At last! A book that focuses on the development of individual hockey skills and promotes a mastery of body positioning, skating and stick work. Learning these skills gives players a strong fundamental understanding of how to move effectively on the ice in any gameplay situation.
Play Better Hockey: 50 Essential Skills for Player Development Ron Davidson
The skills are organized in four sections: Fundamentals, Skating Techniques, Stick Work, and Dekeing and Deception. As the reader progresses through a chapter, the level of difficulty of each skill increases, ultimately covering every fundamental move and technique needed for an outstanding and total comprehension of the play. Davidson's progressive-learning approach teaches beginners the proper techniques, hones the skills of intermediate-level players and challenges elite players with the additional skills they need.
They are dedicated to providing athletes with the proper training and tools necessary to help improve your fundamental skills, offensive and defensive moves, and overall game in a fun and motivating environment. In 2016, EHB directed over 50 Nike Basketball Camps across eight southeastern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) with over 3600 players in attendance! Join EHB and Nike Basketball Camps today and take your game to the highest level!
"He was a hardworking, tough player who scrapped his way to a 14-year playing career," the respondent said. "He overcame every barrier, just to get a sniff. He has experience running power skating and skill development programs. Matt Thomas hired him three years ago, and since then, they've been the best team in the Sabres organization."
"He's a hardworking guy, who really cares about his players," one respondent said. "He's also been instrumental in the development for a lot of their young guys. There's nothing pretentious about him. Ryan has a lot of fans in this league."
Early on in Nichol's tenure with Nashville, he handled the player development role by himself. The Predators eventually added more to the staff, and also began promoting Nichol -- yet another example of an ex-player rising in the front office ranks. Nichol has also served as GM of the Predators' AHL affiliate in Milwaukee.
Born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, Gretzky honed his skills on a backyard rink and regularly played minor hockey at a level far above his peers.[5] Despite his unimpressive size and strength, Gretzky's intelligence, stamina, and reading of the game were unrivaled. He was adept at dodging checks from opposing players, and consistently anticipated where the puck was going to be and executed the right move at the right time. Gretzky became known for setting up behind his opponent's net, an area that was nicknamed "Gretzky's office".[6]
The team Gretzky played on at age six was otherwise composed of 10-year-olds.[5] His first coach, Dick Martin, remarked that he handled the puck better than the 10-year-olds.[18] According to Martin, "Wayne was so good that you could have a boy of your own who was a tremendous hockey player, and he'd get overlooked because of what the Gretzky kid was doing."[19] The sweaters for 10-year-olds were far too large for Gretzky, who coped by tucking the sweater into his pants on the right side. Gretzky continued doing this throughout his NHL career.[20]
He was also considered one of the most creative players in hockey. "You never knew what he was going to do", said hockey Hall of Famer Igor Larionov. "He was improvising all the time. Every time he took the ice, there was some spontaneous decision he would make. That's what made him such a phenomenal player."[141] Gretzky's ability to improvise came into the spotlight at the 1998 Olympics in Japan. Then an older player in the sunset of his career, he had been passed over for the captaincy of the team. But as the series continued, his unique skills made him a team leader.
Gretzky learned much about hockey from his father on a backyard rink at his home. Walter Gretzky had been an outstanding Junior B hockey player.[151] He cultivated a love of hockey in his sons and provided them with a backyard rink and drills to enhance their skills.[16] On the backyard rink, nicknamed the "Wally Coliseum", winter was total hockey immersion with Walter as mentor-teacher as well as teammate. Walter's drills were his own invention, and were ahead of their time in Canada. Gretzky would later remark that the Soviet National Team's practice drills, which impressed Canada in 1972, had nothing new to offer him: "I'd been doing these drills since I was three. My Dad was very smart."[152]
Gretzky also credits his coach at the Edmonton Oilers, Glen ("Slats") Sather, as an important influence in his development as a hockey player. Gretzky played for 10 years with the Oilers, with Sather as coach. "It's as if my father raised me until age 17, then turned me over to Slats and said, 'You take him from here.'"[83] 2ff7e9595c
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