Backward skating is not very practical in sledge/sled hockey. Quick turning under power is very important for challenging for the puck and effective defensive play.
Try skating around the face off circles on one blade. Try pumping with both hands. Try pumping with one hand. Try not letting your gloves touch the ice. Try different hand positions on the stick shafts, both symmetric and asymmetric (in a game you may not have your choice of hand positions). Pay attention to the sound of your blades. Try to avoid side slipping as much as possible. Generally, the quieter you keep your blades the less energy your wasting. How far your leaning forward or back can make all the difference. Don't forget to practice in both directions.
Another more advanced exercise is to perform figure eights around 2 small pylons. As you make your left turn, plant the picks of your left stick into the ice, carve your turn and as you complete the turn use the planted picks to push off. Repeat around the other pylon making a right turn and using your right stick. Once you start to become more accomplished, move the pylons closer and closer together until you are continuously planting one stick and then the other turning alternately left to right and back again.
Try these exercises in warm up before a practice or game!
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3 comments:
Great advice, thanks. If have any other quick drills please share. I am fairly new ( 1 1/2 years) to coaching sled hockey at the recreational level and I am always curious what other players/coaches are doing. If interested, check out our team site http://www.cssha.org.
Thanks,
Chuck
...just a quick update. I incorporated this drill into our last practice. Even though we are recreational, out of the 12 players on the team, 5 are pretty good at moving. This drill was great in that it is simple to setup and instruct. The advanced players responded well to the challenge of bring the cones closer, one player in particular did extremely well.
We also have 5 pushed players, this drill worked for them in that it helped both the pusher and player to learn how to make quick tight turns. The pusher tilts the sled while the player leans into the turns.
I went ahead and diagrammed this drill and is now on our website.
Thanks for your feed back Chuck. I've added your excellent site to my favourites list. That particular drill was taught to my son and I while sledging on the canal by a fellow player "Peter Morel" who runs a fitness company "Top Shape" and is a personal trainer.
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