How to Skate Backwards in Hockey

How to Skate Backwards in Hockey

Every player, no matter what position he or she plays, needs to know how to skate backward.




How to Skate Backwards in Hockey

Backward Stride As in the forward stride, it is important to emphasize power, which is achieved by using your skate edges, leg muscles and body weight. Ready Position Stride Take your bottom hand off the stick. Your skates should be shoulder-width apart. Get in a sit position with your knees bent and chest up.

Backward Stride Start in ready position, head up, knees bent, and your back straight and shoulders erect. Skate with one hand on your stick. Keep the top hand on the end of the stick, with your elbow tucked inward. Start by pointing the heel of your front foot out to the side. Dig in and push off from the heel to the toe, making half circles (C-Cuts) on the surface. After reaching a full extension, bring your leg back under your hip and repeat with the other leg. Keep the knee of the glide leg bent while the other leg is striding. Maintain balance Ð you should be able to skate backward in a straight line from end to end. The keys to a good stride are power, length and recovery Ð players with poor strides don't often recover their stride, which causes poor balance. Finally, players must be able to stay low while skating backward. This will help maintain a long stride, which creates speed.

Common Errors Wiggling too much from the hips. This limits the thrust power of your legs. Bending forward too much at the waist. This throws your balance off, reduces your knee bend and limits your power and stride. Skates too far apart that limits the length of your stride, which effects the amount of power you can generate. C-Cuts C-Cuts are an important part of skating backward. It is how you generate speed, using your thrust leg to drive the skate into the ice to generate maximum power. The C-Cut is divided into four parts Ð pivot, push, re-pivot and return. Keep the entire blade of both skates on the ice.

On Ice Drills

Resistance Drill A good drill that forces a backward skater to practice the use of knee bend, inside edges and full recovery: Pair up, with each player holding one end of a stick with one hand. One player skates backward using C-Cut thrusts to pull the resisting skater across the ice. Be sure to aim the gliding skate straight backward while executing each C-Cut. The forward skater should do a two-foot snowplow to resist the movement. One-Leg C-Cuts Line up along the boards. Using only your right leg to execute a C-Cut, glide across the rink. Try to make it across in four or five C-Cuts. Return using only your left leg. Keep your glide skate pointing straight back for maximum distance and glide. One variation of this drill would be to alternate feet.

Off-ice Drills

Hip Or Leg Movement Run backward, keeping both feet as close to the ground as possible. Swing your hips in a backward swivel motion to simulate the hip movement used in skating backward. A take off on this drill is to bring each leg directly behind your body. This is another method of skating backward. Leg Extensions Standing in the ready position with your knees bent, thrust your right leg out in a backward C-Cut motion. Swing your leg out and around and back together with your other leg. Then switch to your left leg. This will allow you to simulate a backward stride on the ice. One-on-one Drill One player moves forward, attempting to get by the second player, who is moving straight backward. The object is for the defender to skate straight backward (no crossovers) and not allow the forward to catch and pass him or her. This is a good drill for both ice or inline players

Ice Hockey - Skate Backwards Inside and Outside Ed

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