The Impact of Skating Skills

Skating skills make the difference between every level of athlete from squirts to bantams, to juniors to the NHL. Christian Koelling said it best:

“Skating is at the very core of skill development in hockey. Skating ability determines the ability threshold for puck handling, passing, body contact and shooting. It is important that young players focus on learning the proper skating fundamentals, and that skating is continually worked on as a player progresses.”*

We believe the sooner athletes start developing the proper skating fundamentals the greater their skill development will be. Our programming is always age/skill appropriate and progresses as the athlete progresses… and don’t worry, there is no shortage of skating skill drills for any athlete!

if you can’t skate you can’t play the game

So what are skating skills?

Think forward and backward skating, edges, crossovers, mohawks, stops, transitions and more. As simple as that may sound - it’s much more than ‘just executing’ a move… it’s the body position, the knee bend, the posture, with or without a puck, in or out of pressure. Exposure to training techniques to develop all of the above is important for every athlete.

There are many variables when it comes to skating efficiently and effectively, all of which we teach through our coaching.

My coaching process will develop strength and balance in your athlete’s edges, teach proper body alignment, build a powerful skating stride, develop quicker transitions and build your athlete’s confidence.