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Turning takes you to the puck quickly and it helps to
avoid collisions. Therefore it is necessary to master turns. It is relatively
simple technique to master (as long as you practice!). As an example, imagine
that you are turning to the right. Roll your right skate forward and turn
your eyes, head, upper body, and hips to the right. Keep both skates in
contact with the ground. Make sure to let your hockey stick lead you around
the turn and keep your knees bent.
While executing a turn, don't sit back on your rear wheels.
Stay centred, and keep your balance over the balls of your feet. You will
soon learn to trust your wheels to hold you through the turn. Feel the rubber
digging into the ground during a tight turn. You are now trusting both your
outside and your inside edges. (On the outside edge of your leading skate,
and the inside edge of your trailing skate)
Before moving on to this exercise, practise one-foot
swizzles ("C" cuts) around a circle. Once you are comfortable with it, you
are ready to start this very powerful skating technique. Let's do a right-over-left
crossover. While moving counterclockwise around a circle, centre your weight
over your left, inside leg. Pick your right skate and move it over your left.
Keep your upper body rotated to the left, and stay relaxed and centred over
your left leg. Make sure that your knees are bent all the time! As you land
on your right skate, push through with the outside edge of your left skate.
Then bring your left skate alongside the right. Start to centre yourself
over the left hip and skate again in order to execute another crossover.
The ability to move in any direction while skating backwards
will improve your hockey dramatically, especially in defensive situations.
Start by standing with your left skate and your eyes and head looking back
over your left shoulder. Bend your knees and point the heel of your right
skate out, in preparation for a good inside edge push. This is basically
backward "C" cuts. As you push with your right skate to begin to trace the
letter "C", stay centred over your left, inside leg. Keep looking over your
left shoulder.
Point your right heel inward (towards your left leg) to bring your right
skate back alongside your left. Remain centred over your inside leg. Practice
this until you are comfortable with it, then do the same exercise for your
left skate. Backward skating is just that. Remember, it is not as hard as
it looks. Just keep practicing!
Front-to-Back Transition: Let's say that
you want to make a front-to-back transition while watching out for a player
on your right side. Look over your right shoulder as you are skating or gliding.
Start to shift your weight to your left hip. Centre yourself over your left
hip as you swing your right skate and shoulder around to the right. This
will cause you to pivot on your left skate.
Now shift your weight to your right hip as your right
skate lands on the ground. With your weight centred over your right hip, lift
your left skate and plant it securely back on the ground about shoulder-width
apart, make sure your knees are bent and you are skating backwards in a solid,
balanced position. You should now feel ready to make a move in any direction!
Back-to-Front Transition: As you are skating
backwards, look over your right shoulder (in the direction in which you
wish to move). Centre your weight over your left hip as you rotate your
whole upper body and head to the right. With your weight centred over your
left hip, pick up your right skate and start to swing it to the right.
By now your upper body should be fully rotated to the right.
Prepare to give a good push with the inside edge of your
left skate. As you push with your left skate, stride forward
onto your right skate. You are now ready to skate forward!
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