Practice makes adequate

Alright, had a big day today.  Kid had been on Thanksgiving break all last week, which made it tough to get away too much.  Today he went back, and I got some stuff done. Hockey stuff.

I hit the local Play It Again Sports, figuring if they had anything at all in my size, it was a win.  They had two things in my size.  A pair of very nice gloves for $50.  That's a good deal for the quality of glove, but I can spend ~$40 for a new pair at the low end, and low end is fine with me and I'm trying to keep this down to a minimum.  (I had read that you could fill out your non-skates equipment for ~$250-300 if you shop cheap and/or used. From what I've been seeing out there, that's pretty optimistic).

The other thing they had in my size was a pair of shin pads for $25.  That's not a fantastic bargain for something that goes for $35 new, but they looked to be in decent enough shape so I went with it.  Plenty of scuff marks, but the only part that I could ever see breaking down would be the straps, which could easily be fixed if needed.

Then tonight, I was looking for good Cyber Monday deals and was intrigued with Ice Warehouse. They stocked the lowest-end of most models, which isn't always true of other web sites.  And they offered free overnight shipping on orders of $50 or more to California residents.  Their Cyber Monday deal was 25% off.

I snapped up a pair of elbow pads and gloves.  (Bauer Vapor X60, black for the gloves and Easton Synergy 20 for the elbow pads, if anyone cares) to get me over the $50 minimum.

So all told, I spent $85.02 and picked up three pieces. Let's keep a running total to see how well I do. For protective equipment, I still need a helmet, mouth guard, shoulder/chest pads, jock and hockey pants.  I'll also need practice jerseys (one dark and one light), hockey socks, an equipment bag and the various tapes.  Oh, and duh, a stick.  You really can't buy the helmet used, and I plan on getting a full cage because I just have no intention of dealing with the dental calamities.

OK, what else did I do today. Oh yeah, I actually skated. That's kind of important too.

I bought a pair of ultra-thin socks and that solved my skate problems.  There had been a nasty pinching right behind the toes in my right skate that was causing all kinds of problems, but the thinner sock made it all go away.  I skated for 95 minutes and the only pain I felt was ordinary "feet are not used to balancing on a thin piece of metal for 95 minutes" aching.

The skate went extremely well and left me feeling buoyant and excited for my second class in two days.  Some things I worked on:

1) My main goal was to work on the one-foot snowplow stop, which was the primary focus of the first class.  I spent the entire skating around the rink and stopping 4-6 times on every circuit.  At first, I alternated feet, and then I started to do the left a bit more just because it's my off foot and doesn't come quite as naturally.

The move involves gliding forward, then placing one foot slightly in front of the other and turning the point of your tow inward, and using the resistance this creates to scrape to a stop.

I would say that I definitely became adequate at this move.  I could do it almost every time and stop with success, even at what for me is a higher speed.  By the end, maybe one time out of 10 I'd start to catch an edge wrong and have to abort, but even then I felt it right away and recovered.  Watching the videos on it over and over again really helped, as did just raw repetition.

It really hinges on putting your weight in the right place.  Well, first, you have to become comfortable enough that you can glide straight. The very first time I stepped on the ice, those many weeks ago, I was too wobbly ankled to do much of anything.

Then, during class when I struggled with it, I was leaving too much weight on my back (straight) foot and not the stopping foot.  You need to push down with your stopping foot.  I was trying to do this on the edge as well, and you actually do this on the flat of your blade (the middle, not on either the inside or outside edge).

And finally, you need to be pushing down with the toe and distribute your weight there. This is the final key. I'm sure the instructor mentioned it in class, but watching the YouTube videos really reminded me.  And you can tell the difference immediately if you don't.  If your weight is on your heel, you start to turn in the direction your stopping skate is facing.

Instructor said at the end of class "I'll know who has been practicing it and who hasn't in two weeks." I'm pretty excited to be on the good side of that ledger.

2) I worked on general technique while skating forward.  This meant getting low into a hockey stance (meh, I'm trying, but new skaters always need to get and stay lower than they are. It's rough on the back), taking smooth strides that start with the heel and then push through to the toe (50/50.  Sometimes I would do it right and I could feel how well it worked, and a lot of times I wouldn't and would get a lot less push for my effort.  Right foot is better and more consistent than left foot), and gliding with my weight properly balanced.  Like most new skaters, I was tensing my feet, curling my toes and putting too much weight forward.  This was definitely contributing to the foot pain.  I focused on keeping my feet relaxed and the weight more centralized, and I could definitely tell when I was doing it right and how much better it felt and smoother I moved.

The term "benders" is a somewhat derogatory term for new skaters who can't keep their ankles straight.  When you let your ankle bend to one side or the other, your skate is no longer pointing straight down and you scrape on your edge instead of gliding on the flat.  I'm up to the point where I'd say 90% of my skating is with my ankles locked.  Once in a while I'll let it slip and can immediately hear the scrape and feel the lost momentum.

3) I practiced shifting my weight back and forth between my feet, letting myself glide on one foot with the other off the ice.  At first, I couldn't do it for more than a split-second. By the end of the session, I could do 2-3 seconds with my right foot and 1-2 with my left.  A lot of more advanced maneuvers involve being comfortable with your weight entirely on one skate, so this is just scratching the surface of getting used to that.

4) At least once or twice for each circuit, I made an attempt at a crossover start.  The instructor very briefly showed it to us in class and implied it would become more important in later classes.  After watching a bunch of videos and practicing the footwork at home, I'm not particularly close to getting it right.   Today's attempts mostly involved me slowly crossing my foot over, managing to not fall, then twisting around and facing forward with no momentum.  Will keep trying.

Another thing that made a difference today is that I wasn't afraid to stop and take a 2-3 minute break when I needed it.  This let my feet rest and gave me the chance to skate almost the entire open session, something I hadn't been able to do before.  It's definitely a workout. I'm still hoping to lose 20 pounds by next spring, which would probably help my skating and such considerably.

Breaking in

I've been watching Youtube videos of different skating techniques.  Most of them have been rewatched several times. It's not a substitute for actual practice, but I think it is helping.

The family took a trip to the rink today, and I got to get out on the ice for the first time in my brand new skates.

I had a lot of trouble getting my foot into them, and then when I got out on the ice, I felt like my foot was breaking in half before I'd even made it an entire lap around (public skate got the entire length of the Olympic size ice, which was fun).

I skated off and realized that maybe going through and methodically tightening the laces a few nights ago was probably a poor idea and I should have left the laces roughly where the salesman had.  I loosened the laces significantly and got my foot back into them much easier.  There was still some pain as I skated, but it was noticeably less.  Roughly equal to what I felt in rental skates.   It was also less when I used proper technique, balancing on the right part of my foot for whatever I was trying to do.

I'm *hoping* that just means they need to be broken in more.  I'll try wearing them around the house in guards a little bit each day until the next time I can go out.  I'm hoping it doesn't mean that I'm in a half-size too small.

The actual skating? It wasn't half bad.  I was out there for an hour and I once again managed to not fall.  I worked on:

1) Keeping myself off my edges when gliding. This was especially problematic on my left foot, which is my off side as I'm right-handed.

2) Balancing on each foot while gliding, shifting the weight from one side to the other. Again, I was better with my right foot than my left, but by the end of the session I was doing better on my left foot too.

3) Doing a proper accelerating push-off while staying low in a hockey stance. Same old story: Way better on my right foot getting the skate turned and pushing back with an edge.

4) Stopping. I tried the one-footed stop we learned in class and the two-footed snowplow stop I saw in a video (feet turn in and slowly spread the legs).  Both worked perfectly about half the time and not at all the other half.

New skates!

I've already taken my first hockey-related injury, and it wasn't one I expected, but more on that in a minute.

I drove seven minutes down the road to Anaheim to the Hockey Giant superstore, ready to buy my first pair of skates.  Only been on the ice once so far, but the instructor advised getting them as soon as possible rather than learn bad habits overcoming rental skates.  Who am I to argue?

Nine-year-old me spent every visit to Wal-Mart in the sporting goods section admiring the quarter-aisle of hockey equipment.  He probably would have fainted at going to an entire large warehouse store devoted perfectly to hockey. The six-year-old kidlet really enjoyed it.

After lots of reading and research online, I had targeted the $200 price range.  The bottom end of skates (~$75) are meant for very light recreational skating and only last about a year.  Next up is a tiny bit hardier, but the blades are not replaceable and that's the first part to wear out.  $150 and you start getting into skates designed to last long-term for rec players, and the $200 versions tend to be a bit sturdier and thus better for a guy weighing 200 pounds.  More expensive skates are for better athletes who want to shave tiny amounts of weight, get protection from harder shots, and have boots that can withstand their ripply athlete leg muscles pushing on them.

It took about 20 minutes to get a salesman's attention, but that was understandable because there were several other people buying skates at the same time.  Once we did, I was quite impressed.  He measured my foot, and told me we should look at size 6.5 skates. I wear 9.5 shoes, so conventional wisdom said I would wear a 7.5 to 8 skate, so now I'm doubly glad I didn't buy online.

I had two that I wanted to try on just because I liked the looks of them. He said he would pull those, but also recommended a third that he thought would fit best because I apparently have slightly wide, flat feet.  Not enough to push me from regular width to special wider boots, but this brand is slightly wider than the ones I had looked at and he thought the fit would be better.

I tried on my two choices first, and they seemed nice enough.  Then I tried his suggestion and I knew immediately it was right.  I had read online about how skates should feel, and it's hard to know until you actually try them on, but these checked all the boxes.  Firm grip on my ankle, toes brushing the front of the boot when I sat, solid but not painful pressure all around my foot.

So I made my choice:  Bauer 160 Supreme

He took them back to "bake" them, a process by which skates are heated to make the inner plastic softer, then put on so that they mold to your feet while they cool, providing a perfect fit.  I knew this was something they did, but I wasn't prepared for how dang hot they really were.  I was sweating profusely, and later I was able to take my socks off and confirm: I had small burn marks in several spots on my feet. My first ice hockey injury is a burn. Who saw that coming?

I wandered around the store a bit while they were sharpened.  Tried on some of the equipment just to see how it felt and laughed at the prices.  I will definitely be buying most of the rest of my equipment, which I won't need for awhile, used.  Not that the store was overpriced, that's the going rate for new equipment.

I did end up picking up a pair of blue canvas skate guards with foam bottoms.  I wonder if the guards would make it acceptable to practice my footwork on carpet, or should I just wear them sparingly at the rink to preserve the blades? I'll look around online.  I have already added footwork practice to my daily exercise routine, and keep watching the Youtube videos on stopping and crossover starts to really try to watch how they do it.

All in all, I really want to give Hockey Giant a glowing review.  The salesperson was knowledgeable, friendly and helpful, and knew exactly how to get me into a skate I was very happy with.

The Plan

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." An old saying, attributed to many different generals who probably all said it at various times.  I've got a plan on how this is all going to work. Who knows how it will all end up working out, but it's nice to have a baseline to plan around.

The Rinks at Anaheim offers an 8-week Adult Intro to Hockey Skating class, and I had my first class tonight.  The follow-up to that class is Adult Intro to Hockey Skills, which is another 8-week class where they introduce sticks and pucks and all that jazz.  That session would run through Jan. 30.

That should set me up to play in the spring session of the rec leagues they run at the rink, starting with the Rookie League, designed for people who have just finished the two sets of classes.  Then I'll spend the summer in Copper, the follow-up to rookie, and then finally I hope to move on to Bronze, the lowest of the regular rec leagues, where I'd like to plant my flag for awhile before settling into the 35-and-over leagues that I'll be eligible for in a mere two years (eww).

As mentioned in the previous post, I think I'm going to need my own pair of skates right away. I'm not sure if I want to buy a cheap pair to get me through the 15 remaining weeks of classes, or go straight to a nicer pair that I hope to last me well into regular play.

When I learned to play chess, it was tactics that was the absolute key to getting from rank beginner to strong amateur status. The parallel in hockey seems to be skating.  Fancy moves and powerful shots are fun and all, but being able to skate well and stay in position seems to be what sets improving players apart.  So I plan to really focus on these skating classes, and hit as many public skate times as I can in the meantime. At least one a week, two when I can.

After that, I've got until the end of the two sets of classes to do two things: Get myself into playing shape and acquire all the equipment.

I'm not in terrible shape. I do regular weightlifting and spent most of last year on a pretty epic cardio program that had me exercise biking 40-60 miles a day.  But I could definitely stand to lose 20 pounds, maybe 30 if I wanted to be particularly cut. I also want to focus on building some extra lower-leg strength to help with all that skating.

The equipment should be a fun hunt.  It's not cheap, and that's definitely a theme for this hobby.  Each set of lessons for an 8-week period cost $100.  I'm going to drop at least $200 on skates, maybe more. Once you get into league play, it's $500 for a four-month season that covers 16 games.

But outside of skates, you are encouraged to look for bargains and buy used on the rest of the equipment.  I need a helmet and cage, stick, shoulder pads, gloves, hockey pants, shin pads, jock and mouthguard.  Plus some miscellaneous stuff like stick tape.  I'm hoping I can get all that for $250 total, which would require some serious bargain hunting, but I've got a few months to do keep an eye out, and that makes it a fun challenge.  I'm not sure if it will work in my favor or not that I'm only 5-7.  That means that the most common sizes for adults are going to be big for me, but maybe that means there won't be as much competition for used stuff in my size.

First class

Well, I can't say anymore that I've never ice skated! I'm still buzzing from the adrenaline high.

I got to the Anaheim ICE rink quite a bit early, just because I'd never been there before and wanted to have plenty of time to look around. The facility was pretty nice, right in the middle of downtown Anaheim. Parking would have been free up to two hours, but I got there so early and stayed a bit late and ended up paying $5.  That's pretty reasonable.

They have two rinks there, an Olympic size and an NHL size.  The NHL size was being used for some sort of hockey practice (wasn't the Anaheim Ducks, although they do practice there).  The Olympic was used for lessons and later a public skate.  There was a snack bar, and a pro shop that I assume was overpriced because pro shops always are.

I checked in a half-hour before my 7 p.m. class, got my rental skates, went to the benches outside the  Olympic rink and watched all the kids taking their lessons.  The ice was coned off into six strips, the nearest to me was kids beginning hockey skating.  I felt bad for one kid who clearly had skates a size or two too large, but the rest of them seemed to be doing it.



They zamboni'd the ice at 6:55, then it was time to go.  One-third of the area was partitioned off for lessons, the other two-thirds was public skating.  At first, there was only three of us, but within 10 minutes it had filled up to about a dozen.

The instructor told me that if I had never been on the ice before, I might want to shift over to the beginning skating class right next to us.  I told him I'd risk it, and if I wasn't keeping up, I could always shift over, and he said that was fine.  He highly advised me to buy my own hockey skates ASAP rather than relying on rentals, and I think he's definitely right. More on that in a minute.

He showed us two basic moves, and said we'd be working on them pretty much the entire length of the 8-week class.  A cross-over start, and a one-foot stop.  The crossover start involves turning sideways to the direction you are going, leaning on your edges in that direction, pushing off with your back foot as it crosses over the front foot, then twisting and pushing off with the front foot as you go off in the direction you aim with presumably the momentum of both pushes there to help you.  The one-foot stop involves putting your weight on one foot, gliding on both edges, then turning in the other foot and putting it slightly in front of you, allowing the inside edge to scrape the ice and slow you down.

The class ended after 30 minutes, and he encouraged us to go over to the public skating part of the ice and continue practicing what we learned. I eagerly obliged, and really enjoyed skating in circles and testing how well I could get moving and turning.  I had little problem weaving in and out of traffic, and managed to keep going the entire time without falling or running into anyone, so I consider that a major victory.  I even took out my phone and took a video skating a lap, although I thought I was holding the camera a lot steadier than I actually was.  At the very end you can see my feet as I try one of the one-foot stops from class.

After half an hour, the zamboni came out again, and then there would have been another hour of public skate, but I decided to call it a night. I'm getting over a cold and was starting to cough pretty good in the cold air, and I didn't want to start hawking loogies at my unsuspecting fellow skaters.  I drove home happy and exhausted and sore.

I definitely agree with the coach that the rental skates were holding me back. They were snug in the middle of the foot, but loose in the ankle and toe, neither of which is ideal.  I don't exactly have an expert feel, but the blades felt dull and had trouble cutting through the ice and scraping when needed. I stopped at one point and sat on the hockey benches so I could clear all the shavings that had accumulated on them, which was interfering with my skating.

There's no lesson next week due to Thanksgiving, so that gives me two weeks to go out and get my own skates, and I intend to do so. I had planned on getting by with rental skates for the duration of my lessons, and laying down some cash for quality ones once I was ready to start playing.  Now I'll either move that purchase up, or by myself some cheap ones that can just get me through the lessons and then by the nice ones before I start skating for real.

I hope to get at least a couple of public skates in between now and the next lesson. Tomorrow morning, I'm taking both of older nephews (four years old each, closing in on five) to their first skating lesson.  I should be able to hit the public skating for half an hour while they learn, and it'll be fun.

Five hours to ice time

When I was nine years old, I remember seeing a hockey game late at night on cable TV and thinking it looked kinda cool.  The next day was the scholastic book fair, and I saw a book with a picture of a hockey player on the front. Flipping through, it was a biography of Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player of all time. It turned out he and I had the same birthday.  That meant it was fate: I had to become a hockey player.

I played a lot of street hockey as a kid, but my dreams of playing professionally ended when I found out a year or two later that 5-7 was almost always too short for the NHL and generally hockey players were exceptional athletes. But my fandom stayed with me. The name of this blog is a reference to me putting myself in the Create-A-Player for EA Sports NHL '94 for Sega Genesis, always wearing jersey number 61 (a reverse of my favorite player, Brett Hull).  I listened to the Roenick-era Blackhawks on the radio every game. When I was in my early 20s, I moved from Illinois to North Dakota to take a prep sportswriting job just to get a chance to cover high-school hockey.  I lived through the lean years of the Blackhawks, the Jocelyn Thibault and Arnason-Bell-Calder lines, and loved them every step of the way.  And yes, it's been pretty sweet to see them win three Stanley Cups.  My son, born the August before their first, is named Patrick Jonathan after their two best players.

But there's one thing I've never actually done: Lace up a pair of skates and hit the ice.

I'm in Orange County, California, now, and there are some opportunities here that I haven't seen before. So I'm going to become a hockey player, and I'm using this blog to keep track of it.  I signed up for an 8-week Adult's Intro to Hockey Skating class at The Rinks of Anaheim, and the first class is tonight.  The follow-up to that class is an eight-week hockey skills class, and then you are allegedly ready to play in their introductory rec league. My ultimate goal is to become an acceptable rec-level player, able to play in the regular rec leagues without being an embarrassment or drag on the team.  No. 61 is stepping out of the video games and into real life.