Update time again!
After a bit of a boot up the backside from myself to myself, I dragged myself back to the rink last night with trepidation. I had committed to trying the 'How To Hockey' once more, after my confidence took a dent the last time....and I'm glad I did!
On the way to the rink, I wondered if anyone would notice if, instead of going through with it, I just sat in the car for an hour and had a nap, but then decided that I was going to learn nothing unless I bit the bullet, and so wandered in and got kitted up.
I have to admit, and if any of the persons mentioned happen to read this, I mean no offence, but it was a much better session without the members of the local rec teams turning up. Much less pressure, a much more level playing field (rink?), and an overall more relaxed and accessible session. As I hadn't been for about 3 weeks, but had skated a lot in the meantime, I found that whilst my technical skills are still lacking, they are starting to be more on par with lots of my fellow skaters. Sure, there were a handful of excellent skaters, very fast, technically adept, and good to watch, but it just felt a lot more inclusive this time around.
We started off with a warm up (line to line diagonals, with puck, and stopping at each line end....nope, hockey stop still not there yet), then onto drills, firstly tight turns around cones (puck optional), then dribbling practice, moving on to passing and shooting practice. I still find myself sometimes missing the objective and skating around looking a bit bewildered, but then that's generally me in everyday life anyway.
Next up was a bit of fun with the '3-bar' challenge....two teams, each tasked with taking shots to hit the 3 bars of the goal nets. Losers penalised either with press-ups, or dragging a member of the opposing team from end to end on the ice (which was actually a fun challenge in itself).
Finally there was a pretty good half hour of scrimmage, with plenty of opportunity for ice time, plenty of shift changes, and no shift-hogs like last time. I found that even though my turns, stops, backwards speed and crossovers are non existent in a useful capacity, the game was far more involving that it had been in the past, as I am getting a bit more mobile and balanced, and able to read things a little more effectively now.
A few people have said, give it a year, and you'll look back and wonder what the hell you were struggling with. I've only been skating about 7 weeks or so, and I think they could be right. I left the rink last night feeling pretty happy with the experience, and am looking forward to the next session.