Ways That A Hockey Training Academy Can Improve Your Child's Skating

One of the many benefits of sending your hockey-loving child to a hockey training academy is that his or her skating will improve. While lessons at the academy will encompass all areas of the sport, including the mental side, a big advantage of this learning environment is that there's an opportunity to really break the game down and focus on fundamentals. Nothing is as important for success on the hockey ice as skating; while stickhandling, shooting, and passing are all valuable, a player can't be in a position to success unless he or she is an adept skater. Here are some ways that enrollment in a hockey training academy can improve your child's skating.

Focus On Explosiveness

A hockey player who can skate in an explosive manner can be the first player to the puck, as well as be able to accelerate quickly enough to evade a defender. At the hockey training academy, your young athlete will build his or her skating explosiveness through a variety of drills. Accelerating from a standstill and attempting to reach maximum speed in as few strides as possible can train your child's muscles to be explosive. The instructors may use additional means, such as parachutes strapped to the skaters' backs, to provide resistance that can build leg and core muscles.

Ambidextrous Turning

Naturally, hockey players find it easier to turn to either the right or the left. This can mean that they consistently turn in the easier direction, resulting in their turns in the opposite direction being shaky or slow. To really excel, a player of any age needs to be highly confident making sharp turns to the left and right without hardly thinking about it. This is another critical fundamental that the instructors will emphasize and teach your child through drills such as skating around pylons and making sharp turns.

Quick Stopping

Being able to stop abruptly, regardless of how fast he or she is skating, is another attribute of a strong hockey player. In the training academy environment, your child will get an opportunity to work on his or her stopping. Stopping quickly is critical in hockey. For example, a player racing to the new must be able to stop to grab a rebound, rather than glide past the net toward the end boards. A variety of different exercises, including stop-start drills, will improve your child's aptitude in this part of the game.

Reach out to local sports academies for more information.