Ice Hockey - Skate Forward and Backward Pump Drills

Hi, my name is Geremi Weiss and I have been in figure skating for all my life. I was a International gold medalist in figure skating. My mom and dad were Olympic and National Level gymnast. My younger brother is two-time Olympian, Michael Weiss. So, I have a lot of background on the ice and off the ice as well. I have been in fitness my whole life. I have done gymnastic, skating, and at the age of 16 I started teaching hockey skating drills to a local hockey league. At this point were here today at the at the Reston SkateQuest in Virginia, where were going to be learning basic hockey skating drills. Currently I teach on ice hockey drills, figure skating on the ice, and I also teach off the ice sports conditioning. So, today were going to be doing basic hockey drills. So, our first drill is going to be with my student Raya (ph), and she is going to show us what is a forward pump. So, were just going to go across the ice here, pumping right and left, make sure you bend your knees, there you go, all the way across. Good, pushing right, pushing left, pushing right, excellent, and turning around, other way, make sure you lift up your chest, good, and bend the knees, pushing right and left, and thats called a forward pump. She is using her inside edges, do it again for me, she is using her inside edges to push. She is getting a power off of her right foot and a power off of her left foot, and then she is gaining speed as she comes this time, pushing faster and faster. Excellent! That is our basic hockey skating forward pump. Were going to learn a backward pump. We start with our feet wide. This is Raya, she is going to show you some drills as well. We set with our feet wide, we bend our knees and we begin to pump backward, so lets show that, go ahead and come backwards; good, side-to-side, pushing right, pushing left, good, backward stop, and turn around. Same thing with backwards, keeping your shoulders lifted, bend your knees and shift your weight side-to-side, excellent. One more time for me, start slow, push right, push left, and then begin to gain speed as you go. One more time, lift and open your chest and bend the knees, sink down low to the ice, keeping the weight in the center of the foot towards the front. Excellent, very good, that is called a backward pump. It is one way that hockey skaters are using their defensive mechanism here, when theyre defending someone, its a one way of skating backward, this is called a backward pump.