What to use without buying anything to make you a better stickhandler

[Zjack38 46]

What can you use that's laying around your house that will slide/roll well on concrete? What are some drills you can do to improve your stickhandling? any input would be appreciated, thanks.

[Souldriver 64]

a lot of people recommended to me a golf ball. the reason being is it will be more likely to bounce and it helps you to control a bouncing puck better. it is also lively so you have to keep up with it.

[flip12 714]

I know it breaks the rule--you have to buy it, however, it's not too expensive. I loved using a roller hockey puck. It just translated really well to the feel on the ice for me.

[romdj 26]

I'd second the golf ball option except you need a smooth surface otherwise you're gonna stop after 2 min because the golf ball is going to jump around like crazy.

I sometimes stick handle around blindfolded in order to feel the ball/puck on my stick, if you have a half cap, reverse it and wear it under your eyes, it's a good way to force yourself keeping your head up.

[DEATHTRON 19]

A toilet paper roll for your bottom hand to make sure that you're using your top hand to control the stick can help as well.

For soft hand work, try a ping pong ball.

[McDugan 89]

A shorter stick.

[mcne0101 16]

Cut a tennis ball into 4-8 pieces and stuff it into a wiffle ball. Best stick handling ball out there!

[Quintin 16]

So you're telling me... You want to get better at something without buying it? It's a bit hard to justify an answer without knowing what you have already.

Balls, cones/leftover remnants of sticks/shafts/broken dreams that would count as an obstacle. Get creative. When he was younger, Kovalev used to practice with a ball with a chair as the focal obstacle for the lulz when he was in hotels.

[Zjack38 46]

So you're telling me... You want to get better at something without buying it? It's a bit hard to justify an answer without knowing what you have already.

You can't buy skill! And I just want to use something that I can find laying around, I don't want to spend 10 bucks on a smart hockey ball when all the ones I have keep disappearing. You just have to say something that's common in houses across the USA like a golf ball, or a wiffel ball, or a tennis ball.

[Quintin 16]

Not sure if srs...

A statement like that is a false truth. Of course you can't buy skill itself directly, but you invest in items and coaching (and more importantly commitment & time spent practising correctly) that in turn allow you to improve.

You have to realise not everyone on this forum is:

1) Not from the U.S.
2) Possess different qualities of life, hence what you consider "common household" items could mean something else.

Also you left a lot of variables out of your question. You don't walk into a garage with a busted vehicle and request they fix it without explaining what's wrong.

What is your current stickhandling level? What particular weakness do you have with stick-handling? History of past & current level of play? Do you train off-ice? etc. All are just examples.

Plus if you're having issues with losing $10 smart hockey balls, maybe you should be more aware of organising/keeping track of where your balls end up. And whose to say you won't lose your alternatives?

[Zjack38 46]

Haha you said keep track of where your balls end up ;). Well anyways how would I describe my stick handling level, on a scale from rookie to legend I would say probably intermediate.

My weakness I would say is just that I'm kind of slow, and I lose control of the puck/ball a lot, but I'm pretty good at toe drags that's it.

And I play u16AAA hockey, used to play 98birthyear AA, and yes I train off ice.

And I usually lose the balls "giggle" from shooting and I can never find them for some reason, they take some weird ass bounces.

[Souldriver 64]

Cut a tennis ball into 4-8 pieces and stuff it into a wiffle ball. Best stick handling ball out there!

I have done this before but not for stick handling training. I used to on a black top parking lot to play when we didnt have any balls to use and it worked amazingly well.

I also use a roller puck on my smooth cement and fake pergo wood floors. on the wood floors though i make sure the puck is clean and the blade has a piece of non grip, non friction tape on it. you dont want to mark up the floors.

I would say with what youre describing, go the golf ball route to help control things as long as youre on decently smooth cement.

[bradd94 5]

A plain tennis ball actually works wonders. It's hard to pick up the green on most surfaces so you are trained on muscle memory. Makes an ice puck feel heavier so you feel it better.

Green Biscuits are like $10. Not a huge deal. Other than that use white tape and wax, tape making it easier to see the puck and wax for better handling.

[hunterphfr 12]

Golf ball

or the stick handling ball that weighs about the same as the puck, costs but only about $5

[flip12 714]

And I usually lose the balls "giggle" from shooting and I can never find them for some reason, they take some weird ass bounces.

You could also keep your stickhandling ball/puck for handling only and your shooting pucks or whatever separate.

[Zjack38 46]

Guys good news, I found one of the balls so this whole topic was pointless lol, but really if I lose one again ill try the wiffle ball thing with the tennis ball.

[dir3 0]

I would have to agree with the golf ball, although I put a layer or 2 of gaffer tape around it to reduce some bounce and add some weight.

I used red tape so I could find them when they went into grass/bushes/dog poo