What a blast!
The first night of my Adult Hockey for Beginners Course is in the books.
There was about 20 of us on the ice for an hour of skating and puck handling drills and instruction.
Things I learned were:
- Leaving the baby finger of your top hand off the stick.
- Stopping (1): that I am not supposed to favour my inside blade when stopping.
- Stopping (2): the importance of having a nice quick hip swing to get your lower body around.
- It’s okay to fall. The equipment will protect me.
Some surprises were:
- How fast those boards can come at you.
- How tiring it is to be in the ‘ready’ position without cheating by resting your top hand on your hip.
- The number of guys wearing full cages. I am wearing a full visor. Of course, I may need to revisit this at the end of the course.
- The number of guys not using composite sticks. I thought I would be one of the few with wood, but most everyone else was using the same.
- Nobody was in a replica game jersey. Usually, in every sport, there’s somebody wearing their favourite team’s jersey!
- That the wicked backhand that I have with a tennis ball on my driveway is not quite the same on the ice.
All in all, it was just cool time. I really dug all the same completely inconsequential things such as unstrapping my helmet and tilting it back during a small break, or all the stretches we did prior to starting. They were the same ones I see Chris Neil doing every game!
More thoughts throughout the week…
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