Beginners Workshop Session Four

Session Number 4... The last one before the big game on Thursday night. It's incredible to see how far we've come. On a personal level, I've become proficient at stopping (at least with a snowplow and a gliding T-stop... still can't do the full out hockey stop), I'm better at going backwards, and I'm getting much faster and stronger on my skates (especially on the tight turns). The high point of the warm-up drills was when I was able to go down on one knee and pop right back up. It may not have been as smooth as many others, but it's the first time I was able to do it successfully. Of course, I was so shocked, that when I went to go down on my left knee, I totally messed up and fell. Oh well, next practice!

The absolute best part of the night was the last 20 minutes or so. We had an all-out scrimmage. Unofficially, the Purple Team won the scrimmage. Go Purple!!! I must say that I've never skated so hard in my life, but it was great to actually skate for a purpose. It's like that magical moment in life when students (usually in 3rd grade or so), go beyond learning to read, and they begin to read to learn. For those students, the light bulb goes on because they realize that there's a purpose for reading. It's not that I dislike the skating and stickhandling drills. I actually really do like them a lot, but when you scrimmage, then the whole point of why you're doing this becomes apparent.

Now, that said, for all the frantic skating I did, I felt like I barely did anything. The best part was getting the puck stickhandling a little and giving a decent outlet pass to Benjamin Salisbury who finished off the play with a nice goal. The big downer of the scrimmage was some wacko goon who somehow misunderstood the No Body Checking Rule. He ran me over pretty well and also hit Salisbury a couple times. He was also careless with his stickwork as well. I'm sure many of you are thinking that we're all beginners and he probably couldn't stop. Yeah, right... except that there were times that he wasn't even skating towards the puck when he would run over us. Goon!

On a totally different note... I had an email asking me what Daryl Evans is like as a coach/instructor. I've got to say, he's awesome. He really does a great job at demonstrating and explaining how to do the different drills. One good example is when he saw some of us having trouble with crossovers. He slowed it down in the demonstration and didn't just focus on what your feet and legs are doing. He talked about what your head and whole body does before you cross the leg over. It was great! I've never felt so stable doing a fast crossover. He's always encouraging and positive in his remarks. I've never had formal training in skating or stickhandling, and I have nothing but positives to say about Mr. Evans. If you're interested in learning how to play hockey, the LA Kings Beginner Workshops are a great way to do it (especially if Mr. Evans is teaching them)!