they get.  They love the game, they love the kids, but..  They only know what they know.

I decided there and then to give of my time and expertise to the local hockey and ringette associations to help their coaches build stronger programs for their young athletes, keeping in mind the therapeutic limitations to training young bodies.  These athletes are still growing, we are dealing with loose ligaments to support the joints and uncalcified epiphesial plates (growth plates).

Click on a thumbnail image to see the video.

Here’s what I suggested to them:

1 – Activation

Always start the warm up with activation.  It doesn’t have to be long or too hard, just a few laps around the arena or the parking lot, or jumping jacks for example, a few slow lunges –- get the heart rate elevated and ready for work.

2 – Body Connection

This is by far the most important aspect when coaching children.  Remember that these young bodies change almost weekly.  Their arms and legs get ganglier, the joints get looser, then they tighten up to start over again.  It may seem a little odd, the kids lose perspective of their bio-mechanics.  Sure, the big stuff is easy, like walking or running.  But those internal stabilizers that guide and protect the skeletal mass get off kilter.

I suggest a stretch yoga style.  I know, I’ve researched the arguments, we shouldn’t stretch before the game, it takes away from the performance. I agree!  I wouldn’t suggest just a slow deep stretch; that just serves to calm the body. What I prefer to see are activated yoga poses:

• a) the warrior – hold the position, let gravity take over to deepen that lunge, activating the hip…

• b) the triangle – this will help warm up the torso…

• c) upward and downward dog – connects core strength and engages the body as a whole…

• d) here, all the exercises are shown strung together…

Remember that the athletes will reactivate strongly once on the ice.  This is a great time to talk the athletes through a little focus time.  Without realizing it, they start to connect with their body, engaging the muscle chains in synergy.  As the body prepares for the upcoming work-play load, the excitement will slowly build with focus.

So I was asked:  What about the adults who play the game?  It’s all the same!  It works for all athletes.  The reason I have targeted the young is because they are at risk of injury due to their continuous growth.

Work hard, play hard, prepare your athletes by being prepared!

*

I hope you found that all as interesting as I did.  But then again, those questions…

Yes, I must have emailed Maryse about 5 or 6 times as I was preparing to post this to our site.  Finally (despite my thinking I was the Head Coach here), she thought we ought to carry-on our discussion in the Comments section “… so members get to see those questions and answers!”

Okay, so — besides being a great personality in front of the camera, Maryse is a pretty smart lady.  And we’re going to do just as she has suggested.  Just drink-in what you can from the above, watch for our exchange over coming days, and be sure to join-in with us!

– Dennis Chighisola

Coming: A New Section About Stretching for Ice Hockey

A new section debuts in late-October of 2009, this aimed at advising members on the very latest known about stretching and warming-up in preparation for hockey practices and games.

How Should a Beginner Hold a Hockey Stick?

My Facebook friend (and CoachChic.com member), Kathy C, couldn’t have posed a more timely question.  For, it’s mid-October, beginner hockey players are flocking to learn-to-play type clinics all over North America, and a lot of new hockey parents are scratching their heads as they attempt to outfit their youngsters.

More specifically, Kathy jokes that I get to settle an ongoing debate — between her, her husband and the local pro shop guys — in determining which way her 4-year old son should hold a hockey stick.

Fortunately for Kathy (and any other new hockey parents), I’ve been dealing with this issue for a good 30-years or more.  So, with that, here goes…

– Dennis Chighisola

How Should a Beginner Hold a Hockey Stick?

Up front, I’ll suggest that there is an easy way out of this dilemma, that being to purchase a stick that has a flat blade, and then let the chips fall where they may.  This, however, is not my personal preference.  Over recent years I haven’t seen a decently constructed flat bladed stick, with most of them being hunks of tree limbs that are far too heavy for kids in the toddler to 5-year old range.  Moreover, a slight curve in a stick’s blade encourages my young students to carry the puck just as I’d like them to — between the blade’s midsection and its heel.  Oh, and there’s something else I like about most curved sticks that I’ve held, in that they have a nice (but perhaps undefinable) “feel” to them.

That out of the way, here are two tidbits of background information that really are meant just as FYIs:

1. Quite often, one holds a hockey stick just as he or she might hold a broom or a shovel.
2. Quite often, one will feel more comfortable with the dominant hand holding the top of the stick.  (I get a kick out of new parents who scratch their heads at their kids being right handed while holding the stick to their left side.  But that would be natural, as you see, with the dominant hand used to steer the stick-actions from the top of the shaft.)

Still, notice that I said “quite often” in both instances.  For, although these are relatively common occurrences, THEY ARE NOT RULES.  Every player still needs to seek his or her own comfort in handling a hockey stick.

Now, I actually chuckled to myself as Kathy said something to the effect that one shouldn’t ask her son which way he shoots.  She is right-on about that, since asking a young one how he or she shoots is going to cause him or her to think too much.

That said, I think we have two different situations when it comes to the which-way-should-he-shoot question…

In Kathy’s case, I know that her little guy has been playing around the house with a flat bladed stick for some time now.  So, I’d suggest that she and her husband just quietly observe the boy as he bats at a ball (or whatever).  Whatever he’s doing during that time — not knowing he’s being watched — is pretty likely to be natural.

On the other hand, there are those who find themselves at a local pro shop and suddenly faced with the need to buy a stick.  Hmmmmm…  What I’ll often suggest in that situation is that the parent roll-up a piece of paper into a ball, and then encourage the youngster to shoot it around the shop for awhile.  Then, doing just as I’ve suggested to Kathy and her husband, the parent can step back and quietly observe his or her youngster doing whatever comes naturally.

Finally, although the purchase of a youngster’s first hockey stick seems traumatic, consider the fact that he or she will probably ultimately own dozens upon dozens of sticks through the years.  So, while my suggestions still only give a first-time hockey parent a 50/50 chance at being right, beginner sticks are inexpensive enough that re-thinking things a few months down the road isn’t going to be too painful.

Just so new members appreciate what I’m trying to do here…  Kathy sent me that question this morning and I had an answer posted a few hours later.  I want to do that for my members (and friends), providing you answers when you need them!

Did you know your Comments really help me?  So, please get involved.  Just use the box below to offer your thoughts, questions or suggestions.  (And thanks — a bunch!)

3 Principles Atom Minor Hockey Coaches Should Follow

Carol, a new Twitter friend and a Manager for her youth program’s Atom Division, posed a REALLY tough question for this old coach.

As she put it, “What are the three top principles an Atom minor hockey coach should follow?”

Of course, it would have been easier to troubleshoot a hockey skill problem, or to suggest a solution for some area of team play.  Offering what I might consider to be top principles is yet another challenge.  Not only that but, my guess is that Carol would likely get lots of very different suggestions had she polled other experienced coaches.

That said, I took the better part of today — thinking long and hard — to arrive at what is to follow.

(Oh, by the way, for those who aren’t familiar with the Canadian age level known as “Atom”, it’s basically the same as the “Squirt” designation used in USA Hockey.)

– Dennis Chighisola

3 Principles Atom Minor Hockey Coaches Should Follow

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1) Give every player a reason to look forward to the team’s next get-together

I’m not so naive as to think there aren’t a lot of things that go wrong in a typical hockey practice or game.  In fact, I can’t blame coaches of losing teams for feeling plenty of frustration, and I can also appreciate how difficult it can be to stay positive under such circumstances.

Still, there is a time for everything.

For sure, players need to be pushed and prodded.  And when it comes to younger players, I’ve even pretended to be mad at the lot of them.

That out of the way, I choose my parting words VERY wisely.  I mean, I actually delay entering my team’s post-game or post-practice lockerroom for about 5-minutes.  During that time my kids get to partially undress and I get to gather my thoughts.  Oh, there might be nights when I’d like to blast them, and there are surely a lot of nights when I’d like to go into a 20-minute talk — on why we should have done this and how we could have done that.  In reality, though, what’s done is done, and the only thing that’s important at this point is our next game or our next practice.  So, it seems the most productive thing I can do as I send the kids on their way is to give every player a reason to look forward to our next get-together.

2) Continually look for “teaching moments”

Over 40-years of coaching, I have a pretty good outline — or checklist — for readying a team.  My season’s plan is pretty detailed, and my practices are planned to the minute.

Yet, unusual things happen all the time — during practices, and especially during games.  Sometimes it’s a rare circumstance that crops-up during a game, sometimes it comes from a great question posed by a player, sometimes it comes about because of a difficulty experienced by a player, and sometimes it stems from an outstanding play.

No matter, I call these “teaching moments”, and I think they’re worthy of holding a good old fashion bull session.  Actually, I sense that my players (young or old) have enjoyed these.  Better yet, I sense these kinds of discussions stick with a player for many, many years.

3) Think long-term

No doubt we’d all gain a great deal of satisfaction from seeing some of our players go on to do well at the game’s higher levels.  That said, coaches dealing with the youngest players have to realize just how significant their contribution really is to that cause.

On the negative side of things, my work as a skills analyst has me spotting numerous older guys who struggle just because they weren’t helped when they were young.  Not knowing their history, it’s often hard to know exactly what went wrong.  But my educated guess is that some of their earlier coaches either skipped steps in certain teaching progressions, or they didn’t establish in their players a certain kind of discipline or mentality when it came to skill work.

This brief aside…  A lot of years ago I attended a coaching symposium that included a roundtable discussion on skill development.  (If it wasn’t so sad it would have been laughable.  But…)  An NHL executive started by pointing to the other members, suggesting that they had to get the skill development accomplished because his guys couldn’t practice often enough, what with all their games and heavy travel schedule.  The Major Junior coach obviously took exception to that, complaining that he had to concern himself with winning games or he’d lose his job.  And so the buck-passing went, all the way down the line, with each level offering its own excuse and asking the same basic question as the others:  Why don’t you guys down below send me skilled players?

I tell that story because I too often hear coaches at the youngest levels make their own excuses — as in, “Oh, my players will get that when they move-up to the next level.”  Not so, of course, at least from what those guys at the roundtable had to say.

To my way of thinking, the seeds for great skills and playing smarts should be planted early.  And so should the lead-up skills be taught so that players can later skate like the wind, handle a puck wildly, thread perfect passes and fire absolute bullets.  Having your players eagerly looking forward to their next team event will help towards that end.  Finding plenty of “teaching moments” is going to help young players think the game better.  And, thinking long-term tends to help us coaches resolve that age-old win-at-all-costs versus development-first issue.

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Did you know your Comments really help me?  So, please get involved.  Just use the box below to offer your thoughts, questions or suggestions.  And thanks — a bunch!

"Seeing the Ice" in Wayne Gretzky Fashion

Understand that scientific declarations aren’t easily arrived at.  I mean, in order to state something to be scientifically so requires extensive testing under some pretty strict rules.  I have to start this piece in such a manner just so members appreciate that the following hasn’t been tested or proved in any way.

That said, I did think you might find the following very, very interesting.

– Dennis Chighisola

To begin, a friend happened to mention recently that he’d at one time heard or read about something a young Wayne Gretzky did.  And my friend further suggested that this may have enhanced The Great One’s ability to (supposedly?) better anticipate puck movement during game action.  Of course this intrigued me, and it sent me scurrying towards an Internet quest for more information.  Hey, I’d like to know everything a young Gretzky, Orr, Ovechkin or Howe did as a youngster, figuring there have to be some intriguing keys to their future success buried away there.

As an aside…  I hate some of the expressions used by a lot of sportscasters, no matter the sport we’re talking about.  In this case, the one about “seeing the ice” really doesn’t say much.  In other words, the wordsmiths toss such phrases at us, and they leave it up to the listener to fill-in his or her own meaning.  Still, what we have to guess these guys or gals are talking about — in reference to seeing the ice well — is a player’s ability to anticipate coming conditions, or to sorta picture in advance what is likely to happen.  That said, most superstars in most sports are given credit for that rare ability, and probably most of us would feel that’s a huge part of what separates them from mere mortals.

Well, I have my own take on that “seeing the ice well” issue, and I once had a friend and former NHL-er confirm at least some of my suspicions…  At the time I was readying to write one of my magazine columns on this subject.  And as a premise, I was about to declare that Gretzky could “see the ice” better than most other players because his basic skills were so advanced in comparison to others.  Oh, I took more time to explain it to my friend, a former LA King, but it only took him a second to think about his experiences with The Great One and reply, “Bingo!”

Now, please hear me out on something…

I’d like you to recall back to the very first time you drove an automobile.  Can you remember?  Your hands were probably gripping that wheel so hard!  Everything about the moment was likely pretty tense, and you probably went through a checklist in your head (like a pilot readying for take-off): “My seat needs adjusting…  the mirror needs fixing…  the…”  Again, you should appreciate what I’m getting at here, about everything being pretty tense and consequential.

Next, fast-forward to having years of experience behind the wheel…  Lord knows the things a long-time driver does while motoring down the highway — from changing radio stations to reading a GPS to checking his or her hair in the mirror to talking on a cell phone to (God forbid) texting or shaving or apply makeup.

What I’m suggesting here is that days and days and then years and years cause the everyday operation of that vehicle to become almost automatic, or the movements are almost as involuntary as breathing and blinking.  What else could it be that helps us swerve or brake in just the right way, except that we mastered our driving skills far beyond the beginner?

And that’s what I was suggesting about Gretzky in my magazine column…  He no longer has to think about his footwork or puck control as he moves down the ice; those movements are as automatic to him as his breathing and blinking.

Yet another aside…  Don’t get me wrong; every NHL player is able to skate without thinking, puckhandle with his eyes up, etc.  But what I’m really getting at is that these things are relative.  In other words, the guys we see as superstars have their basic skills sooooooo on automatic that they can deal with matters others don’t get the chance to even see.

Along this same line of thinking, I recall long ago a great young quarterback entering about his third NFL season and saying something to the effect that, “The game has really slowed-down for me!”  Yes, another one of those expressions that leave us guessing as to what’s really meant.  But in this case, I know the guy was talking about the fact that he’d learned to read pass rushes so much better than when he first entered the league.  If you can envision it, his first season was probably spent in absolute panic with all those 300-pound linemen coming his way, and with his receivers running patterns that were yet not so familiar (probably not unlike our first driving experiences).  Over time, however, he learned to recognize most of the keys — or what to really look for, which made it all the easier for him to pick the opposition defense apart.

Okay, so now for the story that inspired this post…  What my friend had related to me had to do with Walter Gretzky evidently having his very young son follow the flow of televised games in a certain way, perhaps aimed at Wayne honing those “seeing the ice” kinda skills.  What I discovered instead — in an on-line article from *The Arizona Republic by David Vest — was that the whole thing was actually Wayne’s idea.  Evidently a 7-year old Wayne would sit in front of the TV and trace the movement of the puck throughout a televised hockey game.  In fact, Vest quotes the senior Gretzky during a 2005 interview, “I remember saying: ‘What are you doing, Wayne?” Wayne’s reply to Walter was, “Look, Dad, see all these dark spots? That’s where the puck is most of the time.”

As Walter described it, Wayne drew a rink — complete with lines and nets and such, and then kept his pen or pencil on the sheet of paper throughout the game action, continuously following the movement of the puck.  Hmmmmmm…  My guess is that Wayne was a real thinker even at a very young age.

Still, my relatively educated guess is that the actual results of Wayne’s early studies aren’t all that useful, if even valid.  But, that would be another very long discussion.

For now, however, I’d like to suggest that the young Gretzky may have benefited quite a lot just from those frequent exercises.  I mean, how often have we wished our own young players would “really get into the game” or “really study the high level guys”?  So, here was Wayne, only 7-years old, following the actions of his boyhood idols (among them maybe all-time greats like Gordie Howe, Frank Mahavolich and Jean Béliveau?).  If you get what I’m suggesting here, it’s that Wayne — even as he was following the puck — couldn’t help but mentally record all the things going on with and around the puck.

As a final aside here…  I hope my long-time CoachChic.com friends don’t become bored by my occasional references to Anthony Chic.  It’s just helpful to me, oftentimes, if I can personalize a given experience or observation.  The reason I feel the need to once again tell a Tony C story is because my grandson has for the past few years been a YouTube.com fanatic.  I don’t think he’s missed a “Greatest Goals” video over that span, and I can’t tell you how many times he’s called me to watch over his shoulder to inspect a frame-by-frame breakdown of some incredible move by one of today’s great scorers.  Is there learning going on during such an exercise?  I’m betting there definitely is.  In fact, I’m betting the physical moves he’s watching are actually being internalized by Anthony, and I’m also betting he can almost sense how it feels to perform each of those moves.

So again, I’m not sure Gretzky’s arrival at certain puck movement patterns was all that beneficial to his later playing success.  But, I bet he was taking-in a ton of peripheral information, and he was quite likely internalizing the moves of his boyhood idols.

All that said, I might try such an experiment if I was once again the dad of a young player.  And, I might even find a way to have one of my teams try this.  What I’d likely do with today’s resources is prepare a large rink as a master, and then run-off some copies to keep on hand for my player/s.  Whatever you or I do with this idea, though, we can’t allow our kids’ work with those rinks seem like a drudgery.  The last thing we want is to tie the watching of a hockey game with any sort of negative thoughts.  I don’t immediately have an answer to that, but I do know I have a lot of bright and creative friends here at CoachChic.com.  So, I’m hoping lots of you might offer your thoughts or suggestions down below.

* Gretzky’s father recalls origin of hockey genius (by David Vest The Arizona Republic Oct. 17, 2005 12:00 AM)

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Can Goalies Improve Without A Coach?

In fairness to Todd, his very interesting article is based on a quick question I shot his way as we were recently talking — in the dark — outside The MOTION Lab.  In a way, though, I’m glad he didn’t have all the info, because the route he takes in trying to solve the problem at hand is exactly what every other coach and parent likely faces in their search for answers.

So again, I find the following a very interesting read.  Better yet, I think you’re probably going to (as I surely did) associate with some of the frustrations Todd experienced in his search for answers.

– Dennis Chighisola

Can Goalies Improve Without A Coach?

By Todd Jacobson

Coach Chic mentioned to me recently that a dad had posed a question to him, this having to do with a dad not being happy because his goaltender son probably wasn’t going to improve much this coming year.  As I understand it, the real problem is that the boy doesn’t have anyone within his current team’s coaching staff helping him with goalie specific training.

I initially thought this would be a pretty easy topic to tackle. Well, I was wrong. This is a great concern for this dad and his son, and the more I thought about it the more concerned I became. So I figured I would attack this article much differently than I have most others.

Like many other hockey coaches, I have a stubborn side (to be successful you have to be at least a little bit stubborn), and every once in a while I try to fight that urge. This time I fought it and won!

I instantly went to my favorite search engine, Yahoo (I’ll be waiting for my royalty check from them for the advertisement), and I typed in the question, “Can a goalie improve without a coach?”  The results were pretty interesting.

The first page that came up was one that had an interview with a Finnish goalie coach named Jukka Ropponen.  And while the interview was interesting and informative, it really didn’t shed any light on the problem at hand. Coach Ropponen did use a quote in which I think many coaches can relate to: “You can’t win without good goaltending.”

The next page I opened was an article from goaltending coach Steve Carroll of the Carroll Goalie School.  And while he didn’t quite answer the question, the title of the article was very telling, and the info inside was such that every coach at every level should read it. The article was titled, “Goalies should not be shut out from coaching”.  To sum it up, Carroll speaks to coaches who don’t really work with the goalies, and he suggests they really should spend some time training them instead of just using them as practice targets. Coach Carroll dives deeply into the fact that so many coaches out there don’t really know the details of the position, so they typically spend most of their time working with the skaters (while giving hardly any time their goalies).

I thought about this for a long time, and I know it to be true. When I was a young 19 year old looking to get into the coaching ranks there weren’t a lot of open positions. I had to find a way to get my foot in the door.  And what area was the most neglected?  You guessed it, it was providing help for goaltenders. I had a little inside edge here, with my father being a long time goalie coach (and I’d played the position if only for a very short time). I knew that if I really learned the position I could be an asset to a coaching staff somewhere, and I’d also have an easier time landing a coaching job. I again was correct.

As time went on, the majority of my younger coaching years were spent as a goalie coach.  And as the game changed, so did that position, including the areas of emphasis, as well as the way training should be conducted.

Going back to that second article, it still didn’t answer the specific problem, so I continued to look further.  The third page I opened (I think by Mitch Korn) had some absolutely innovative and creative training aids for goalies. Most were very large and bulky however, and I could see that being an issue for a coach, lugging those things around to numerous rinks.  Worse yet, within the typical 1 hour practice, maybe a goalie would get the chance to use one of those for 15 minutes or so.  Still, these training tools were fabulous (I know Coach Chic has come up with some similar training tools, and he’d have gotten kick out of seeing these).  Yet another unfortunate part is that you really can’t use these items by yourself (they need to be used in a team or multiple player type setting). So again I didn’t get the answer I was looking for within that third web site.

All in all, I waded through many more web pages, many of them containing a lot of great info on goalie training.  But the question posed by that dad never was really answered.

So, after all that searching, I really didn’t want to write another article about working independently and being creative, because that has been the theme of so many of my past writings.  In the end however, that seems to be the only answer.

I would suggest that the dad who raised that question speak with his son’s coach (or coaches) on a professional level. Be courteous and just plant the seed — that he’d really like to see his son get some one on one coaching. I also would suggest he go back to some of my past articles.  There are a lot of great ideas to help a goalie work on his or her own, as well as how to make and use some inexpensive devices.

On a final note, it might not be a bad idea to seek out a goaltending coach to work with on the side (maybe that dad will get lucky and find a young, eager man or woman looking to get into this unique area of coaching, just as I had done so many years ago).  I know it could possibly be costly to send your boy to a professional goalie coach or a weekly clinic.  Still, when you really think about it, every season lost due to a lack of growth can be even more costly.

Yours in Hockey, Coach J.

Now, even Todd doesn’t know (until he reads this) that I actually took a different route in search of an answer, and still arrived at exactly the same conclusion he did.  Of course, I had the benefit of knowing the CoachChic.com member who first tossed the problem our way, and I also knew a little more of the background. With that, I have a feeling Todd’s and my combined ideas should prove extremely helpful…

One thing I knew was that my friend’s son had a seemingly great goaler coach back with his old team.  The dad and boy evidently liked and trusted that guy, and I also sensed through some discussions that the previous coach was kind of a forward-looking type.  (In other words, it seemed he wasn’t locked in the dark ages, and he was open to new and creative ideas.)

So, what I proposed was that the dad and the former coach find a small space they could use (or rent?) for supplemental off-ice training.  In effect, I was suggesting they put together a mini-version of The MOTION Lab, but this one designed just for helping goalies.  I even hinted at the thought that they could make that facility pay for itself — and their labors, but advertising it to other goalies in similar need for help.

Hey, take a moment to think about what I just said…  Todd scoured the Internet and basically found one consistent fact, in that goaltenders mostly get ignored during typical youth practices.  So, does that suggest to my friend — and to every other reader — that there’s a dawgone market for goalie help?

And while I’m on the subject of business, let me introduce some economics here…  You see, I can run about 40-skaters through a skills type session, and I can give them a heck of a workout while also easily paying for the ice-time and my time.  Try to do that with goalers, though.  No, it’s had to pay for an hour of costly ice-time unless you can find a way to get a pretty high number of players out there.

Small group sessions are what work best for netminders, and that’s why I’ve suggested some sort of off-ice facility for their supplemental training.

As for training ideas?  I wouldn’t just limit them to those currently offered by Todd.  Oh, they’re awesome, and there are plenty of them.  However, I’d also recommend taking a read through Craig Shaw’s articles, because those are loaded with great exercises.  And so are many of my pieces listed under several different skill oriented categories.

Then, presuming the goalies training in the Lab-type venue are seeing all the shots they need during regular on-ice practices and games, I’d reserve the off-ice work to “movement” exercises of all sorts.  To me, the ideas are really endless, to include quickness work, footwork, hand-eye coordination, core strength work, and I could go on.  (As you might see from the photos I’ve chosen to include, not a lot of space is required to enhance a ton of important goaler qualities.)

So, I borrow this bit of advice from a well worn slogan:  “There’s nothing to it but to do it!”

Finally, I got to doing some serious thinking as I read Todd’s article and then added my own two cents worth…  You see, I’ve had a lot of little visions within the main one for CoachChic.com.  In other words, although my primary aim has been to put together a hockey resource area that will ultimately be the most thorough in the world, I can now also see it as a place for those with individual needs to do some really serious research.  If you think about it, Todd spent considerable time chasing through that rabbit hole known as an Internet search.  And all the while there was probably more buried within our site’s pages than he (or anyone else) could find elsewhere.

Ya, hmmmmmm…

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2 Ideas We Can Borrow from Ovechkin

For those who may have just joined (or just happened by this entry), I strongly urge you to view the YouTube video I dubbed “Studying Alexander Ovechkin“.  I’ve asked members to run (and re-run) goals #4 and #2 there, just to get a sense of how the The Great OV oftentimes balances on one skate as he readies to unleash a shot.

Oh, and as an FYI…  I doubt Ovechkin is the only player to demonstrate the following skills.  I just happened to use him as an example because I tend to spend so much time studying his moves.

– Dennis Chighisola

1) The Skate Wiggle

As I hinted at in my previous notes, I long ago noticed Ovechkin wiggling his left skate as he readied to shoot from the right side of his body.  And as I also noted, I think this can be a huge distraction to a goaltender.

Just think about it:  The goaler attempts to focus on the puck, but there is this extra movement going on (in the corner of his eye) that must be awfully hard to ignore.  How distracting is it?  I’m not sure (and I’d love for some experienced goalie-types to weigh-in on this).  However, aren’t we all looking for an edge — no matter how slight?

Now, I actually had more than one motive when I decided to have my team players learn this.  For, as I’ve noted in numerous other entries when I’ve talked about shooting, it’s a good idea for players to learn how to pull the trigger in all sorts of off balance postures.  So, while the drills I’m going to show in the following videos will likely help some of my better players add something new to their bag of puckhandling and shooting tricks, I’m going to suggest that every one of my kids has enhanced his skills just from practicing so often on one skate.  (I’ll have a little more to say on this topic a little later.)

Okay, I’ve provided the sketch to the lower right just so you might see the basic posture…  The idea is for the shooter to balance on one skate while slightly wiggling the other.

As an aside here…  Last season, when I first introduced this skill, I had my players wiggle the skate opposite their stick (just as I’d seen Ovechkin do).  As I noted above, I felt this was going to cause the most distraction for the goaltender.  However, because I was adding another skill this season, I had my guys try that wiggle with the skate closest to their stick.  You’ll see why in awhile, though.

I’d like to share a few more tips here, beyond the actual shooting tricks…  For example, I find certain settings better for my Jr HS and HS Prep players to try new skills.  So, as you’ll notice in the videos linked to many of the following photos, we work off-ice a lot (even in The MOTION Lab), and the players also work on their own firing at the side boards (my guys probably get 20-shots to every one they’d have had if they were standing in long lines).  Neither do I allow them to initially shoot on a goaltender when I really want them concentrating on a given skill technique.  (Just click on a photo to see the video.)

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2) The Kick

In the previous post I promised to show you something even more challenging for the goaltender.  So, here goes…

The accompany sketch shows a player’s stick going forward as the leg opposite his stick moves backward.

Now, think “equal and opposite reactions” here — as when a sprinter’s arms pump forward and backward to aid his leg actions, or when a skater moves the hands, arms and shoulders side to side to help the outward thrust of each skate.

In other words, as the shooter pushes his stick forward, he has to simultaneously kick rearward in order to add some extra umph to that forward stick action.  (Click on the photos below to see some of my guys executing what I’ve come to call “The Ovechkin Kick”.)

By the way…  I noticed in putting together the second video that the young lefty shooter is slightly off in timing his kick with his shot.  Can you see it?  The kick appears to be a little too early to really help his shot.  Knowing the player, though, he will get it with a little more work.

Does the direction of that backward kick matter?  You bet!  As a matter of fact, that’s probably been the most difficult thing to convey to my kids.  That kick has to be as close to 180-degrees to the direction of the shot as possible; otherwise a great deal of the force will be lost.

Actually, I’ve started talking to my guys in terms of feeling the extra power, and I’m often heard to ask them, “Can you feel it?” as I move up and down the line of shooters.

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3) Combining the Movements

I initially introduced the above two skills separately, and I had players practice them separately.  Ultimately, though — after probably a good month or more of separate drilling, I had the guys combine the moves.

The videos below show my players putting the two tricks together.

By the way…  You’ll notice that the kids are usually doing a wiggle first, switching skates and then performing their kicks with the other skate.  That kind of order is just for practice purposes, however.  In reality, I’ll want them to do whatever comes naturally once they’re in a game.  I also know how an athlete’s mind works, and I can assure you that each player will grasp for whatever does come naturally in the heat of battle.  Some will actually dare to string the two moves together, some will want to get the shot-off quicker by going to just the kick, some will wiggle a skate and fire, while some won’t dare do anything other than just pull the trigger as fast as they can.  But, for more on this topic, please consider my closing remarks…

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In summary, I want to re-affirm something I just hinted at, in that individuals will tend to get differing results from an unusual type of skills training.

Over 40-years of working with thousands of athletes, I can tell you that a few special ones will put that new skill into their game almost immediately.  It’s just the nature of those very unique beasts.  At the other end of the spectrum, there will always be a few players who will never dare to do anything new in a game setting.

All that said, I’m going to suggest that just working at new skills — like those described above — is going to affect some positive change in every single player.  So, even though those in the lower half of a roster might not dare to purposely pull-off moves like I’ve just showed, they are going to frequently find themselves balanced on one skate or the other in a game, and they’re going be confident about handling the puck or even letting it fly from that posture.

– Dennis Chighisola

Did you know your Comments really help me?  So, please get involved.  Just use the box below to offer your thoughts, questions or suggestions.  And thanks — a bunch!

Coach Chic’s (Pretty Famous) Puck-course!

Just a note — in case you’re local to me and Pilgrim Arena in Hingham, MA…

My new Puckhandling Course starts on Monday night (10/05/09), and it’ll run throughout the winter.  It’s at 7:15pm, in Rink B.

If there’s one thing I’m famous for, it’s that all of my long-time players and students can REALLY handle that biscuit!!!  And, to me having really good puck-skills is a huge confidence booster!

– Dennis Chighisola

Garage Sale Drill

Please see Drill Submission Rules and Help below.

Contributor: Deb K. — Boulder, CO

Drill Category: Fun, Conditioning (oh, boy!), Skating

Drill Description:

All kids start at the goal line and skate to center ice, they leave their sticks there, next skate to the far blue line, touch up, skate to center ice again, leave a glove, skate to the near blue line, touch up, skate to center ice, leave the other glove, then to the blue line, touch up and retrieve all equipment in the order in which they dropped it, then race to the goal line.

This note from Dennis Chighisola…  Coach K seems to have a knack for fun oriented drills.  Ya, her approach to the game always seems to make me smile, and I can just imagine that her players look forward to what she might have planned next.

My take on such drills?  I firmly believe we can have a balance when it comes to strict teaching drills and fun ones.  As a matter of fact, I think at least one of these would be good for somwhere near the end of a practice (hey, why not have your players leave the ice laughing?).

I might also add that a drill like the above one isn’t only suitable to younger players.  I mean, think about it…  Even a high school or college coach could use it, but with something at stake, or something that results in bragging rights, whatever.  Again, picture it, with older guys absolutely killing themselves while also laughing their heads off.  No, not a bad way to end a practice at all.

Sorry, no video for this drill.  Actually, Coach Chic found it dizzying trying to create one (LOL)!

The Best Slot Coverage Drill I Know!

I have to apologize here, but there are going to be a few drills that won’t make it into this free section.  Such will be the case for those deemed to be “the best drill I know for _______”.  Again, sorry, but membership does have some special privileges.

If you are a member, however, just click here Defenseman’s Slot Coverage Drill to gain immediate access.

– Dennis Chighisola

StickDrags

Please see Drill Submission Rules and Help below.

Contributor: Coach Chic – Whitman, MA

Drill Category: Skating, Strength

Drill Description:

Comments: This drill is really a variation of Deb K’s Chariot Races, but perhaps with some added benefits and uses.

Benefits:
Perhaps the major difference between this drill and Deb’s is that the player on the ice represents a whole lot more resistance because he has far more of his body creating friction against the ice (whereby the player’s shinguards in Deb’s drill makes it a little easier for the player to be towed).

Variations:

- I use this drill at times like Deb does, aiming to help players with their forward body leans, and with helping them learn to get a good grab with their skate edges.  To do this — or to emphasize technique, I keep the length of the drill relatively short, say across ice or between the blue lines.

- I also sometimes use this as a “finisher” near the end of a practice with older players.  And as a finisher, I mean the kind of drill that is sure to have my players leaving most of their energy out on the ice.  For this effect, I might lengthen the course players will work along, perhaps even from goal line to goal line.

By the way…  Although it’s certainly easier to be dragged rather than to do the dragging, there IS some effort required of the player on the ice and holding onto those sticks.

Running the drill:
In either application, one partner pulls the length of the course, and they switch roles to return back to the starting point.  When it comes to the finisher-type of drilling, I’m on my players to make quick exchanges in roles so there’s little lag time during the drill.

Click image below to see a short video.

The Skater’s Tow-trainer (or Sled)

If you’ve ventured-off into training for other sports, you’ve likely come across sled-like devices that are used for adding resistance against the running motion.  In fact, such a gadget is usually called a “sled”, and I’ve seen them used by sprinters, football players and rugby players, and I’m sure they’re being used by athletes in lots of other running sports.

So, why couldn’t such a training aid be used to add resistance against the skating motion?  Well, the difficulty is that the metal “runners” seen on most sleds are made to be used grass or pavement, and they just wouldn’t work well on the ice.

Thankfully, about a dozen years ago, I saw a demonstration by a Swedish hockey player using something like the gadget shown in the photo below…

Of course, I couldn’t have run out to a local store and purchased such a thing.  So, I took the next best step and built four of my own.  Ya, I built more than one of what I dubbed a “Tow-trainer” because I frequently work with groups of players — in a hockey school, in a clinic environment or with a team.  Oh, and by the way…  As you’ll soon discover, the material at the bottom of my training aids allows them to be used on the ice as well as on pavement, on grass, or on a roller hockey floor.

There’s actually a reason my Tow-trainer is the subject of an article and videos right now.  You see, as I’ve been working with Jerry Z, I’ve noticed that the next step in his development is to get him leaning forward and driving forward.  Members who have been following Jerry’s progress should appreciate what I’m doing here, in that we’ve already solved a number of basic shortcomings in his game to this point, so it’s time for me to look for the next “grossest” problem.  And that forward drive is it.

Now, Deb K — in a drill she calls Chariot Races — suggests that to apply resistance to the skating motion aids in two ways:  1) a player is almost forced to lean forward to gain momentum, and 2) a player is forced to turn the skates outward in order to achieve a decent grip on the ice (or pavement or floor).  I totally agree with Deb on those benefits, and you should be able to see them actually happening in the videos to follow.

If you click on either of the  two photos below a video will open for you in a new window.

Notice in the first video that Jerry Z must wrestle more than a little to get the Tow-trainer going.  Yes, trying to get momentum at the start is difficult — with the device, and with the extra weight he’s added to it.  (The bus sighted at the end of the second clip will be featured in a new agility drill to be shown later!    )

Members ought to know that I loaned that Tow-trainer to Jerry after a recent session in The MOTION Lab.  So I could only give him some rough suggestions on its use.  The reason I mention this is because I’d have made some adjustments to the ways he used that device had I been at his first workout with it.

For one, I’d probably lessen — by about half — the amount of weight he put in there.  As you can see, the load he used caused a motion that really wasn’t natural.  Oh, it might be good for his leg strength, but not for our intended aims.

I would also likely use only a part of the hill he’s on, or that part that isn’t drastically steep.  Ya, a slight incline would probably be good, but not too much.

I would also ask Jerry to shorten the distance for that drill.  As I mention when it comes to using something like a slideboard, I prefer that serious skaters not work on their stride for longer than a period in which they can really focus on mechanics.  For, once the concentration wanes, the skater starts to practice the wrong techniques.

Safety Suggestions

Oh, and here are some serious safety tips I’ve learned from experience…

Be extra careful with a Tow-trainer’s use on a slick surface — such as on ice or on a SportCourt-like roller hockey floor.

Once a skater gets momentum, the sled will keep going after he or she has stopped.

I also now avoid having a skater do turns or cross-overs unless I can really control the training area.  For, the device is going to really whip outward during such movements.

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Now, those members who are here during the month of October, 2009 are fortunate to find directions for making your own Tow-trainer/s very easily and VERY inexpensively.  You’ll find those directions in the *Gifts category.  However, if you missed them, I plan to rerun past gift offerings at later dates.  Promise.

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Ya know, as I add content to this site, I truly wonder if any of these kinds of advice, drills or training devices can be found anywhere else on the Internet.  I don’t know; what do YOU think?  I’d really like to know — in the Comments below — if you’ve found anything here you don’t believe you’d have ever found elsewhere.

Thanks a ton!

– Dennis Chighisola