Russian hockey skills

The One Skill That Makes You 10 Times The Hockey Player – Part 3 – (XXXI)

Posted by Jim on January 20, 2020
Posted in: heads up hockey, Hockey, hockey Skills, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, Truth about hockey, understanding hockey.

The One Skill That Will Make You 10 Times The Hockey Player

Learn To Skate With And Handle The Puck With Your Head Up

First of all keeping you head up while skating with a puck is not an innate skill. It is a skill that needs to be taught and it can be learned. There is specific understanding required and there are specific physical skill sets to be mastered.

The proper technique is to skate with the head up focusing; as much as possible, everything that is going on on the ice around you while maintaining control of the puck by being aware of it using your peripheral vision as much as possible. The opposite; focusing on the puck while using peripheral vision to be aware of what going on around you on the ice, is simply wrong. It not that you never put your head down; it just that you want to minimize this as much as possible and keep you head up as much as possible.

If You Can’t Control Your Lower Body,

You Won’t Be Able To Control Your Upper Body

There is a lot action going on when playing hockey. Rapid skating, change of direction, stopping and starting, and transition from forward to backward and back again. Since your upper body is attached to your lower body; the more skilled and in control you are with you skating, the better your chances of being proficient at handling a puck while skating.

I’ve always been an advocate of getting proper skating instruction from a qualified source. If you’re going to be an ice hockey player, you’re going to have to put on skates and you better know how to use them proficiently.

Proper Attitude Of The Body

The good news is that the proper attitude of the body is the same as that necessary for efficient skating. An athletic position with feet apart, knees bent and a slight forward tilt of the upper body. The position you would see a football linebacker take or the position one would take if someone were to toss you a duffel bag with some heft to it and you were to catch it in your arms.

Every sport involves “controlled tension”. In this case you want the least amount of tension necessary for the task and the hands, arms and shoulders should be as relaxed as possible. The arms must hang free from the body and the shoulders should be relaxed. (If you ever feel that the arms are locked into the chest or that the shoulders raised and tense; big trouble and won’t work.)

Proper Use Of The Hands, Arms & Upper Body

It’s tough to describe in writing, but I’m going to do my best.

Here’s how they work together:

  • The upper hand on the stick rotates and cups the blade of the stick over the puck as it moves from side to side. This action serves for feel and will tend to keep the puck on the blade of the stick during all skating and stick handling maneuvers.
  • The lower hand is kept loose and allowed to move freely up and down the shaft of the stick to accommodate the action being taken.
  • The arms are kept free from the upper body to allow for the motions that will accommodate the freest and further movement of the puck from the body.

Some Exercises

As a practice exercise, you can stand in an athletic stance with knees bent and feet a comfortable distance apart (using the above and shifting your weight), take the puck and move it as far away from your core in front of you on your backhand side and from there take the puck as far behind you and away from your core on the backhand side. Then as far as possible directly in front of your body and then as far behind your body between your legs. Lastly as far in front and behind on your forehand side.

Another exercise is to stack handle a ball in front of a TV in your rec room. Watch whats on TV and be aware as as much as possible in the room while seeing the ball in your peripheral vision and feeling the ball on your stick. You’ll be surprised how much you can see in the room and still see the ball.

 

In the next blog I want to give some closing thoughts and knowledge about this subject.

 

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects. Otherwise you won’t be able to get to previous blogs.

The One Skill That Makes You 10 Times The Hockey Player – Part 2 – (XXX)

Posted by Jim on January 15, 2020
Posted in: heads up hockey, Hockey, hockey Skills, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, Truth about hockey, understanding hockey.

The One Skill That Will Make You 10 Times The Hockey Player

Learn To Skate With And Handle The Puck With Your Head Up

In Part 1, I mentioned that are systemic issues with the process of learning to play hockey that cause the bad habit of looking down at the puck and hamper the development of the proper skill sets. In  Part 2, I want to go over this in more detail so that you can be aware and hopefully take steps to avoid falling onto bad habits.

 Problem 1

One problem is that most start to play hockey at a very young age and they learn to play with a puck that is the same size that is played with by  mature adult professional players. They don’t have the strength to move the puck so they separate their hands on the stick to create leverage. This brings the puck in closer to their feet and forces the head down. But this is just one of the problems that this creates. The young players are forced to grip the stick tighter and stiffen up their shoulders in order to engage their upper body strength to move the puck. Stick handling becomes more like chopping wood. Also, try locking up your shoulders and see how well you can skate ……. good luck with that.

Problem 1A – To Be A Good Stick Handler You Need Short Stick

The worst aspect in Problem 1 above is that the puck is brought is closer to the player’s body. In order to be aware of the puck the player is forced to keep the head down. I still hear of coaches who see a kid struggle with handling the puck recommend they shorten their stick. A short stick means the puck is brought closer to the players body and promotes having the head down. Now-a-days this advise usually comes from the old school coach that played a long time ago. Modern instruction and teaching of the proper techniques for handling a hockey stick make for very effective and comfortable use of relatively long stick.

Problem 2

A second problem is that in hockey schools or in team practices pylons or obstacles are set up to skate around. No player wants to lose the puck and look foolish while doing a drill; so once again the head goes down and the player gets fixated mainly on the puck.

Also, I almost never see a coach promote skating with the head up during practice and what is even worse, I don’t often see it emphasized at hockey school skills sessions.

Fear

A little bit about fear in hockey (this is a fairly big subject that I’ll deal with in more detail at a later date).

There are two categories of fear in hockey. The most obvious is physical fear; the fear of being hit by a body check and the fear of injury. The second type of fear is psychological/mental fear. Psychological fear is more subtle, however more critical and perilous. (Anyone who has ever tried to be a serious golfer knows all too well the effect of psychological fear.)

It’s my belief that psychological fear plays a big role with Problem 2. Even in a practice drill, no player wants to look foolish by losing the puck. As a result, the player focuses on the puck in order to keep control of it and then develops this habit of keeping the head down.

 

In Part 3 I’ll do my best explain the essential elements necessary to learn how to skate and handle a puck with you head up to the max.

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects. Otherwise you won’t be able to get to previous blogs.

The One Skill That Makes You 10 Times The Hockey Player – Part 1 – (XXIX)

Posted by Jim on January 10, 2020
Posted in: heads up hockey, Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, Truth about hockey, understanding hockey.

 

The One Skill That Will Make You 10 Times The Hockey Player

Learn To Skate With And Handle The Puck With Your Head Up

Connor McDavid’s recent goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs is already being described as the goal of the year. There are many aspects of this goal that are wonderful, but what stood out most to me was the way McDavid had complete confidence and control of the puck with his head up all the time.

Watch the video and pay particular attention to the replay beginning at the 35 second mark and at the 43 second mark. McDavid crosses the blue line drifting to the right with his head up as if looking for support and a pass back to a teammate. The defense man Rielly is forced to poach to his left to protect against the pass. The fast cut back has Rielly beat. If you watch closely you will see that Reilly is beginning to lift his right foot to start a cross over to the left and that assures that he’ll be beat. (By the way, I used to work with Jason Spezza and this was a move that he would use by drifting to one side and watching the defense man’s feet. As soon as the defense man lifts a foot to begin a cross over; a quick cut back has him beat.)

 

One thing that always drove me crazy when I was teaching hockey skills was the lack of emphasis on one of the biggest key skills necessary to be a great hockey player; the skill of skating with the puck and handling the puck with your head up.

Skating with the puck while having your head up does not come naturally and is an acquired and learned skill. It can be taught and needs to be practiced until it becomes a habit and second nature.

Think about it. If you’re skating with the puck and your eyes are fixated on the puck; you have little or no clue of some very important things that are going on around you. You won’t know where your teammates are and who might be open for a great pass. You won’t be aware of the big mean defense man stepping up to take you head off. You will playing the game while looking down a 6 inch cardboard tube and good luck with that.

Why Do Players Develop The Habit Of Looking At The Puck?

Unfortunately, the sad truth is that this skill is not often taught or emphasized and it’s even more sad there are systemic issues in the process of learning to play hockey that cause looking down at the puck to become the habit and obstruct the development of the proper skill sets.

One problem is that most start to play hockey at a very young age and they learn to play with a puck that is the same size that is played with by  mature adult professional players. They don’t have the strength to move the puck so they separate their hands on the stick to create leverage. This brings the puck in closer to their feet and forces the head down. This is just one of the problems that is created by this.

A second problem is that in hockey schools or in team practices pylons or obstacles are set up to skate around. No player wants to lose the puck and look foolish while doing a drill; so once again the head goes down and the player gets fixated mainly on the puck.

In part 2 I’ll expand upon this and start to deal with how to avoid any pitfalls to developing bad habits and I’ll try my best in writing to describe the elements necessary to develop this skill and good habits.

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects. Otherwise you won’t be able to get to previous blogs.

I’m Back

Posted by Jim on January 9, 2020
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, Truth about hockey, understanding hockey.

 

I’m Back

 

 

Been away from posting anything for a while now. Just been busy and lacked the time and motivation.

I found it interesting that the stats for the site show my post get visits every day and from people all over the world. While most visits to the site come from Canada and The United States, to date we have had visitors from more than 15 different countries.

I’ve had contact from quite a few people asking for specific information and asking me to continue with my posts about hockey.

I have a little more time now and a number of topics that I want to post about including the latest inspiration from watching the recent goal scored by Connor McDavid against the Toronto Maple Leafs. McDacid’s goal was awesome in many aspects; however, there was one particular aspect of his goal that stuck out in my mind.

The Inspiration

Connor McDavid does one thing in particular that every hockey player needs to learn. It is an acquired skill. It is a skill that once learned and mastered will make every player 10 times better than they would otherwise be.

The sad thing is that this skill is not often taught or emphasized and sadly there are systemic issues in the process of learning to play hockey that cause bad habits and obstruct the development of this skill.

In the next post I’ll start a series of blogs to explain the skill …. how to avoid the pitfalls to it’s development  …. and the essential elements to it’s development and mastery.

 

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects. Otherwise you won’t be able to get to previous blogs.

The Truth About Hockey Continued – Minor Hockey Try-Outs – Part 2 – (XXVII)

Posted by Jim on November 15, 2018
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Minor Hockey Try-out, Russian hockey skills, Truth about hockey, understanding hockey.

Minor Hockey Try-Outs

The Way It Is

In part 1 I outlined the way try-outs are supposed to be …. or the way you are led to believe it will be … or maybe the way it once was. In this part I give you some reality on how it really is and a couple of situations you should be aware of.

First let me say that this is based on my experience with the GTHL  of the greater Toronto area  which happens to be the biggest minor hockey system in the world. I’m not sure exactly how things are done elsewhere, however I’m reasonably certain there are similar experiences in all centres where minor hockey is played.

Now I’m sure that there are legitimate try-outs that are honestly and well run, but you have to be aware of a couple of situations that are pretending to be honest try-outs. Unfortunately these instances are becoming more prevalent and you need to be aware of them. Eventually, if you’re around hockey long enough you’ll find out about this, however if you’re new to the game this can leave you with a big surprise.

The reason for this blog is that I ran into a father that had just moved to Toronto and was led to believe that there were more spots than actually existed for the local team. He had all of of his eggs in one basket and by the time he figured it out, it was too late and most teams were full. They eventually found a team, but now they have to travel quite a distance for home games and practices.

I’m going to describe two broad categories of less than honest try-outs; why they happen and what they’re all about.

Two Less Than Honest Try-out Situations

Same End Result

There are 2 less than fully honest try-out situations that you will encounter. You’ll find out about them eventually, however if you’re new to the game it’s good to be aware of this.

The first happens more often at the entry levels of the minor hockey world; house league, house league select and single A hockey. The team draws from the very local community and the coaches and assistant coaches invariably all have children playing on the team. Making the team is more about who your friends are and being one of the inner circle in that local community. The result is that there are not many spots available and if you are from outside the community, it can be tough to find a spot on the team.

The second happens are the higher levels of hockey and is more prevalent at the triple A and double A levels (although more recently, single A hockey has become more serious).

At the higher level of minor, you can expect the following to be taking place:

  1. Coaches are in arenas almost every night watching games and scouting for talent for the next year. (Remember, coaching becomes a lot easier if the team is loaded with all of the talent.) If you have a talented hockey player son or daughter, you can expect to be approached by coaches asking to join their team for the following season. In the GTHL this is known as tampering and is against the GTHL rules; nevertheless it happens all the time and the “no tampering” rule is rarely enforced.
  2. Coaches will hold what is known as  “birthday skates”. The holding of an on-ice try-out before the officially appointed date is not allowed by the GTHL. But coaches get around this rule by have so-called “birthday skates” which is a phony birthday party allowing a coach to get recruits on the ice and evaluate talent against a known standard; namely the players on his present team.
  3. Coaches will organize “summer teams” or “tournament teams”. There are all kinds of summer hockey tournaments in the Great Toronto area and putting together a tournament team affords a coach 2 very important things. First is the opportunity to evaluate potential recruits in actual hockey games against another team and second to make a bit of money (there will always be a fee to be paid to be on a summer team).

The end result is the same in that there are not many spots available as you made think or be led to believe.

I Wish I Could Give You An Easy Solution

The fact is that in many instances there will not be as many spots available on a team that you may have be led to believe. Coaches will never admit it and remember that try-outs are a money-maker for organizations and the more players that come to try-outs the better for them.

My suggestion is to talk to as many parents as possible and get as much information about the coach and reality about available spots.

The other suggestion is to not put all of your eggs in one basket. Be prepared to try out with a number of teams and keep your options open.

Just One More Thing

There is one reoccurring thing that I will always get back to. Spend your time and energy doing what you can to see that your son or daughter is the best hockey player they can be.

I’ll tell you right now that it’s my opinion there 2 main factors that contribute to over-all success . Be as skilled as possible and have the “right” attitude every time you are on the ice and in the play of the game. I’ve covered some of these elements in previous blogs, however I will surely devote a blog solely to these in the near future.

Minor Hockey Try-Outs

The Way It Is

In part 3 I’ll discuss what came first; the chicken or the egg?

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects. Otherwise you won’t be able to get to previous blogs.

The Truth About Hockey Continued – Minor Hockey Try-Outs – Part 1 – (XXVI)

Posted by Jim on October 16, 2018
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Minor Hockey Try-out, Russian hockey skills, Truth about hockey, understanding hockey.

Minor Hockey Try-Outs

In The End – Welcome To Reality

I recently had occasion to talk to a typical hockey parent who was new to the minor hockey experience.  He relayed a bad experience relating to hockey try-outs with his son for this upcoming season. He was completely new to the hockey experience in the GTHL (Greater Toronto Hockey League) which happens to be the biggest minor hockey system in the world. Now the scenarios that I will be describing are based on my experience with the GTHL  of the greater Toronto area. I’m not sure exactly how things are done elsewhere, however I’m reasonably certain there are similar experiences in all centres where minor hockey is played

I know try-outs for this season have now passed but this is a topic on which the uninitiated need some advise. Stay tuned for the real goods on minor league hockey try-outs.

The Way It’s Supposed To Be …. Or

The Way You’re Led To Believe It Will Be ….. Or

Maybe The Way It Once Was

At one time in the GTHL the try-outs could begin only after the GTHL held its annual meeting which was traditionally held the first Sunday in May.

Every parent would look for a publication titled “Sporting Scene” that would publish an edition known as the May try-out edition. This publication was given away in every hockey arena located within the GTHL. It was always the biggest publication of that paper in numbers of the year.

In the old days all try-outs were held at once with single A, double A and triple A all going on at the same time. Today it’s different as the GTHL finally got smart and got it right so that try-outs are tiered, with Triple A first followed by Double A and then Single A. This time of year was always “panic time” for everyone but especially for players wanting to make a team at a higher level that last year. Since all of the try-outs start on the same day, the panic was to find the teams you want you might want to make and check the schedule to prioritize your choices. There’s only so much time in the day and there’s only so many try-outs a player could realistically do in a day and maintain a reasonable level of performance. The other difficulty is that one is never quite sure how many spots are available on any given team and should you choose to miss a team’s first try-out; will there be any spots left by the second try-out?

The panic and angst at this time of year is through the roof, especially for the parents.

The Way It’s Supposed To Be

Teams would have a few open spots available and advertise for open try-outs for players to fill those spots (a team should almost always have open spots especially if thew coach has done his job well; he should have been able to advance a few players to a higher level).

An experienced coach will know how to hold an organized and well run try-out (in fact a good hockey organization should probably have a coaches meeting as an information session to educate coaches on how to run a proper try-out session).

Note: I was initially going to go into considerable detail about running a proper try-out, however there’s actually quite a bit of detail involved that would fill up this blog so I’m going to do a specific blog at the end going over my thoughts about running a good try-out.

Suffice it for now to say that a good try-out would have a proper registration process, start with warm-up type drills that would involve the display of as many hockey skills as possible, end with a scrimmage that mimics as much as possible the play of an actual game and have good qualified spotters in the stands evaluating the players.

In the end some players will be selected and offered a spot on the team and some will not; leaving some people happy and others disappointed.

Welcome to reality. This is just the way life is and this is part of the real life learning experience through involvement in the hockey scene. If you want to protect yourself and your child from every disappointment in life; then don’t get involved in hockey or for that matter any other organized sport.

Minor Hockey Try-Outs 

In The End – Welcome To Reality

In Part 2 of this topic I’ll outline some reality about how it really is.

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects. Otherwise you won’t be able to get to previous blogs.

Druzhba 78 -The Surprise – Meeting “The Magician” (XXV)

Posted by Jim on September 24, 2018
Posted in: Anitoliy Buliga, Druzhba 78, Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, Truth about hockey, understanding hockey.

Druzhba 78 – Follow-Up  – The Surprise

Meeting Anatoliy “The Magician” Buliga

Although I never met him way back in 1992, I did watch him play with a Peewee hockey team named Druzhba 78 from Kharkov Ukraine.

It was one of the most astonishing things I have ever witnessed and this experience had a profound effect.

The Druzhba 78 team played a Bantam all-star team from the Richmond Hill – Vaughan Hockey Association. A team made up of the best players from that association all of who were 2 years older than the players on the Druzhba 78 team. This was an exhibition game played in the evening after the Druzhba team had already played a game that  day in another hockey tournament.

The Vaughan all-star team lost. They didn’t stand a chance.

It’s difficult to paint a picture in words of what I witnessed that day. I had watched a lot of  minor hockey league games, many of which were very competitive and exiting to see, but what I witnessed during this particular game left me awestruck. The skill level of the Druzhba team was beyond belief. But I had to believe it because I was there and I witnessed it first hand.

As good as all of the players Druzhba were, there was one player that just stood out and I never forgot his name. Anatoliy Buliga was the smallest player on the team. Time after time I watched him go into the corner in the all-star team’s zone to get the puck and time after time even though at least two and many times three of the opposition would try to check him; he would come out of the corner with the puck. His skill level was incredible and his name stuck in my mind.

This last weekend I had the thrill of meeting Anatoliy after 26 years.

How This All Started

Earlier this year I started a segment in this series titled “Can Hockey Skill Be Taught”. Of course I knew the answer and as evidence of my position, I recounted the experience of watching the Druzhba 78 team play back in the early spring of 1992.

In the process of fact checking my memory I did some Google searches on the Druzhba team and came across some links to Anatoliy. He was connected to some hockey school/hockey training in Europe, but also some connections in the Detroit area. Using these links I was eventually able to contact him.

I found out that he is still very much involved in hockey and part of the coaching staff of the under 14 girls team of the very well know Detroit Little Caesars Hockey Club. During our communications Anatoliy advised that his team would likely be in a preseason tournament in Ontario as prep for their upcoming season and he would let me know when it was set.

Finally I received and email with the schedule of games to be held this past weekend in Stoney Creek Ontario and we were able to meet.

Meeting “The Magician” 

I arrived in Stoney Creek in time to watch the team play and witnessed a very skilled team play a very good game of hockey.

After the game I met up with Anatoliy and in typical Canadian fashion I took him to a Timmy’s for a coffee and to talk.

Anatoliy now lives in the Detroit area, is married and has a young son. His son is a competitive swimmer and doesn’t play any hockey. He said he had no objection if his son wanted to play hockey and would support him if that were the case, but I got the strong impression that he was quite happy with just the way it is.

I asked Anatoliy about his experience back in the day with the Druzhba team and he said right away that it was not something he likes to think about let alone talk about. It was obvious that I just shouldn’t go there but I did ask him if he ever keeps in touch with any of the old team mates. Anatoliy said that he went back to Ukraine once and met with a couple of the old team mates but it was not pleasant; he used the word cold. Again it was apparent that this was a subject that needed to be dropped. He also mentioned that one of his best friends from the team had passed. I never did ask who or how and I just let it all go.

We did spend a ton of time talking about hockey in general; training and teaching hockey skills, coaching teams, problems inherent in hockey as it is in North America and much more. It was a wonderful conversation and what was most pleasing to me was  a validation of my views in that we were 100% in sync with our views. At times on various topics he was saying the same things that I have been writing about and many times using a lot of the same words and phrases that I’ve written in my blogs.

It became apparent to me during our talk that Anatoliy cares deeply about helping people because of his background and knowledge of the hockey world. He is dedicated to using his experience in hockey to help people achieve success. He repeatedly said, “if I can help just one person, that will be a good thing”. In my opinion, if anyone gets advise from Anatoliy, I strongly urge them to take it seriously.

I’m hoping we keep in touch. I’m certain his team will be back in Ontario for tournaments in the future maybe during the Christmas break or March break and I hope to meet with him again. One mistake I made when we met was that out of my excitement of meeting him, I just spoke to much. Next time I’ll talk less and listen and learn more.

Meeting Anatoliy was a great experience and I’m thrilled that I had this opportunity.

Finally Meeting “The Magician”

 

I recently had a “newbie” to minor hockey relay some bad experiences relating to hockey try-outs with his son. I know try-outs for this season have now passed but this is a topic on which the uninitiated need some advise. Stay tuned for the real goods on minor league hockey try-outs.

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects. Otherwise you won’t be able to get to previous blogs.

Can Figure Skaters Teach Hockey Players? – Part 3 – (XXIV)

Posted by Jim on September 5, 2018
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, understanding hockey.

Can Figure Skaters Really Teach Hockey Players?

Continued

There are certainly elements that are common to both figure skating and skating for hockey. With those elements that are common; I would not at all suggest that a person trained in the discipline of figure skating cannot help a hockey player. The difficulty is that there are vast differences in the skating requirements for each.

Let Me Try To Explain Some Elements Of

Figure Skating

Figure skating has specific elements that differ from the skating requirements in hockey as a result of some very distinct and different objectives.

Figure skaters are putting on a show. They need to please the judges to achieve high marks in order to win a competition. Body lines are extremely important. The position of the head, the arms and extension of the leg to produce these lines create a different body position and attitude for skating.

In modern-day figure skating winning relies on spectacular jumps. Figure skaters are extraordinary athletes and if you ever watch a live performance you’ll be amazed at the impressive heights achieved in these jumps. Out of necessity, the figure skating boot comes high over the ankle with a lot of support to withstand the forces of landing a jump. Also, If you ever watch a figure skating exhibition you’ll also notice the big jumps are done usually from skating backwards.

In addition, the blades on figure skates have “picks” on the front to assist with digging into the ice primarily to assist with jumps.

On the Other Hand

Forget for a moment of the challenges of dealing with a stick and a puck, which I covered in a previous blog.

Hockey players are not putting on a show or display in any sense as described above when done by a figure skater in competition.

Hockey players do not do jumps. A hockey player not only wants, but needs to have his blades in contact with the ice to the maximum possible in order react to changes in action that occur in fractions of seconds. A hockey player doesn’t want to jump and leave contact with the ice unless it’s some kind of panic protective situation. Think about it; without contact with the ice you essentially have no control until you are back in contact with the ice. One very important point in teaching effective skating for hockey is maximizing contact with the blades on the ice; in other words, minimizing the time a skate blade is not in contact with the ice.

A hockey player is frequently making very quick and quite violent changes in direction in response to unscripted and ever-changing situations These reactions need to made  in very small fractions of seconds. The key to these quick reactions is the free movement of the ankle in a couple of different and very important ways. Without these movements, quick changes in direction that need to be made in a split second just won’t happen efficiently. In hockey this is what gives you the ability beat your opponent or avoid getting creamed.

To Get Technical For A Moment – But This Is Important

To be the best hockey player you can be, you need to under stand how the ankle needs to work and how to make these movements and how to apply them.

First there is flexion and extension of the ankle. Dorsilfexion is the movement that brings the top of the foot closer to the shin and planter flexion is the movement of that points the toe and takes the top of the foot farther away from the shin. This motion of the ankle is essential for a hockey player. By allowing dorsilflexion a player loads up the ankle with maximum energy for an explosive change in direction and it’s the final release of the ankle by plantar flexion that can make the difference between beating your opponent or not or getting creamed. You hear a lot of coaches yelling for players to bend their knees. Dorsilfextion can be accomplished by keeping your “rear-end”close to the ice which will create a maximum bend in the knee. (The problem is most coaches don’t quite know what they’re doing and how to explain things. I think I may have cover this in detail in the next blog … this is important.)

Second there is inversion and eversion or rolling of the ankle. Eversion is the rolling of the ankle that moves the bottom of the foot to point away from the center of the body and inversion is the rolling that creates the opposite. This is the movement of the ankle that allows a skater to “grab” the ice. Think of it this way; if you were on skates and pointed your feet straight ahead and then did a kind of walking motion where each foot moved straight from front to back, then you wouldn’t go anywhere. There would be no “grab” of the ice.  You need to grab the ice by rolling the ankle to apply  bite and grip into the ice to get the most out of your skating stride.

It’s the combination of these actions of the ankle that is critical to being a great skater and a successful hockey player.

So Here’s The Important Point

While both disciplines involve the wearing of skates and skating, the end goals and therefore the process to achieve those goals is different.

Once again, a big part of figure skating is a show with pleasing body lines and form as well as spectacular jumps. Therefor the boot is laced high for support and naturally restricts the movement of the ankle that is so important in hockey. I’m not saying it’s impossible for a trained figure skater to learn about how the ankle must move to be a great skater for hockey; I’m just don’t think they would get this from their training for figure skating. Also there is the fact that just knowing about something doesn’t mean you know how to teach it, but that’s a whole other topic to be cover later.

Time now to end this part for now (this became a little linger than expected).

I’d love to hear from some figure skaters that train hockey players and I’m always open to learn something new.

Can Figure Skaters Really Teach Hockey Players?

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects. Otherwise you won’t be able to get to previous blogs.

 

Can Figure Skaters Teach Hockey Players? – Part 2 – (XXIII)

Posted by Jim on August 22, 2018
Posted in: Druzhba 78, Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, understanding hockey.

Can Figure Skaters Really Teach Hockey Players?

Continued

In the first part of this series, I wondered about the ability of a person trained as a figure skater to teach a hockey player all of the elements necessary to be a great skater for hockey.

Now this has been going on for quite a while. There have been many (mostly female) figure skaters that run hockey schools and  been hired by NHL teams and individual NHL players for skating instruction.

For certain, there are cross-over elements for these skating techniques; however I believe there are significant differences as well and there are specific reasons for these differences. The reason for the differences quite simply are a result of the end objective. In figure skating, the objective for the skater is to put on a great show in order to win a medal and win the competition. The movements must be pleasing to the eye, graceful and look effortless. This means that the “body lines” created during the performance are of tremendous importance. There are other elements of differences in these techniques and I will deal with those in the future, but for now this is the point I want to illustrate.

A Personal Experience That I Always Remember

Back when I was actively working for a hockey school here in Toronto, there was a player that I worked with during weekly team skills sessions. His name is Jimmie Lodge and he was born in Pennsylvania, but his family aspired for Jimmy to have a career in hockey and hopefully in the NHL. Believing that the best experience and development for Jimmy was to play in the GTHL; the biggest and most competitive minor hockey league in the world. Now Jimmy had initially started as a figure skater in his very early youth and the habits developed during that training were still evident when I watched him during our weekly team sessions.

I found one habit quite amusing. One thing we did a lot of was drills requiring quite hard and fast transitions and change of direction; something that is not normally a requirement in figure skating. So lets see if I can describe the difference adequately.  In hockey if you are going to completely change direction quickly (in other words if you’re skating south to north and you want to stop as quickly as possible, change direction and go north to south) you would start with a typical 2 footed hockey stop. Say in doing this the stop is to the left side. In this 2 footed skating stop the skater would be using the outside edge on the left skate and the inside edge on the right skate. Just before coming to a complete stop the skater would lift the right foot and turn his body to the new direction. As the stop is completed the skater would push-off the outside edge of the left skate as the right foot hits the ice and be moving in the new direction as quickly and efficiently as possible. Now writing about this move and thinking about conveying it has been painful, but I hope I got it right.

Now good old Jimmy; because of his old figure skating habits would just use the outside edge of his left skate which is the way figure skaters frequently stop in the need for a showy presentation. I was certain Jimmy was always just a split second slower in these transitions because of this habit.

One More Example 

I had occasion to be at a Toronto Maple Leafs a few years ago and there was a new feature that I hadn’t seen before. During a time-out break for a TV commercial they had a team of girls come out to clean the scraped up snow from the ice. I was amused at the obvious difference in the skating style of the girls. Some had clearly played hockey and others came from a figure skating back ground and the difference in style was obvious.

Watch the following film clip and I’m sure you’ll see the differences. It’s most clear at the beginning. Watch the row of girls closest to the camera and watch the first girl in the line. She skates like a hockey player. Notice the bend of the knee, the tilt of the upper body, the push to the side in the stride and the pretty clear weight shift form side to side. Now watch the 3rd girl in that line. Notice that she is more upright with less knee bend, less tilt of the upper body, more of a push to the rear to start each stride, and the straight point of the of the leg after finishing a stride to create a pleasing body line for show. This one is obviously a figure skater.

In Part 3 I’ll outline some of the cross-over similarities between figure skating and skating for hockey as well as some of the differences.

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects. Otherwise you won’t be able to get to previous blogs.

 

Can Figure Skaters Teach Hockey Players? – Part 1 – (XXII)

Posted by Jim on August 17, 2018
Posted in: Hockey, hockey Skills, how to succeed in hockey, Jim Serba, mike serba, mike serba memorial golf tournament, Russian hockey skills, understanding hockey.

Can Figure Skaters Really Teach Hockey Players?

The obvious answer is that I they can, but I think, for the most part there are severe limitations and I have to question relying on a figure skater for all of your skating instruction. Can they help a hockey player with skating? ….. yes. Will they hurt a hockey player’s skating? ….. probably not. Are they limited as to what they can teach a hockey player about skating for hockey? ….. absolutely is my belief.

I’ve been thinking about writing on this topic for a while and considered my approach for some time, but this is a topic that has to covered. First, the difficulties are to clearly make the distinctions in the physical movements involved in skating in written form. (That’s why golf instruction books are mostly useless. Trying to describe body movements and how they feel and communicate that so that the reader totally gets it is extremely difficult.)

Why I’m Writing This Now

I recently read some newspaper articles about a lady named Dawn Braid, Braid was hired earlier this summer by  the Arizona Coyotes, making her the NHL’s first full-time female coach.

God bless her and I wish her and the Coyotes all of the best; and I mean that sincerely.

I would love to talk to her some time and have a serious discussion about the details of skating technique for hockey skaters and her background and overall experience. I would love to know if she thinks there were any significant differences between the skating techniques for figure skating and skating for hockey. Also, if she did in fact feel there were differences; how did she gain the expertise to instruct in this area. I’m always open to ideas and to expanding my knowledge.

In the article it mentions her having worked with John Tavares and there is some great words of endorsement quoted from John who she worked with from the age of seventeen. The article also quotes the following: “Dallas centre Jason Spezza and New Jersey left wing Mike Cammalleri are among her other disciples …..”.

Now I will tell you something; and that is that Tavares’ skating has improved a lot, but that has only come in the last couple of years. Therefor, if she’s been working with him since he was seventeen, then for some reason there was a big delayed reaction to his improvement.

If you’re sensing some skepticism, your right. Because while Jason Spezza is mentioned as a disciple of Braid, I happened to know who has worked with Spezza consistently on an ongoing basis since the age of ten and still works with him to this day. In fact I know that Spezza has flown this instructor in and rented private ice to get mid-season instruction. It’s hard to believe the claim that Spezza is a “disciple” of Braid. I think this is just some fluff that looks good for the article. Oh!, and by the way, I know that recently Tavares (just in the last couple of years) has had instruction from Spezza’s guy.

Lets Get Something Out Of The Way Right Away

I’ve never seen a figure skater do a routine of any kind with a stick and a puck; let alone a routine that involved stick handling, getting a pass, giving a pass or shooting a puck. Now if you could image a figure skating routine with all of these elements, would they have to do it with some other skaters on the ice trying to hit them and take their heads off? Good luck!

So if you ever go to a figure skater for instruction and they try to give a lot detailed instruction about working with a stick and a puck; you might want to seriously question their credentials. Where in heaven’s name would they have gotten any background into these skills to make them an expert?

 What Figure Skaters Can Teach You?

The Common Elements

Just to let you know that when I was younger, I went to some female figure skating friends for instruction to try to become a better skater and it was a help. This was at time way before there was any kind of skating instruction for hockey players.

In Part 2, I’ll deal with what they can they teach you because there are some common elements to both figure skating and skating for hockey. I’ll also deal with the differences between figure skating; which is really to put on a show, and why there are elements they probably can’t teach you and why.

Note:

If you’re new to this blog and reading it from Facebook or Twitter, make sure to click on the BLOG/NEWS link in the menu at the top of the page and scroll down to read previous blogs on this and other subjects.