Another hockey beginner

[Leif]

I played my first LTP session last Tuesday night, and after 6 weeks away felt stiff, awkward and hard to get into the game. 

My skate lesson went well today though, my 3-turns are now passable, and I felt pretty good on the public skate.

Leif - very envious of your progress onto the Rec team, I appear to be getting left behind by a lot of my fellow skaters, as they progress up to the teams, and yet I am nowhere near competent enough.

One day, .....one day!

The cynic might say the rec team need the training session fees to pay the bills.  To be fair, they were all very tolerant of me and made encouraging noises, which made me feel very welcome.

Don't forget that I first learnt to skate 25 years ago, so last July when I took up skating again, I could already go forwards and backwards with ease. I couldn't stop, or transition though.  I think it will take us both several years before we start to look like rec. hockey players. And by that I don't mean having a beer gut. BTW me and the lads at the rink are all learning 3 turns, and two of us can sort of do forward outside edge ones, but it's a tough skill. Louise, a young skater with hockey skates does them really well, she's been skating a year, and is now 15, so maybe the young learn quickly.

I have noticed that I go through phases of making rapid progress, and then going nowhere. An ex pro I know said he went through the same learning phases. My last surge was to become more comfortable with outside edges, but I feel as if I am stagnating now. My CW forward crossovers aren't quite there, my forward ACW hockey stop isn't right, and my agility is just not up to scratch, and I seem to have been at this level for several geological eras. There's a roughness that annoys me. That said, thee and me are learning properly whch is more than many do. 

[Leif]

Another session last night and there is one later on this evening too. I hope to do some public skating and meet with some friends before this evening's hockey session, to warm up my knackered old body. 

Last night's session was great fun. There were less people at the session, and the scrimmage was more enjoyable. There was more passing, and play, rather than everyone piling in at the corner. I'm trying to take on board the advice coaches and team mates have been giving me, and break some of the bad habits I have. I try to adopt a hockey stance, hold the stick with both hands, keep the end on or near the ice and keep both hands in front of me while holding the stick. This is all basic stuff, but last night I felt more in control of the puck and more stable. I was intercepting more passes, and missing very few. I am rather jealous of Andy getting lessons from an ex-pro and skating on the world's finest rink. I always suspected he was a trouble maker. 

Sadly quite a few people seem to be dropping out. One lad moves from one rink to another, and a mate keeps collecting enough injuries to keep a room full of medical students engrossed for days if not weeks. Some moved to Bracknell to train, but I'm not convinced those sessions will last as people keep dropping out for countless reasons. Hopefully they will return to Basingstoke.

I recently bought an Apple Watch to track my heart rate and exertion, as well as tell the time etc, and I became worried when I saw that my resting heart rate is usually below 40. It hit 33 a day or two ago.  Apparently it you do regular exercise, a low heart rate is nothing to worry about, as long as you do not suffer breathlessness, blackouts etc during the day.

[Lowsider]

Leif, sounds like good progress! Its good that you are enjoying it too, I think its easy to concentrate on improving and forget to have fun. Which sessions are you referring to at bracknell? And are you attending the stick and puck at basingstoke?

If you find yourself at a weekday public session at bracknell, let me know, would be good to skate with someone else.

[Leif]

I think I spoke too soon, after Friday's session I' changing my name to poop for brains.

Lowsider: There are hockey sessions at Bracknell on Saturday evening, 10:15pm on ice. Yes I attend Stick n Puck on Thursday at Basingstoke, have done now for six months. I'm off work next week, and will be skating during the day as I pay a set monthly fee at Basingstoke for public sessions. However the ice can be poor. Not sure of my plans, but when are you skating?

[Lowsider]

I will be skating Mon Wed Fri on the 14.00-15.30 sessions (@bracknell), going to really try and work on agility and stopping from sides that I currently cant. I hadn't seen the Blizzards on there before, might look into that, thanks!

(Sorry for the thread hijack!)

Edit: As if by magic, my week has filled up, at the most inconvenient times. Friday is the only skating I will get done this week   

[Leif]

Okay, not sure if I can do that though the prospect of good ice is appealing, Basingstoke is very variable. If you see a grey haired chap with elbow pads (and hidden knee and backside pads) show ponying around the rink, then say hello. My user name is my name. I also answer to Poop For Brains these days. 

[Leif]

Given that I'm on holiday from work for the week, I decided to pop over to Basingstoke yesterday afternoon. The ice was lovely, smooth and not too hard, although there were quite a few mole hills in the centre area. These form when moisture condenses on the overhead lights and then drips onto the ice, forming mounds. Not nice if you hit one when doing a tricky move. Sadly the dehumidifier broke years ago, so condensation and fog are common. There were very few people on the ice, ideal for practicing tricky moves. Anyway, I've been struggling with my forward CW crossovers. I can do them but something feels wrong, a lack of stability, and my right foot has tended to slide sideways, not good. After lots of going round in circles yesterday I started to get a feel for the crossover and I suspect that my problem was that I was not riding the outside edge on my right foot. I was instead holding the blade too flat hence the slding sideways. Maybe it is a common problem, that riding the outside edge feels a bit scary, and takes time to learn. I will try again today and see how it goes. My forwards ACW hockey stop is still not there yet, and needs more work. The CW one is good and gets the thumbs up from friends. (Why is it that the big thing to learn for hockey skate wearers is the hockey stop?)

I also tried backwards inside edges, and I can now do these reasonably well although they still scare me. I then tried backwards outside edges and fell over.    I can do them on my right foot okayish, but I have real trouble on my left foot and struggle to lean into the turn. Practice, practice, practice. 

[Leif]

CW crossovers are now quite good, but I have to improve directional control when going backwards.  I seem to be taking ages to learn crossovers properly. How long did it take others here?

CW tight turn now good, ACW is pants and still quite scary.

[transmissionoftheflame]

You might find this encouraging or depressing depending on your point of view, but it took me years to learn crossovers properly - by which I mean they are not perfect but I am reasonably comfortable CW and ACW forwards and backwards and am getting a good lean and getting propulsion both with outside foot push and the underpush.
I worked on:
- getting comfortable on edges a lot - if you can't hold an edge you can't really do good crossovers
- hold the inside edge and outside edge crossover position.  The inside edge one is especially valuable as it feels the most alien - you are crossed over and this feels horrible.  You have to desensitize yourself by doing it a lot
- going backwards a lot until I felt less uncomfortable
- skating CW whenever I could do so safely
- skating CW on wheels outdoors
- alternating ACW and CW crossovers down the rink ("Russian stroking") - so do one or two ACW then change to CW - you do a zig zag pattern but in the general direction of travel
- really turn your arms/shoulders/torso so you face into the circle
- underpush exercise - start crossed over and propel yourself ONLY with the underpush (outside edge) - the other foot stays down on inside edge.  Lots of knee bend required.
- bend your knees and ankles what feels like a ridiculous amount

[Leif]

Thanks transmissionoftheflame, that's very informative. Sorry if I've asked you this before, but you mentioned skating on wheels. Which skates do you use? I am tempted to get some inline skates so that I can practice my stick handling, and general moves.

[transmissionoftheflame]

Pretty sure you've not asked before.  I use Seba FR1s which are inline skates primarily designed for what they call "freeride" which is like street skating combined with aggressive skating, though they can of course be used for general fitness and slalom and freestyle (which is hard to define but is a bit like a combination of figure skating and jam/skate dance skating).  They offer a good level of support combined and control combined with shock absorption, but are not as stiff as skates designed for slalom or freestyle on smoother surfaces where you are prepared to sacrifice a bit of comfort for ultimate control.  I have swapped out the frame they came with for a rockered frame.  I use 80mm wheels which are the largest that my 243mm frame can take.  They give more speed and comfort than smaller wheels.  The frame's rocker is like having 76-80-80-76 wheels, so 2mm clearance front and back.  That's called a banana rocker and suits me well for the kind of skating I want to do which is turns and steps.  A rockered setup is less stable at speed so probably not ideal for street skating.  I would advise rockered for hockey as almost essential as you need to do a lot of tight turns and a banana rocker is closest to the shape of a hockey blade.  Some people skate 80-80-80-76 - more stable at the back.
If hockey is your thing and you want to be as close to the ice experience as possible then get hockey inlines - they are almost identical to an ice hockey boot but with a frame mounted instead of a blade.  The frames and wheels tend to be smaller than normal inlines, which gets you lower to the ground and makes you more stable and enables tighter turns - but if you street skate on them on rough or bumpy surfaces you'll suffer.  I don't know about hockey inline rocker sizes but I am sure they are rockered.  I expect you could even find the inline equivalent of your make, size and model in inlines and order online, though best to try on of course.  I wouldn't recommend cheap recreational inline skates as they will not offer sufficient support.  Hope you find something useful and somewhere to go and skate.  It's not easy - car parks and outdoor sports courts...
Google for street hockey.  Certainly seen it played by the Albert Memorial in London.