At the World tourney I spoke with a couple of the coaches for the US Women's program. They said that they started with the basics - like how to run on the ice. I thought this information would be helpful to a lot of players so I called Coach Casey Gibbons to get more of an outline that I could pass on. Casey compares running on ice to driving a car in snow. If you hit the accelerator hard, all you are going to do is spin. You need to slowly get your self up to speed. The first few steps are short & soft with the the entire sole. Not high knees and not running on your toes. It is comparable to an elliptical machine. Feet stay close to the ice and you move them with a gliding/swinging motion rather than lifting your legs high like a sprinter. After 3-4 steps you can open up and increase your speed. Give it a try!
Technique for running on ice!
