A Great Hockey Skater Is Suddenly Falling?
January 11, 2011 by Dennis Chighisola
Aaaaah, I love it when folks toss their hockey problems my way (even if I’m not sure I can answer them)! 
Okay, so I just received the following question (which might just be a huge challenge for me). Please take a read…
– Dennis Chighisola
A Great Hockey Skater Is Suddenly Falling(?)
This actually came by way of a Comment, but I thought it worthy enough to address in its own post. Here’s the question verbatim:
“my son plays in a novice select team is 8yrs old…a great skater..but is falling alot of late…..Why ??“
Hmmmmmm… Why, indeed.
Quite obviously this is a difficult one to answer without being able to see the boy. (I surely wouldn’t mind receiving a short video clip of the youngster, just so I might do a lot better than I’m going to right now.)
That said, the best I have to go on are the following assumptions:
1) dad says he’s a pretty good skater;
2) it sounds like the level the boy is playing is pretty decent;
3) it also sounds as if the youngster’s frequent falling is something that’s just started happening very recently.
The reason I wanted to state all that is because it probably at least makes it possible for us to discount the kid being an awful skater who ought to fall plenty anyway.
That established (I hope), my educated guess is that we have to look in two separate areas for an answer…
1) Equipment-wise, I’d look at the skates. Has there been a change in these important pieces of gear — either in a switch to new or different blades, or is there something wrong with a recent skate sharpening? (To be honest, I don’t think new boots would make a player fall, but something being drastically different about the blades or sharpening surely could.) And, of course, it would be nice if it was that easy to resolve the boy’s problems — by just fixing a piece of gear, I mean.
2) After that, we obviously have to consider a physical problem of some sort, and this I’ll question on several fronts:
- if recent skating problems happened about the same time the boy joined the current (select?) team, it could be that many pretty talented opponents are causing him to have difficulties keeping-up (having to change directions quickly, etc);
- I don’t usually associate growth spurts with kids far younger than puberty, but a sudden change in one’s body can surely bring about some difficulties with fine motor skills;
- God forbid, but I very long ago had a really talented student of mine start having some similar problems, and this was later diagnosed as a very serious health issue.
Okay, that’s where I am right now — suggesting that the dad work his way through that short checklist, first starting with the possibility that the whole thing has to do with an equipment (or mainly a skate) issue.
I’d also invite him to work with me on this, so that we could go back and forth to troubleshoot things. So, if you would, dad, let me know what you discover from going through that list, and even send me a short video clip if you can (I’ll provide advice if you don’t know how to do it).
Finally, I’m sure the dad won’t mind that I open this discussion to others. Ya, I think it would be helpful if anyone else has an idea they think ought to be included in the checklist I’ve plotted so far.
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Oh, did I say I love questions? You know I do! And, I also love feedback or Comments from members, so please join-in!
I had the same thing happen with my 7-year-old last year. He was great on his skates but would go down quickly when anything/anybody hit his legs with their stick.
On his own, he started playing around on a balance ball — one of those 30″ exercise balls in a room with a medium pile carpet.
He started by sitting on it with his feet off the ground, then progressed to kneeling on it. Then kneeling on it while moving around the room. Then kneeling/hopping. Then standing on it.
All in all, it took him about 4 weeks to get to this final stage. All his idea — just playing around with it.
The improvement to his balance on skates was remarkable. The falling stopped. In fact, his ability to recover from being hooked/tripped became quite spectacular. He would come out of crowds on one leg while still carrying the puck–great to watch!
Hope this helps.
That was great thinking on your part, John. Actually, if you (or anyone else) wants to take that kind of stuff to the next level, browse through The MOTION Lab area to see a whole lot more good ideas.
Thanks for that, John! I love that kid of approach!
Just wondering if you found out if anything worked for the 7 year old that keeps falling? My son is 7 and this is his 3 year in hockey. When we go to public skate he flies around the ice and rarely falls…..whn he is playing hockey or doing drills he is falling down all the time…it is crazy. Sometimes it looks like he is tripping on a toe pick on his skate(there are no toe picks)! Other times he is just goes down, it is like his mind is further a head than it should be. We don’t know what to do…he loves hockey but we are getting o the point that we are worried he is going to get hurt.
Thanks!
Amy
First, Amy, thanks for the question.
Secondly, while I don’t remember a much later update on the above boy’s progress, I do recall that the dad said that none of the three possible things I mentioned seemed to be a problem.
With that, let’s consider your son…
Actually, before I’d even gotten to the middle of your post, I was thinking along the lines of “…it is like his mind is further ahead than it should be.”
Yes, somewhere in another article, I’d suggested yet another possibility for a young player who was falling a lot, and it was because he was in such a rush to do whatever, that his feet just couldn’t keep up with what his mind had in store.
To be honest, I don’t see this as a long term bad thing. As a matter of fact, one of my all-time favorite high school players from a lot of years ago still skated in sort of a helter-skelter fashion as a teen (although he certainly didn’t fall as much as a beginner might).
Unfortunately, I didn’t know certain things about the sciences back when he was young — heck, even the scientists back then didn’t know what many of us know now.
For example, when you get a chance, read my article on “Proprioception“. As a quickie, though, here’s the definition I supplied there, explaining that it’s “the sense of one’s orientation of the limbs in space”. And that, coupled with “equilibrioception” — better known as balance — is what I’d prescribe for your youngster. (Actually, I’d suggest that kind of training for any youngster.)
Now, if you read John’s ideas above, I’ll suggest there are two important points there… First, his balance ball idea is a good one. But there are tons more ideas in my piece on “Building Your Own Off-ice Home Training Center“.
Better yet, John has the right idea in the way his son went about his so-called “training”. For, to my way of looking at helping very young ones, serious training is the worst thing we can do. That’s why I’d suggest, as John did with his son, to let yours fiddle with some gadgets, and encourage him to just have fun, or to see if he can “beat that thing”. If some little game or competition can be made from doing something related to balance, all the better.
Lastly, please do not question your son’s worthiness to play the game. If it’s fun for him, keep the encouragement coming. If he’s not having fun playing, that’s another matter.
Once again, I thank you for the question. I hope this helps at least somewhat, although you’re welcome to ask more should like.
I have a similar question. My boy is 7 years old. He is playing with kids two years older than him and is one of the fastest and best skaters in the league. He seems to fall a lot. Don’t know if I should be telling him to have more control or let him figure it out. It’s like his body is trying to catch up to his skills. Thanks
My guess, Pat, is that you’ve hit the nail on the head, in that your son’s feet and body are trying to keep up to what his head has him doing. In the long run, I think that will be a good thing, but he (and you) will probably suffer a little frustration until things do start coming together.
I would NOT try to slow your son. However, some balance and coordination exercises will likely help him, as will something like skipping rope. I’d also have him fiddle with a ball or puck while at the same time doing some balance or footwork drills. A little at a time, things will come together, and you’ll ultimately have a player who is both quick and steady on his feet.