When we start teaching and learning new skills, it’s often done in isolation.

You focus on technical details of the toe drag, or the snapshot or the heel-to-heel move on its own.

Then you try it in a drill that requires you to move a little faster, navigate around an object or coach and finish it with a pass or shot on net. The you should put it into a position-specific or game-specific situation so that players understand how they can take the skill and apply it in their next practice or game.

But when we do flow drills, work on our team systems, play small-area or full-ice games, we have to BLEND a lot of different skills together to make the magic happen.

You can’t shoot in stride without proper posture, balance, skating, stick-handling and shooting skills already in place.

And once you can shoot in stride, you can then STACK that on top of other skills such as:

• Using a SET-UP MOVE to fake and go around a defender
• Followed by BUILDING A WALL to protect the puck from that defender (or the next one)
• Then you BUILD YOUR ESCAPE ROUTE to give you space to get away from the defender
• And then SPIN OFF THE OPPONENT to get to your shot in stride.

You can see that exact play happen in order by world-class player, Melodie Daoust, in the clip below. A long-time forward on Team Canada, Daoust has incredibly smooth individual skating and puck skills paired with one of the highest hockey IQs in the world. She effortlessly blends together all those skills while playing against one of the top teams in the world to create an excellent scoring chance.

You’ll also see a few quick drills that we use at our Total Female Hockey Camps to help players learn these skills in isolation and then apply them into game-like situations.

Feel free to pass this message along to any other teammates, friends, players or coaches who might enjoy learning from this world-class play.

Enjoy the final weeks of summer and good luck with the start of the season.

Work Hard. Dream BIG.

~ Coach Kim

Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS

Director & Founder, Total Female Hockey