I had my second lesson last Sunday, and very good it was too. She had me doing crossovers again, where only one leg pushes, first one leg, then the other, then repeated in the opposite rotational direction. And then backwards inside edges, skating in an arc on one leg, swapping leg every few seconds. The first time I tried, I fell backwards onto my rear, at which point she said “right, you’ve got padding on, so get up and try again”.
So I did. Marvellous, why mess around when you can master someting?
I like her teaching, she knows exactly what I need to do in order to do the requested move, so when I do something wrong, she knows how to correct me, years of experience skating and teaching I guess. I’ve had friends try to teach me something, and I usually give up.
I also had three hour long hockey lessons. The two hour hockey session on Thursday was cancelled as the ice had melted
so I cheered myself up with extra hockey at the weekend. I had two sessions on Saturday but felt nauseous after 90 minutes, too hot I think. The Sunday session was amazing, the coach teaches PE to primary school children in the week, and clearly was ideally suited to the task at hand.
She taught me to receive the puck correctly, and to stick handle without looking at the puck. It’s odd how some people communicate information, whilst others teach a skill. She is in the latter group.
I also spent some time each evening in my garden practicing my wrist shot, using a newly purchased full size hockey goal. It’s a hard skill to learn. I think Dave, the coach who gave me lessons in shooting, was getting quite frustrated at my ineptitude, but tried to hide it as he’s so nice.
I don’t think goalies are going to be trembling in their pads at my approach just yet. Slowly slowly catchy monkey.