Off-seanson On Dry Land
By eRix, Thu Dec 8th

Improving ones hockey skills does not always entail practicingdrills on the ice. There are always some practice time away fromthe rink that can enhance your ability for when you are on theice and moving at full speed. A couple of critical aspects ofstick handling is the ability to control the puck through yourperipheral sight and feel; with the feel of the puck on thestick being the most important aspect because it enables you toconcentrate your vision on watching out for where you areheaded, as well as for where your teammates are at on the ice. Afew of these drills might seem improbable of enhancing yourskill but the drills are designed for repetition of movementwhich forms a foundation for your hand-to-eye coordination.

An example of a short drill as noted by Mike Hartman and SamMercurio in ‘STAY IN SHAPE BUT HAVE FUN’ is to “work on littlethings like stickhandling. Take out a golf ball and stickhandlein the driveway for an hour or so. Controlling the golf ballwill further enhance your hand-eye coordination and, again, youwill be amazed at the difference when you step back onto the icein the fall” (www.hockeycoach.com). For all practical purposes,all you need for stick handling improvement is your hockey stickand something to hit. Common choices for something to hit canbe: golf ball (as stated before), tennis ball, roller hockeyball or puck, racket or hand ball, or any comparable sizedobject in your vicinity. Balls tend to work the best for drillsoff the ice because the ball naturally returns to the shooter,depending on where you are practicing.

Another fun drill to practice is to take a hockey stick, atennis ball wrapped in 1-layer of hockey tape to lessen thebounce, a brick wall, and something to mark the wall with. Chalkcan be used on the wall, but you do not want someone accusingyou off graffiti; therefore, it is best to take some hockey tapeand stick it on the wall. If you want the exact dimension of aregulation goal, 72″x48″ what most goals opening are scaled at;however, for your purposes, just put a large rectangle of tapeon the wall with the corners marked as targets. Try to copy thedimensions in this diagram. Another idea is to transpose thisdiagram onto a piece of plywood, which can be transported towhere you want to practice.

Once you have this shooting target, you can begin to repeatedshoot for the corners with your various shots. A way for you tosee where your shots hit is to dampen the wrapped ball withwater,which should leave a water mark where it hits; the wateralso adds to the ball’s weight since it is not as heavy as anice puck. This drill should not be rushed because you want toassign a number of direct hits to each corner triangle (15 percorner) before shooting at the next corner. The higher thenumber of direct hits you assign to each corner will graduallylead to an increase of your hand-to-eye coordination because youare not just haphazardly shooting at a goal. You need to takeyour time to aim at each target mentally, locate the ball, andthen shoot at the target while your is head up looking at it.Hitting the corner successfully while your head is up will alsoincrease your confidence and feel for shooting by relying onyour peripheral vision. You can call it looking out of thecorner of you eyes, or how you see the ice.

Battling the off season blues should not be wasted by layingaround watching TV or playing video games. You could take theinitiative to improve your stickhandling and shooting aim bypracticing these fun, basic fundamental drills mentioned in thisarticle. You could come up with a new drill of your own thatbuilds your own confidence. The main point is to take somequality time in practicing stickhandling and shooting. The moreoften you practice, the easier and more natural handling a ballor puck will become to you. The benefits you will receive fromthis diligent practice will be realized when you return to theice for the beginning of next season. Your teammates will bereally pleased that you took the time off the ice and used it toyour and their advantage.

About the author:eric smith tampa florida b.a. marketing usf a.s. computerinformation systems hcc

http://www.aimhockey.com

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 26th, 2007 at 10:38 pm and is filed under Tsn Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.