Characteristics of High-Performance Skating

Gliding

• A two-foot glide is the foundation of all skating characteristics.
• All skating characteristics originate from a two-foot glide.
• All skating characteristics go back into a two-foot glide.
• A good two-foot balance position is important for other skating characteristics, body contact, acceleration, and puckhandling.

1. Bracko (1998) found that NHL forwards spend 40% of the time on the ice gliding in a two foot balance position, interspersed with left and right turns.

   The gliding is not sustained rather, the average length of time spent in a skating characteristic is 1.5 seconds (Bracko, 1998).
   
   

2. Skates should be approximately shoulder width apart.
   
   
3. Slight forward lean of the trunk.
   
   
4. Slight flexion in knees and ankles.
   
   
5. Balance on middle of blades.
   
   
6. Good balance position to be ready for acceleration, body contact and/or puck contact (stick close to , but not necessarily on, the ice).

   Observation of elite players shows they rarely have the blade of the stick on the ice when skating without the puck.

   Insistence by coaches and instructors for their players to maintain the blade of the stick on the ice can cause extreme fatigue in the back extensor, gluteus maximus (butt muscle) and the quadriceps. This fatigue can retard learning and performance.
   
   

7. Isometric contractions of the quadriceps may cause fatigue. This means that hockey players (especially young hockey players) cannot maintain the "ready" position for an extended period of time during practice.