(power music)
- Hey guys, this is
Matt from WinnPro Hockey
with the hockey moment.
In today's video we're gonna
take a look at tight turns
or changing of direction.
Now, let's get into the video here.
The most common problem that
players tell me they have
when we talk about tight
turns or changing of direction
is the inability to maintain
speed, because we feel
like we're going to fall.
Now, the reason why players
feel like they're going to fall
as they enter a tight turn
or change of direction
is because we are leaning
in with both the lower body,
and the upper body.
So the further we dip that
inside shoulder down and lean
into the turn, the more of
our body weight sits over top
of our outside edge of our inside skate.
Now, if we battle a little
adversary within that turn,
so say we catch a rut in the
ice, or take a little contact
from the side, it's going
to be even more difficult
to stay on your feet, so the
key to staying on our feet
is good solid balance through the turn.
The way that we're going
to increase our balance,
is by shifting our body weight.
Now, we're going to keep the
lower body the same and lean
in as hard as we can,
but with the upper body,
we're going to change our spine angle,
so instead of that angle
leaning in, what we're going to
do is, we're gonna try to
shift it away from the turn as
far as possible, so again,
if I draw those lines in,
we lean in with the lower,
we split the body in half,
and we lean outward with that upper body,
and what that does, is now
we shift our body weight away
from that outside edge of the
inside skate, and we place
body weight over top of both skates.
So, we increase our base of
support through the turn,
and that should allow us to
maintain more speed as we
drive through the turn.
So, again, we're gonna
keep it very simple here,
if you wanna maintain
speed through tight turns,
or changing of direction,
get that upper body leaning
away from the turn, and
one way you can look at it,
is I want you to get
your inside shoulder up
as high as you can, or those
shoulders should be nice
and level as you drive around
the turn, and that'll be a
good indication that you're
changing that spine angle,
getting that lean away
from the turn to shift body
weight over top of both skates.
Give that some practice.
I hope that helps you stay on your feet,
and again increase your
speed through your turns.
Thanks for turning in guys,
we'll see you next time.
(power music)
