I hit the ice tonight to help coach the local "learn to play hockey" program for women. It's the first time I've gone in a couple seasons, as my work/commuting schedule just hasn't allowed me to join them. Things changed last week when I switched to a 4-day work week. (So far, it's been a wonderful switch!)
Anyho, I absolutely LOVE coaching these women. Several are the moms of the girls I used to coach. Others are younger, in college or just out of college. The first year I ran the program we'd have 20-30 women out on the ice, spread out amongst 3-6 stations. Tonight, it was a small group with 6 skaters and 3 coaches. This year it's a tough timeslot for those who work 9-5pm to make on time, so things got off to a slow start as everyone arrived when they could and got geared up. Eventually the head coach decided that we really needed to get things moving, and she knew just what to do.
She came to me and asked me to lead practice.
Well... so much for just following along.
I started everyone off with a round-the-circles skating drill, to get a chance to watch them more closely. Everyone finished the drill and I told them that it looked good, but there was one problem- nobody fell. If you push yourself beyond your physical capabilities, you'll know it immediately because you fall. And by falling, you'll learn exactly how far you can push yourself. But you have to fall.
One of the reasons I love coaching these women is that they are comfortable speaking their minds about how they're feeling. There's one skater who always gets bored first, another who is always super enthusiastic about every drill and yet another that struggles with developing her "hockey sense". To develop her hockey sense she requires progressions, reasons and drawings. Without these things she and I naturally both get frustrated as she struggles through the practice. Challenging the first skater while building the hockey sense of the third and also simultaneously figuring out what the second needs can be quite the challege. And those are only a few of the skaters on the ice!
Tonight, the women expressed how uncomfortable they were about falling.
How do you change from uncomfortable to comfortable?
You practice.
I explained how you can fall safely and demonstrated how a knee touch can transition into a softball slide. Then I had everyone practice that a few times at the blue line. Each time, after we all got to the other end of the rink, I'd discuss why some of the things I was seeing were good or bad and how the bad could be corrected. Next up, it was a knee touch transitioning into a softball slide which turned into a log roll.
Many of the same rules apply for falling safely in both roller derby and ice hockey. Fall small, under control, pick a cheek and do whatever you can to avoid hitting your head or flat on your back. In hockey, it's also pretty important to be able to rotate your body (while still sliding on the ice) to get your feet out in front of you. Those boards and the net can do some pretty nasty damage if you hit them going head first. Swinging your legs in front of you might result in needing some new blades on your skates (or at least a sharpening), but you're able to absorb the impact with your legs rather than your head and vital organs. If it's gonna hurt, make it hurt as little as possible. Sacrifice your gear before your body, and your body before your brain and spine.
After the falling exercises, it was back to the circles. Forward, backward, with a puck, without a puck. Eventually I (and that first skater mentioned above) got really bored with circles, so I made up a drill that combined skating, puckhandling, positioning, 1-on-1 and hockey sense. Skaters approached two cones (set up in the defensive zone roughly where you'd normally be challenged by offensive players) and did some sort of move that was challenging to them as they passed. A weave, a fake, a small circle around the cone, a kneefall, etc. After they cleared the defensive zone, they cut to center ice where another cone was set up to mark where the defenseman would start. Defense ideally matched speed between the center line and blue line, then challenged the skater while simultaneously angling them to the outside (away from "home", which is the area in front of your own net and where a large percentage of goals are scored from). Everyone went through that a few times, then I started changing it up a bit with a few 2-on-1's to get some passing and partnering in.
To get cross-ice movement and face-to-face passing going, I set up another drill. One cone low near the face-off, another high on the other side between the face-off and blue line. One skater takes a puck and passes it to the skater coming out of the other corner, waiting until that skater has make a 90-degree turn at the high cone to make the pass. The new puck carrier then continues across to the far "lane" (to the side where the pass originated), where they turn again and head towards the net. At this point, their partner has hopefully switched sides and caught up to them in the other lane and they can enter the offensive zone with a pass that doesn't put either skater off-sides. After they'd gone through it a few times, I explained how to use the neutral zone to offensively re-group before the defense really began to put pressure on at the blue line. Hockey players often feel like they have to rush, rush, rush once they get the puck out of their defensive zone (just like derby girls who "race" with the pack, rather than controlling the pack). I managed to throw in a couple 3-man runs while the zamboni warmed up, just to get the third man worked into the drill and therefore closer to a game-like situation.
While skaters changed into street clothes I drew out a rink on the locker room white board and explained what exactly those last two drills were supposed to simulate. Most specifically, how a skater wanted to keep the puck on the outside while in their defensive end but then take it to the center in the neutral and offensive zones. Taking the time to draw it out and further explain it made things click for all the skaters in the locker room. Especially since the experience was still so fresh in their minds.
And in the random category: Porkchop tastes mighty fine, especially when cooked with wine and served over wild rice. Nom!
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