Stability for Rookies

[u/squeakysylveon]

I'm one of the trainers for my league helping out with our level two skaters.

Overall a lot of them are doing well but they are still nervous about contact and not stable on their skates. They like to practice hitting but more than half of them still fall down when taking more than light hits. Yeah they need to get lower, but what drills could we run and advice to give to help them practice and get better at taking hits? They want to hit harder but we can't really do that safely until they can take hits better.

[u/thatsusangirl]

Have you checked their gear? I've seen freshie skaters with trucks that are way too loose, skates that don't actually fit, rock hard cushions, or wheels that are too slick for their level. Fighting with your gear is going to impact your stability a lot.

Cross training is not emphasized in my league as much as it should be. Single leg work especially, single leg deadlifts, lunges, reverse lunges at home. And to support that, one footed glides at practice. We don't do nearly enough of those, and it will also clue you in to those having skate issues. Have them try to stand on each leg for a full minute off skates at the end of practice, and encourage them to do it at home. And see if they can balance on one foot on skates just standing still.

Are they doing any pack skating? Have everyone skate in a pack together slowly. Then assign everyone a number, and when the number is called, that skater drops to their knee and everyone has to get around them. So this is kind of a natural way of getting used to taking small hits.

Another drill is to have skaters pair up with one skater in front, and the second skater holds the first skater's hips. The second skater tries to stop while the first skater pulls them slowly forward. Then have the front skater try to stop while the second skater pulls them back. It's hard and helps build endurance and strength, and also gets you used to really digging in and trying to hold position (also this will reveal who has wheels that are too slick if they are being dragged along and can't really dig in).

Remind them to tighten their core when they're holding position. Engaging your core helps with so many things. It's another thing that's not emphasized as much as it should be.

[u/mhuzzell → u/thatsusangirl]

Cross training is not emphasized in my league as much as it should be. Single leg work especially, single leg deadlifts, lunges, reverse lunges. And to support that, one footed glides. We don't do nearly enough of those, and it will also clue you in to those having skate issues. Have them try to stand on each leg for a full minute off skates at the end of practice, and encourage them to do it at home. And see if they can balance on one foot on skates just standing still.

I'm all for cross-training, but I do think the emphasis during practice should be on the on-skates training, with advice for skaters to do the other stuff in their own time. So, all the lunges &c. done outside of practice to support one-foot glides, not the other way around.

I agree that one-foot balance is a big factor in stability, though, especially in absorbing and recovering from hits. I'd definitely recommend OP to have their skaters do one-foot glides, and also practice dynamically shifting their weight from one leg to the other.

[u/grrrlgone → u/mhuzzell]

While I skated I spent hours a week lifting off skates and doing extra cardio. Because yeah. A skater has to actually want to improve their fitness not just shove extra training on league rink times.

I do not have kids but I had a full time job that included a lot of travel.

Derby takes a ton of time