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Skating 3 - Backwards Skating Most people, when thinking about backwards skating, tend to think of defensive players, and,while it is true that defenders tend to skate backwards far more often than offensive players, backwards skating is an important skill for the game of hockey. Skating backwards is actually one of the small number of times that the traditional skating rule of keeping your shoulder over your knee, and your knee over your toe, does NOT apply. When skating backwards you still keep your knee and toe aligned, but you need to "sit back" in your stance so that your shoulders do not actually come far enough forward to cover your knee. A good way to picture this is to imagine that you are sitting on a stool, with you feet just able to be placed flat on the ground - if you lean your shoulders forwards you will fall off the stool. The most common error people make when skating backwards is to lean too far forwards. If you are in the correct position, you will find that you do not feel like you are going to fall forwards. This also applies when turning sharply while skating backwards. To begin skating backwards, you need to make what is called a 'C' cut in the ice to get moving. To do this you start with your feet together. Turn your right heel outwards so that the toes of your skates are together, but your right heel is at 90 degrees to your left skate. Push with the ball of your right foot so that you start to move backwards. Your weight should be on your left leg. Continue to push with your right foot, moving it around making a 'C' shape until your right heel and left heel are both facing directly backwards. The final part of the 'C' cut should be using the toe section of the blade to push. The reason that you only push your foot around until your heels face backwards is that if you go further, you are no longer pushing yourself backwards, but are in fact beginning to push forwards - not what we are trying to do! Once the push is complete, bring the right foot back next to the left and repeat the whole process, this time with your left foot. This is one way of taking off backwards from a standing start. We will discuss some other methods when talking about sprinting starts in a later article. The backwards skating stride is very similar to that of the forwards one. Both feet start together. Push out to your side with the heel of your skate extending your hip, knee and ankle joints. Like the forwards stride you will first use the heel section of your skate blade, then the middle and finally the toe. Once your leg is fully extended, bring it back underneath you and repeat the stride using the other leg. Remember to keep your knees bent and your back upright throughout the stride. The reasons for pushing out to the side, rather than straight back are explained in the forwards striding article. (Skating Striding) |