Help for Beginner Cross-overs

A few days ago, member Scott T. messaged me about my article on “A Difference in Hockey Teaching Levels“.  As Scott said, “I find a lot of truth here”, in reference to some of the nervousness experienced by adult level beginners as they try new things.

Scott went on to say that he has “several mental blocks”, these primarily having to do with forward and backward cross-overs.

Then, shortly after I’d let Scott know that I’d prepare something to help him with his game, I received a very similar question from another member, Jamie L.

In Jamie’s case, he’s helping with his young son’s Mite C team, and he’s hoping I might offer some thoughts to help his son and other kids on that team become more comfortable using their outside edges.  As he describes it, many of them “are dragging their inside foot/toe on turns rather than leaning with them on the outside edge.”   (I’ll deal with Jamie’s other question in a separate post.)

Finally (and sorta laughing at myself here), after having said in that earlier article about how differently I normally have to approach the unique age groups, I find that Scott’s and Jamie’s problems can be handled very similarly. 

– Dennis Chghisola

To begin, although Scott (and almost everyone else I know) describes a cross-over problem as being with the skate or leg that is swinging over, the real problem is with the insecurity of bearing one’s weight on the other skate.  In other words, if one feels a little unsteady crossing the left skate over the right, it’s because that player is uncomfortable with putting all of his or her weight on the right skate.  (By the way, this left over right thing is the most common problem among beginners — of any age.)

I can also picture exactly what Jamie is saying about his young kids…  And, I’d be willing to bet that most of the ones who are dragging a skate on their turns are doing so mostly as they cut towards their right.  Why so?  It’s for the very same reason Scott feels unsteady, as in not trusting carrying weight on the right skate.

As an aside here, I’m not sure if this is or isn’t a cultural thing.  If you think about it, all us North Americans (and other baseball playing nations) learn to run the bases while circling towards our left.  So, just envision the discomfort of running the bases in the opposite direction, or mostly bearing our weight on the outside edge of our right cleat.  (Laughing at myself again…  I’d mentioned in a long ago post about my high school football exploits.  So, let me tell you that, while I scored a number of touchdowns or had long runs sweeping towards the right, I absolutely hated if the quarterback called a play sending me out and cutting in the other direction.)  Again, I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing, but more new skaters do have difficulty placing their weight on the outside edge of their right skate for any length of time.

Now, the key phrase in that last paragraph — and the key to changing things for the better — is that part about “placing their weight on the right skate for any length of time“.  Ya, most of us can stand on the left skate, and even rock from edge to edge for a spell.  But, it’s balancing on the right skate “for any length of time” that gives us an uncomfortable feeling.

I will say that there’s a benefit to the fact that an adult player can at least understand this, and eventually do something about it.  So, while Scott might struggle, he probably can make a more concerted effort to solving the problem than can Jamie’s little ones.  In Jamie’s case, I wouldn’t even mention this stuff to the players; instead just get them to do certain things certain ways.

Okay, thanks to one of my great young Team NEHI players, Alex B, I was able to shoot some quick video one night before our Junior High School Team practice.  First, however, I’d like you to note the poses in the two adjacent photos.  For, in the beginning, I have new skaters just stand with their feet crossed — right over left for about 10-seconds, then left over right for an equal length of time.  While holding a given pose, I want the players to rock from side to side a bit, thusly shifting the weight from skate to skate.  As you can imagine, this forces a little bearing of body-weight on each skate, but in the least threatening way.

Next, I ask a player to just slowly cross in place, right over and then left over…

You may have noticed that the above drill caused just a slight use of each outside edge.  But, I’d like to step that up some by having a player do larger, exaggerated cross-overs.  The idea is for the player to really go slowly and far up with a leg, this so he or she is spending a longer amount of time on the other skate, and a little more time on that skate’s outside edge.  (The image below shows that movement frozen with the free leg swinging higher and forcing the support skate to hold the player for a little longer than on smaller cross-overs.)

I’ll usually move to a slower version of my “2-step Drill” next. (You can find the “2-step Drill” in our video on “29 Must-do Advanced Skating Drills“.  Actually, this is an advanced movement my older players do often on the ice — in place, moving forward and while skating backward.  For beginners, this drill has the most benefit right at the transition point.  In other words, the skater has to push-off with an outside edge as he comes out of a stop and tries to cross in the new direction.

Now, there are two other areas of CoachChic.com that should help the two questioners immensely…  I have quite a stretch of cross-over and change-of-direction drills included in the “24 Must-do Intermediate Skating Drills” video.  The other area that could help a lot is the one where we follow an adult in-line skater, Jerry Z, as I help him along the way.  Don’t let the in-line part of that area bother you; Jerry’s problems are very similar to what early ice skaters go through.

Also, don’t discount the use of the skates on a rink’s rubber mats (Jamie), or somewhere safe at home (Scott), like on a small carpet square.  Trust me, there is a great deal of skill transfer from the off-ice practice to on-ice capabilities. My little guy clinics almost always started 15-minutes early in a lockerroom, where we rehearsed all the later on-ice movements — like marching, jogging, getting up and down, crossing, etc.

By the way, crossing-over is crossing-over, when we’re talking about beginner skating challenges.  In other words, all the in place exercises I’ve shown you are at the same time going to make it easier for a player to do the exact same thing when moving to the ice.  Those drills can also be done when moving slowly forward on the ice.  And, once a player is comfortable doing the crosses that way, it shouldn’t be too difficult for him or her to do them slowly while going backwards.  Then, from that point onward, the speed of the drills should be based on how well a player (or players) can keep their discipline.  In other words, there’s no sense in a player trying to go faster if he or she suddenly avoids doing the crossing movements properly.

Lastly, I know exactly what Jamie is talking about when he says that his young players drag a skate as they make a cut.  That would be an inside skate (maybe closest to a pylon), and usually the right skating while cutting towards the right for most kids.  Why?  For the same reason noted above, in that it can be uncomfortable bearing weight on a certain skate.  Ironically, I found some footage of Jerry Z performing this movement in one of our earliest sessions together.  He’s far better at this now, but if you’ll notice in the video below, Jerry’s turning and crossing problems are the exact opposite of most new skaters, in that he had difficulty turning towards his left.  By the way, this skating maneuver is often referred to as the “Boston Turn”.

Now, other members might like to know that Jamie and his son skated with me in my Learn-to-play clinic.  And I’m kinda hoping that he remembers a drill I did with the kids that is similar to the one an in-line player is demonstrating in the following video.  (Oh, by the way…  I just dug-up this old clip from someone else’s website — go figure, because it was my video. Well, I guess it’s nice to be popular.  )

Then, a tip to both questioners…  There’s no way around the fact that “practice makes perfect”.  So, don’t look for quick fixes, but long-term gains instead.  In other words, practice those shortcomings as often as you can (hey, the pros still practice theirs).  Oh, and good luck!

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Just so other members know, I’m loving it when guys like Scott and Jamie toss me questions or post Comments here.  So, please do the same when you get the chance!