Power skating revisited

[Grave77Digger 1]

I have only been ice skating for about 2 years, but wouldnt consider myself an awful skater bu I obviously have room for improvement. I know power skating is a great thing to do. My problem is that I am not sure if it is available in my area. What is the average price and ice time I should expect? I should note that im 28, and I assume I will be taking clasess with little kids lol. Im surprised there isnt more info on this board about the subject after searching it.

Also does anyone have any tips for quicker acceleration from a stand still?

[cja5150 0]

I have only been ice skating for about 2 years, but wouldnt consider myself an awful skater bu I obviously have room for improvement. I know power skating is a great thing to do. My problem is that I am not sure if it is available in my area. What is the average price and ice time I should expect? I should note that im 28, and I assume I will be taking clasess with little kids lol. Im surprised there isnt more info on this board about the subject after searching it.

Also does anyone have any tips for quicker acceleration from a stand still?

Questions and Comments...

1) Where do you live?

2) How much do you skate?

There are lots of power skating groups (Laura Stamm, Robby Glantz, and many more), these guys travel to different rinks accross the US. Also, places like Hockey Academy (Mass / NH) have all types of Clinics for adults. Laura Stamm says that she groups people by age, so hopefully you don't skate with Mites, although other places say that it doesn't matter because everyone is learning the same techniques.

Places like "Puck Masters" (check the web) have locations all over where you can get 1 on 1 training for something like $30/class. I believe it's on synthetic, but it's the info/feedback that's important to you.

Additionally, there are books/videos to help you improve. I read Laura Stamm's book, it was really good, but her video sucks. Robby Glantz Video is pretty good.

ALSO, there are places like www.betterhockey.com that have books/videos you can buy and videos to help you improve. It's a pay-site but you can view some stuff for free.

Tips on Starting from a Standstill: I think the best way of describing this is running for the first 2 or 3 steps. Laura's book describes this pretty well. There is no glide, you are chopping a sprint. Some people use hockey sticks on the ice and try to sprint over them without touching them. When I was learning, I just concentrated on it before pickup, or during public skating.

Good luck

-Chris

P.S. For Power skating expect to pay $200-$400 and get about 6-10 hours on ice.

[Neo5370 132]

Or you can just try to copy what other skaters do, not the crappy ones of course.

Go to public hockey/skating and ask the best skaters out there to show you a thing or two. Usually people are nice enough to help. If you find someone who is really good and knowledgable ask if they give lessons, offer to pay them a little something and chances are they'll be so flattered they do it for a pittance.

Don't forget to talk to figure skaters too, they have better balance/edges/grace than most of us.

[Grave77Digger 1]

Wow thanks for the informative post. I currrently live in the Harrisburg PA area and have been skating once or twice a week consistently for 2 years. usually play pickup once a week and then a league game once a week. I think Robby Glantz did some power skating in this area a couple months ago but I think it was for only 4 hours of training.

[biff44 0]

Power skating shmower skating! If you look at the fastest NHL skaters, they really do not follow any of the rules, but learned how to go fast. Never the less, some thoughts:

The first thing is to get huge legs. Go out and do squats forever.

Make sure you are flexible, legs, knees, hamstrings, hip flexor. You can not skate with good form if your body is all tight! Do stretching exercises.

Bend at the knees a lot when you skate. Keep your back "mostly" upright.

Start your stride with both skates tips together. If you start your stride with the skate tips 2 feet apart, then you just gave up 20% of your stride.

Make sure you fully extend you pushing leg. You knee should be almost straight. And you should "flick: the tip off the ice at the very end to get just a little more thrust. If your knee is bent 30 degrees at the end of the stride, you either have very poor form or no flexibility.

Have someone video tape you when you are skating "fast" and see how far off you are from this.

[Bengalpredator 0]

You may want to try www.weekendwarriorshockey.com. It is for adults only, so you don't have to get stuck with all the kids and hot shot high schoolers. They teach you a lot of hockey skills, not just power skating, but I have yet to hear from anyone that they did not improve their game after going to a camp. Plus they have a lot of differnt locations, so there is usually one near you. I went ot the camp in Montreal a couple of years ago with a friend and talked the owner into having a camp in my home town, Nashville. He added to the list and now I go to the camp every year.

[j8Zt8r 0]

The group I play with a lot have a series of sessions with a former NHL'er a couple times a year. Usually 4 weeks with 1.5 hours each time. He has us do 2 specific drills that help out.

First, we put 4 sticks on the ice and he has us basically taking a step over each. We are prodominantly on our toes inside edge as we accelerate and stop at the blueline.

We then pair up with someone at the blueline. One person will hold his stick, balanced on the butt, upright. When the person removes their hand from the stick to let it drop, the skater takes off to catch it before it hits the ice. He has the holder move about 2 feet farther away after you catch the stick. It really seems to help with acceleration and reactions.

[chk hrd 164]

one bad thing about the traveling power skating classes that are there for a few days only is your own consistency. In order to get better you have to do things correctly and consistently. It's hard to maintain consitency if you only had 20 minutes of instruction on it. It doesn't do you any good to practice doing something incorrectly. Find a local coach or instructor and take regularly scheduled lessons.

[Grave77Digger 1]

I just dont think its available in the harrisburg PA area

[sonsplayhockey 0]

http://www.skatefrederick.com/camps/camps.htm?type=Hockey

[sonsplayhockey 0]

I forgot to say, That seems far but If you just buy the Laura Stamm DVD and book you can work on plenty at a public session that is not too crowded.

[chk hrd 164]

I forgot to say, That seems far but If you just buy the Laura Stamm DVD and book you can work on plenty at a public session that is not too crowded.

but that goes back to doing something incorrectly. If you are not doing the things on the DVD correctly all that you are doing is reinforcing bad habits.