Any tips on how to do hockey stop?

[Luenatic]

I really need help on this one. My coach is trying to get me ready for ISI test. She just found out a week ago that I never try hockey stop. I need to do hockey stop to pass Gamma. Boy, am I surprised. 8O

Any how. We're planning on passing up to freestyle one and hockey stop is the only thing I don't know how to do (or afraid to do). She taught me how to do it and I understand the theory and all. But I just can't do it. Very frustrated.

Any tips or advices?

[TashaKat]

I really need help on this one. My coach is trying to get me ready for ISI test. She just found out a week ago that I never try hockey stop. I need to do hockey stop to pass Gamma. Boy, am I surprised. 8O

Any how. We're planning on passing up to freestyle one and hockey stop is the only thing I don't know how to do (or afraid to do). She taught me how to do it and I understand the theory and all. But I just can't do it. Very frustrated.

Any tips or advices?

Hi, it's probably better if you tell us what problems you're having with it. Mine was (still is sometimes) mainly in my head and I tended to keep my weight forwards (in a vain attempt to feel safe) so ended up tipping to the front. A lot of the 'problems' with the hockey stop are to do with getting your body position strong and in the right place. I try to think of keeping my upper body facing in the direction that I was skating and turning the lower body for the stop, also thinking of turning the upper body in the opposite direction to the lower body (contra body rotation) helps to give me the check.

L x

[dani]

My hockey stop goes better in the "wrong" direction. I know I am weird in that, but I would try it!

In other words, if you jump and spin to the left, then stop to the right. For most people that will be harder, but for me it wasn't.

Good luck hugs!
Danielle

ps) My dance coach is trying to get a judge to come to my practice session so I can take my first three USFSA dance tests (dutch, canasta, and rhythm) before the deadline of the Peach Classic!

[TashaKat]

My hockey stop goes better in the "wrong" direction. I know I am weird in that, but I would try it!

In other words, if you jump and spin to the left, then stop to the right. For most people that will be harder, but for me it wasn't.

Good luck hugs!
Danielle

ps) My dance coach is trying to get a judge to come to my practice session so I can take my first three USFSA dance tests (dutch, canasta, and rhythm) before the deadline of the Peach Classic!

Oh! I jump/spin CCW but STOP in the CCW direction (ie with toes pointing to the left) ....... is that strange then?

L x

[dani]

[quote:80e0d3bace="TashaKat"][quote:80e0d3bace="dani"]My hockey stop goes better in the "wrong" direction. I know I am weird in that, but I would try it!

In other words, if you jump and spin to the left, then stop to the right. For most people that will be harder, but for me it wasn't.

Good luck hugs!
Danielle

ps) My dance coach is trying to get a judge to come to my practice session so I can take my first three USFSA dance tests (dutch, canasta, and rhythm) before the deadline of the Peach Classic![/quote:80e0d3bace]

Oh! I jump/spin CCW but STOP in the CCW direction (ie with toes pointing to the left) ....... is that strange then?

L x[/quote:80e0d3bace]

Based on the reaction from my coach, I think I am the weird one ;-) I jump/spin the same as you but am much more comfortable stopping with my toes pointing to the right. I think I actually try to turn if I go to the left.

[arena_gal]

Hockey stop. Trick #1. Have dull skate blades. Seriously, they're really hard to do when you've just had a sharpening, even hockey kids will say that.

First exercise. Stand with feet together. Bend knees and jump up and do a 1/4 turn in your favourite rotational direction and land on 2 feet. Remember that jump up feeling. Remember that jamming your blades into the ice feeling on landing.

Second exercise. Take a small glide, jump up and turn sideways jamming blades into ice to stop right on that spot. Remember the knee bend you made when absorbing the impact of the ice on landing.

Third exercise. Take a small glide, flex down and up enough to take the weight off your feet and try to turn your skates sideways. Don't worry about trying to stop, but to get the feel of turning your feet without them leaving the ice. Think of jumping without actually doing a jump.

Fourth exercise. take a small glide, flex, down up, turn feet and pressure them back into the ice and think about shaving the ice, not jamming them down to the bottom of the ice. This would be your first hockey stop. This is much easier when your blades are dull, because they will skid across the ice and not jam into the ice.

Continue, adding more speed into the stop, making more shavings, and eventually learning how to snow your instructors feet, to his/her displeasure. Then do them the other way. Then do them with the outside foot only. Then the inside foot only.

The key to the whole thing is to think about it as a jump turn stop.The entire body turns sideways.
This is how they're taught in hockey school. Look at the picture on this page http://www.exploratorium.edu/hockey/skating2.html for an example.

[Luenatic]

I'll try it tonight! :D

[Yazmeen]

My best tip? It is just you lower body that turns sideways. Your upper body should still be forward. I worked with a young man on these last year, and he kept trying to turn both the upper and lower body----consequently, he'd turn instead of stopping.

Once you get them, you'll really like them. They are my main method of stopping now.

[TashaKat]

[quote:18027b7703="Yazmeen"]My best tip? It is just you lower body that turns sideways. Your upper body should still be forward. I worked with a young man on these last year, and he kept trying to turn both the upper and lower body----consequently, he'd turn instead of stopping.

Once you get them, you'll really like them. They are my main method of stopping now.[/quote:18027b7703]

Yes, I agree with Beth. For figure skating they're more concerned with technique so it's important that you think about the lower body isolation :) In "Figure Skating Championship Techniques" by John Misha Petkevich (and other books out there) it says that (for CCW) you [quote:18027b7703]should bring your feet together, bend your knees and simultaneously swivel the shoulders in opposition to the hips; that is, rotate the shoulders clockwise and turn your feet and hips counterclockwise ..... your torso should be facing the direction in which you are skating. Now lean back slightly, so that your right foot is on an inside edge and your left foot is on an outside edge. The more you bend your knees, the more pressure will be applied to the ice and the faster you will come to a stop. This is not unlike a parallel stop on skis.[/quote:18027b7703]

I would advise anyone out there to be wary of hockey books on 'technique' .... the focus of hockey ISN'T on technique, it's on fast, bursts of skating, quick stops and quick changes of direction. That's not to say that hockey skaters can't 'skate' it's just that they can't 'figure skate'. My ex was a FABULOUS hockey skater but a total dork ..... sorry, not finished yet LOL ...... at figure skating :)

L x

[arena_gal]

Interesting. I posted how to do a hockey stop, as done by hockey players. I find it interesting that the figure skating convention is to keep the face forward. None of the work of the stop is done by any part of the body above the waist, the action of the weight shift is entirely with the lower body. So, I think that the upper body postion is important, but not a technical requirement. I looked at the picture in Petkevich's book btw. It is probably easier to learn the weight shift by doing them sideways and then work on the aesthetics of the shoulders and chins up! after.

Probably the key thing for hockey stops for both hockey and figure skaters, is that you do them while your attention (brain/head) is on something else. Chasing that puck, or an eye contact moment with an audience. And they're a lot easier to demonstrate then it is to write out an explanation.

[TashaKat]

[quote:2f4b1760ee="arena_gal"]Interesting. I posted how to do a hockey stop, as done by hockey players. I find it interesting that the figure skating convention is to keep the face forward. None of the work of the stop is done by any part of the body above the waist, the action of the weight shift is entirely with the lower body. So, I think that the upper body postion is important, but not a technical requirement.[/quote:2f4b1760ee]

Sorry to keep disagreeing with you! Some of the work IS done above the waist, you actively counter-rotate the upper body so that you can maintain a good posture whilst still doing a good stop. Doing a hockey stop the 'hockey' way in figure skating is technically incorrect as the weight is in a different place than it 'should' be. Think about having to do a hockey stop in a show, for example, the 'hockey' way you're more likely to get an eyeful of butt, the 'figure' way you are still facing your audience!

[Luenatic]

I worked on it with my group lesson coach last night and we figure out several ways to make it work for me.

1. Because I'm a big chicken on Hockey stop, so we practiced it on the wall. After I turn I can hold on to the wall and feel secure. I did that for about a minute to get the feeling of turning my lower body.

2. Then we worked on 1 foot snow plow. However, I'm allow to twist my lower body and upper body at the same time to get the feel of scraping the ice. Deep knee bend is a big help.

3. Then one foot snow plow with lower body twist only. Upper body stay upright and forward.

4. Then a hockey stop!

Thanks anyone for your advice! :D

[ouijaouija]

Stops are important so I thought I'd ask about this...

I can't seem to get this stop, I mean I look on youtube but there are only hockey stops on a hockey skate... are hockey stops with figure skates supposed to be the same?

I can't skid on the ice (to create ice shavings), its more like a quick dig into the ice and an abrupt stop. So I can only do this stop if I am NOT going too fast. If I try going faster I fall over pretty badly!

Can anyone help me out?

Is the blade supposed to skim along the ice sideways, as I can't seem to do it, but I can do Plow and t-stops easily and create ice shavings that way.

Thanks

[jskater49]

Years after Learn to Skate I still coudln't do this stop. When I mentioned that to my coach...this is what she said "Imagine you have a bag of groceries in one arm, a baby in the other and you need to slam the car door shut with your hip" Maybe cuz I've been in that situation, but that was all it took and I could do it. It's a twisting motion. When I concentrated on my feet, I couldn't get it, when I tried the car door shutting motion, I got it.

j

[ouijaouija]

lol, i see what you mean about what your coach said, I will try it tomorrow!

but do your blades dig in and stop or create shavings (like on plow stop) to a stop?

Thanks

[climacus]

The blade shouldn't dig in unless you want a really quick stop.

If you're really comfortable with doing one-sided snow plow, try doing it with only one foot. Glide on two feet slowly, twist the hip and do a mini hop onto the one stopping leg. This gives you the security of having the other leg ready if you want to abort the stop. Once you figure out how to do one-footed hockey stop, then you can bring the other leg in for more stopping power. The key here is to twist the hip.

[dbny]

In addition, you need the same down-up-down as in a 3 turn. Knees down initially, up to do the half turn, then down as you shut that door with your hip. Keep your arms, shoulders, and head all facing strongly in the direction of travel, or your stop will turn into a scraped turn. Make sure you bend your knees, but maintain straight posture otherwise, don't bend over at the waist.

[Award]

Can anyone help me out?

A hockey stop could be considered a more developed snow plough stop. If you know how to do a snow plough, and you are good at it, such as bending your knees while doing the V-shape with the skates..........then you will realize that you go into the snow plough very easily by getting the weight of your skates up toward the front of the blades. And when you get the weight up to the front of the blades you can then form the V shape quickly and easily, so that you can slide and shave the ice with the blades while in this stance.

The hockey stop is basically the same thing, except that you just begin to work on rearranging the weight and balance in your body (while you're in the snow plough position) - so that you can end up sliding a bit on 1 foot instead of the usual 2. At first, you might be able to do it for a really short distance, like 10 centimetre only. But the more you practise, the better you get at it. The transitioning into the slide is the important thing, and bending your knee quite far down helps a lot too.

Some people just tell you to just twist 90 degrees and then just slide and do the hockey stop. Don't believe em. Because if you do that without understanding the basics and without understand the importance of practising sliding on 1 foot first, then you could have a big accident. Learning to transition into a slide onto 1 foot from the snow plough slide.....very important.

[singerskates]

This is what I do when teaching the hockey stop. First I make sure the skater's snow plow stop is a solid stop. Then I get the skater to do the snow plow stop with the right foot leading/just ahead of the left foot in the snow plow stop. Then we work on the arm movements for the hockey stop on the spot/stationary. The idea is to get the skater to think of the arms and upper body as the lid of a peanut butter jar twisting clockwise while the rest of the body (below the arm pits) twists counter-clockwise as base of the jar with the peanut butter in it. I make sure that the skater bends their knees to the point that the could almost be sitting on a chair (no bending at the waist). Then I have them do the arm movements for the hockey stop while doing the snow plow with the right foot leading. Gradually, I get the skater to turn both feet to the left while the arms turn to the right while bending their knees deeply. This creates a deep strong quick stop. I've also reversed what I said above to have the left foot leading clockwise and the arms turning counter-clockwise.

This is the same stop whether you are stopping in hockey skates or figure skates.