Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 March 2016 09:45
By Andy Ness
To teach skating, one must be able to find more ways of connecting to students rather than by just simply “telling” or “saying.” An instructor also must go beyond demonstration and showing a student what it should look like. One of the best ways to learn to skate is to learn by “feel.” Whether it is first-time beginner skaters or Niklas Kronwall from the Detroit Red Wings, “feel” tells you what is working or what is not working.
Take for example a simple drill that we can use either with a power turn or an outside edge. As you take the turn, quite simply you will lean, bend your knees and drop your hips into the turn. From the photo below you can see Niklas standing too upright with not enough of a body lean. At this point you can say, “Bend your knees,” but how can we actually get him in that position?
One way to get a skater down is to have him take the knuckles of his glove to the ice and hold that position while remembering to have him keep his chest up. This will force the skater to drop his hips and bend his knees, while cutting his angle to the ice. You will notice in the top photo how he is in a much better position. This a key and important position for any corner.
The key from here is to try to build muscle memory. Once a skater can get comfortable in that position, everything else becomes easier. Whether it’s for stability or power, getting in this position can be done when technique is sound. The skater may even come up a little in a game, but when that position is a habit, as a skater comes up, it becomes even easier to corner.
Trying to find creative and different ways for kids to learn or to make improvements on any skill is important. It’s not enough just to say, “bend your knees” or “shoot harder.” Skaters are trying to accomplish that. Thinking of different ways to teach may be the trick to getting skaters to do what we want them to do. Good luck.
Andy Ness is the head skating and skill coach for the Minnesota Wild. He has also been an assistant skating instructor for the New Jersey Devils, the University of Minnesota men’s and women’s hockey teams and the U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey Team.
