What I mean by �visualization drills�, is that they are more mental training than they are physical training. You have to learn to become aware of your surroundings and use them as guides and reference points to improve your skating. Also, what is great about these visualization drills is that while you are training your mind to think through the skating process, you are also getting a physical workout and being forced to strengthen your legs at the same time. This combination is something that is at the heart of our power skating methods.

On-Ice Visualization
A good on-ice exercise to practice good skating fundamentals is a drill that helps you with the three main parts of skating: 1) knee bend 2) control/balance 3) stride technique. We call it the �Top of the Boards� drill. The first thing you want to do is stand sideways to the boards, maintaining about a three-foot distance away from them. The boards are going to be used as a guide for proper knee bend.

First, put your heels together with your toes and knees pointed outward, this is your starting position known as the �arrow-tip position.� Then sit your butt straight down until it is parallel with the ice. It is that sitting type position where the boards come into play. You should use the boards as your barometer for how low you should be when you skate. In other words, when you bend the knees to the proper two inches out over the toes of the skates, then you should be about even with the top of the boards (where the glass meets the boards). This varies of course, depending on your size. For example, if you are an average-size, youth hockey player under 12 years old, then you should actually be under the top of the boards when you skate, with you back straight and head up.

Once you get your reference point for proper skating, then skate around the rink at a moderate pace turning your head or looking out of the corner of your eyes every few strides towards the boards making sure that you keep your new found position. This is a great mental and physical drill that can be used during practice, public skating, etc. This drill can also easily be done on your inline skates by simply picking a focal point outside, such as a point on a wall, etc. to remind you of where you should be bending your knees to.

Inline Visualization
As a hockey player growing up playing center, I never really thought much, nor did I practice much on my backwards skating. When I started working as an instructor, however, I had to be able to demonstrate all the skating drills, and thus, I set out to thoroughly improve my backward skating ability. So I practiced every day on the ice as well as off-ice on my inline skates to the point where I think that my backward skating is actually better than my forward skating.

I will fill you in on some of the same drills and techniques that I used to improve. For backwards skating the key to success (like everything else) is proper technique combined with repetition and hard work. Remember, backward skating is one foot at a time and you want to get all your body weight on each push, while keeping both feet on the ice.

One of the best training methods for improving backward skating ability is inline skating. This drill I used every day in front of my own house is to skate on a slight incline backwards (up the hill, but nothing that steep), and I would find markers on homes as I skate by, such as window sills, tree limbs, etc., anything I could use to force me to skate lower than what feels comfortable (which is the key to all visualization drills�that you break through your comfort zones).

By skating uphill, I am forcing myself to get all my body weight on each and every push just to simply keep my momentum going. Plus, it forces me to work on my greatest problem as a backward skater, and that is it taught me that I must return my feet all the way back under my body in order to maximize the power over the pushing skate. (By the way, this is probably the most common problem that we see among our students.)

Be sure to maintain your stride until you reach the top of the hill, then glide back down safely, and start over again. You only need to do this for about 15-20 minutes per day to see marked improvement in your leg strength, as well as your backward skating stride and technique.

Off-Ice Visualization
To improve your skating at home you can find a place where there is a standing mirror and get in front of it in proper skating position. Now, to practice your forward stride, begin in the arrow-tip position, step out to the side and return the leg back to the middle. Start off doing three sets at 30 seconds each set, increasing the time as the drill gets easier to do. This is a great exercise for building up leg strength as well as improving your skating technique. And this can be used for all skating techniques, not just the forward stride technique, do the same for crossunders, starts, stops, etc.

There are many visualization exercises that can be used to better your skating ability. But always remember that you should try to maintain proper skating techniques and fundamentals. If you work hard, but do so with incorrect technique, then you will only be improving the wrong way. Therefore, change the old saying, �practice makes perfect,� to sound something like this, �PERFECT practice makes perfect.�

Mark runs Robby Glantz International Power Skating schools throughout the world. He has worked with all levels of players including NHL professionals. His credits include the L.A. Kings, Phoenix Roadrunners, New Mexico Scorpions, as well as German National players. Visit the Robby Glantz website at www.robbyglantz.com..