In part 1, we explored the fact that it is often most productive to work on skills slowly in order to eventually reach our potential for speed. This is especially true when first learning a new skill or when trying to correct a bad habit. In this second part of this article, I’d like to share an example of a parent with the best of intentions working against his own desires because he didn’t understand this.
I recently found myself at one of the Twin Cities’ community rinks during one of the many weekend tournaments that now take place throughout the off-season. Players in this tournament were, on the whole, strong players in their respective communities. I caught the warm-up of the youngestlevel in the tournament which featured players who, next season, will be just on either side of the mite/squirt cut off.
As these players hit the ice I noticed one skater in particular who had some really poor skating habits. He was clearly a good player and seemed very comfortable and balanced on the ice. This is actually bad news to some degree, because this means he has had enough time on the ice for his habits to be pretty strong, and as such, hard to change.
Suffice to say that this player would definitely benefit in the long-term by slowing things down and correcting his bad habits today. However, a little while later, I saw something that I thought may have been contributing to his bad habits. I noticed a Hockey dad standing next to me giving hand signals to his player, the very player with the poor habits I had identified earlier. It was clear he wanted his son to “hustle” and to do everything faster. It seemed like they had worked their gesture based communication out in advance. Keep in mind, this was all being done at that oh-so-critical time of the game to be at top speed…warm-ups!
I immediately felt sorry for all parties involved. The actions of the dad were basically to encourage the kid to perform in a way that was directly opposite to the approach needed to make the very improvement that the dad was seeking.
It is important to acknowledge that neither a Hockey game nor the warm ups that precede a game are the environment to worry about making any specific improvements. As such, this story doesn’t make for a great example in and of itself. However, it remains likely that the technique issues the player had may have been tied to this same form of encouragement affecting how this skater practices.
Here is why. The two biggest issues the skater had were too short of recovery on the forward stride (“railroad” stride) and small hopping pushes in the crossover. Many players share these issues, but in this case it was quite pronounced. Both things tend to happen when you demand more footspeed out of a person than they can produce within proper technique… Stride pushes and the requisite recovery afterward shorten up so the feed can turn over faster. So, by demanding “speed”, the player perceives the need to take more steps per second, and, to do so, shorten’s the range of motion in the technique. The end result is, unfortunately, less speed.
Finally, it should be noted that you can still be a good hockey player while having some bad skating habits. You just won’t be as good as you can be. And, it is possible this skater’s issues were not tied to the parental encouragement to constantly hustle, but these two phenomena seem to be too clearly linked to not be connected!
In part 3 we’ll consider how our body can “self-analyze” and almost “self-correct” movements when and if we learn to take advantage of the body’s power to do so.
One of Minnesota's premier hockey trainers, Andy Blaylock joins the YHH Staff to write about the dynamics of training, both on ice and off. Andy is the General Manager of Competitive Edge Hockey in St. Louis Park. His content will emphasize the importance of high quality in-season and off-season training. In addition to running his own private clinics and camps, Andy has trained several organizations including Andover, Anoka, Edina, Hutchinson, STMA and Wayzata.
Andy can be reached via email at Andy@compedgehky.com