I spent some time during the last few sessions learning the t-stop. I hadn’t bothered much with it as it’s not useful for hockey. Anyway that is my excuse for my ineptitude and laziness.
It didn’t take long to t-stop with my right foot as the brake, using a deep knee bend, and leaning back on the rear leg to get a strong stop. Doing it fast is fun. And lifting the front leg up too.
Using the other leg to brake was much harder for some reason. Compared to my right foot, I had to think much more and mess around with posture and knee bend, and the contact between the blade and the ice until I started to do something that looked like a t-stop. Odd how it can be straightforward on one side, and a nightmare on the other. Makes me wonder if there is some evolutionary reason for handedness, or if it’s a harmless consequence of something beneficial.
Both stops need more work, but they are getting there. And they are quite fun to do.
I spent time doing one foot glides on an arc, right foot, left foot, inside edge, outside edge. In future I will add these to my warm ups, very basic but important.
Lastly I practised crossovers. Doing forwards clockwise crossovers, my left foot edge control is much better. Nowhere near anti-clockwise, but it’ll get there.