How to Improve Balance on the Ice for Ice Hockey

Video Transcript

"This is Tim McKeig of the UNCW Seahawks and today I'm going to be showing you how to improve your balance on the ice for ice hockey. Balance is key in ice hockey. It is going to help you in any aspect of your game. It is needed while skating, controlling the puck, pretty much everything you can imagine in ice hockey. Some of the things to remember while thinking about improving your balance would definitely be your feet position. You are going to want to make sure your feet are at least shoulder width apart, usually on your inside edges of your skates. Now with your feet shoulder width apart it is important that you keep your knees nice and bent. You don't want to be standing upright that will not improve your balance. The key to improving balance would be to stay low to the ice to get your center of gravity square. Now also your head position is very important. While your knees are bent make sure your head is right over the toes of your skates. If you are leaning too far back or too far forward, that could present problems with your balance. Now some of the indicators if your balance is good or not would be if you were to stand and be pushed or checked by another player, if you were to smoothly slide backwards you would know your balance is good. However, if you were to be standing upright and push back you would probably fall and lose your balance. Those would be some ways to improve your balance on the ice for ice hockey."