Kathleen begins her lesson with two athletes by having them warm up mohawks in both directions. After watching them do the drill down the ice, she asks them to “sit on the back inside edge a little longer” to produce more power in the stride off the mohawk.
“Push, sit low” is Kathleen’s mantra to produce an actual push and not just a step through the exercise. If done properly the exercise should cover a lot of ice.
To fine-tune the mohawk, Kathleen wants to see the feet come together instead of remain far apart, with established balance during the move. She explains that this will help produce more of a push back to the line.
The next level of the drill is to add striding, with forward to backward mohawk into three quick strides. She wants to see this cover more ice and have more of a zig-zag motion. The purpose of this is to simulate gameplay, where a player rarely starts striding from a standstill.
To polish up one of her student’s technique, Kathleen reminds her to first find balance. Combining getting down low and engaging the shoulders into the stride, the athlete should naturally find more power in the drill.
Kathleen states that this fine-tuning will help create beneficial habits that will automatically serve during gameplay.
In order to assist her skater, Kathleen holds onto the horizontal hockey stick and skates with her student. She clarifies the direction she wants the push to be – back towards the line. Figuring out the proper direction and balance is the first step to mastering this drill.
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