QuickStickz is a Fun and Effective way to Develop Stickhandling Ability

I’ve been really excited to get this post out, and let you know about a cool product called QuickStickz. QuickStickz is an innovative new way to work on your stickhandling abilities off the ice, and it’s a lot of fun too!

A few months ago I was invited to take a look at QuickStickz, which is a video-game-based, hockey stickhandling development system. I had seen the product before, but I’d never had the chance to get my hands on one. The idea seemed really cool, so I was excited to see what it was all about.

How it Works:
QuickStickz uses a special infrared camera that connects up to your PC via USB jack. The camera combos up with a customized SmartHockey stickhandling ball, that has been machined out with a whole bunch of tiny reflectors all over its surface. As you stickhandle, the camera picks up the movements of the ball, and sends the signal into the computer, which allows you to see your stickhandling movements on the screen.

Set-up is pretty simple, just plug in the camera, go to the QuickStickz member’s area, and install the plug-in when prompted.

Drills and Games:
Once you’re up and running, just select a drill or a game from the member’s area, and have at it! The drills are designed to help you work on various skills such as tight puck movement, wide puck movement, dekes, toe drags, etc. The games apply these skills in a more dynamic environment.

Member’s Area:
The member’s area is a great way to track your progress. You can check your own stats and progress, or see how your top score compares to other top scores from around the world. The member’s area also tracks how much time you’re spending on QuickStickz. This makes it easy for parents or coaches to check in on the player’s efforts and progress.

Conclusion:
QuickStickz is a great tool to help any player develop his or her stickhandling abilities. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s a product that I think connects with kids on their level. The one weakness of QuickSticks is that it’s fairly sensitive to the ambient lighting in the room you’re using it in. Sunlight badly interferes with the infrared signal put out by the camera, and makes the ball just jump around on the screen. So make sure you close the blinds, and rely on your “artificial lighting” (regular lightbulbs), and you should be just fine!

Technorati Tags: Buddies, Coach, Computer Set, Conclusion, Creativity, Design Feature, Dynamic Environment, Exercise Instructions, Exercises, Fun, Games, High Quality, Hockey Coaches, Hockey Player, Infrared Camera, Innovative Hockey, Interesting Design, Parents, Powerslide Slide Board, Ramps, Reflectors, Score, Skating Drills, Video Game

Perpetual Breakout Drill Mimics Passing Patterns Often Encountered in Games

The Perpetual Breakout is a great drill to develop hockey breakout abilities in a high-tempo, flow and timing setting. Here’s what the drill looks like:

Perpetual Breakout Explanation:

1. “Ghost man” passers start the drill by shooting then picking up a puck behind the net to initiate the breakout
2. Low forward simulates winger, and swings in to pick up board-side breakout pass
3. High forward swings through and acts as the centerman providing middle support
4. winger one-touches to center, who attacks and shoots, then initiates breakout in far zone
5. winger moves to middle line.

NOTE: winger can swing from top down, or from bottom up, depending on your team’s breakout set up.

Technorati Tags: Acts, Angling, Breakout, Games, Ghost Man, Hockey Drill, Mimics, Puck, Skill Level, Swings, Tempo, Winger, Zone 5

Train Yourself to Rely Less on Seeing the Puck

HockeyVision Training Pucks are a great way to train yourself to rely less and less on seeing the puck, which will then allow you to stickhandle with your head up, enabling you to see more of the play.

HockeyVision Training Pucks are white, with a black dot in the middle. The black dot comes in three sizes (large, medium, and small). The idea is to work your way down from the large, more-visible dot to small, less-visible dot, training your eye to not have to see as much of the puck while stickhandling.

These pucks are available in on-ice and off-ice models. The on-ice pucks are made of rubber (same as a regulation puck), and the off-ice ones are made of a high-density plastic (HDPE if I’m not mistaken), which allows them to slide really well on flooring tiles or a skill pad.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Black Dot, Density Plastic, Flooring Tiles, Hdpe, High Density, Models, Puck, Train

Introducing… the Best Hockey Passing Rebounder on the Market!

Over the past few years, a number of Hockey Passing Rebounders have made their way to the off-ice training market. These rebounders offer many fun and effective ways of working on your passing both on and off the ice, and I highly recommend owning one.

The passing rebounder I want to show you in this post is by far and away the best one on the market today. The X-Passer is a heavy-duty, versatile passing rebounder, that has improved on some of the design flaws of other rebounders that are currently on the market. It’s a lot of fun to use, and it works REALLY well. I’m excited to show you what this is all about, so let’s jump straight in!

First Impressions and Design Features:
The first thing that struck me about the X-Passer was it’s weight. This thing is heavy duty! It’s obvious that XHOCKEYPRODUCTS intended this to be used with real pucks, and full-speed passes. The weight and design of the X-Passer make it so you can literally throw it down in the middle of the floor, and fire hard passes at it… and it won’t move around on you. This feature allows you a lot more placement and configuration options, and definitely beats the “clip on” rebounders!

Next, the X-Passer uses a bungee system as its rebounding mechanism. This helps to keep the rebounds true and flat. In fact… it’s almost impossible to have a puck flip up on you, even with HARD passes (something other rebounders have been known to have issues with). So long as you’re sending it in flat, it will always come back at you flat and hard.

Third, the X-Passer has a “retractable spiking system” which allows for easy conversion for on-ice use. All you do is twist the screws in the top of the X-Passer, and spikes pop out the bottom. This feature can open up all kinds of new doors for creativity in practices!

Using the X-Passer:
The X-Passer is a blast to use. It’s a lot of fun when things “just work” the way they’re supposed to. I use the X-Passer to work on pretty much every type of pass; forehand and backhand “cushion and sweep,” touch passes, you can even get creative and combine it with other products to work on your saucer passes!

Conclusion:
A few people have asked me if the X-Passer is worth the higher price when compared to some of the other, “cheaper” rebounders on the market. In my mind, if you’re serious about your off-ice training, it’s absolutely worth paying a premium for a product that is going to work the way it’s supposed to, and last as long as you’ll need it to. When you pick up your X-Passer, that’s exactly what you’re getting!

Technorati Tags: Blast, Configuration Options, Conversion, Creativity, Design Features, Design Flaws, Doors, First Impressions, Full Speed, Heavy Duty, hockey passing rebounder, off-ice hockey passing, Pop, Puck, Pucks, Rebounders, Rebounds, Screws, Spikes, x-passer

The X-Tiles Flooring System Allows you to Build a State of the Art Hockey Training Center, One Piece at a Time!

I was recently introduced to a new hockey dryland tile that I’m really excited about. It’s called the X-Tile, and it’s made by XHockeyProducts (yes, the same company that brought you the X-Passer, and the X-Deviator).

If you’re familiar with XHockeyProducts, you already know they are famous for designing heavy duty, smart, & functional hockey training equipment… and this product is no different!

The X-Tiles are not only an awesome flooring product to give you a slick surface for stickhandling, shooting, and passing, but they’re also a fully integrated, hockey training system that works in tandem with many other products! In this review I’ll be showing you how the X-Tiles work, and sharing my experiences with them.

Unboxing:

My first impression of the X-Tiles was that they are actually a really good weight. You don’t want a product like this to be too flimsy, but at the same time, you don’t want it to be too hard to move around. The X-Tiles are a durable, manageable weight.

Size:

The next thing you’ll notice about the X-Tiles is that they’re huge (2 feet by 2 feet!). I always say “the bigger, the better” when it comes to flooring tiles because you want to have the fewest seems possible.

Assembly:

The X-Tiles are REALLY easy to put together AND take a part. This is a big feature in my opinion because it allows for a degree of portability, and gives you the option to change configurations if you want (a feature I have made use of a few times myself).

The easiest way to put together your X-Tile set-up is to lay it out first to get an idea of where everything is going to sit, then tap it all together with a rubber mallet. In the video above, I put together a 15 tile set-up in about 11 minutes.

Add-ons:

One of the coolest features with the X-Tiles System is that you can add on various pieces of equipment to enhance your experience and work on different skills. Here’s a quick list of add-ons you’ll want to consider:

1. X-Deviator or X-Deviator Mini – hockey stickhandling aid that can be adjusted into multiple configurations
2. X-Tiles Passer – bungee rebounder that snaps into the X-Tiles
3. X-Saucer – awesome device used to work on saucer passes, also built to snap right into your X-Tile set-up
4. X-Tiles Pocket – a “pocket” piece that is designed to hold the X-Deviator in place. Again, built to snap into your X-Tiles set-up

Experience:

As you can see in the video, using the X-Tiles System is A LOT of fun! The tiles are very slick, the seams are very flat, and the pucks slide well on them. The add-ons work really well, and are fully integrated with the tile system. I like the fact that you can easily change configurations or add to your X-Tiles system over time.

The X-Tiles are also pretty “kid proof.” I’ve had my boys using these things every day, and they’ve held up just fine. My kids love it!

Conclusion:

This is definitely a product I stand behind. If you’ve got it in the budget, I’d pick up a few boxes of X-Tiles right up front, along with all the add-ons (check out the Weiss Tech Hockey Package XHockeyProducts has put together). It’s a fantastic training system that is unlike anything else out there. However, the beautiful thing is that you ARE working with a budget, you can just as easily start basic and then keep adding to it piece by piece as you have the funds.

Technorati Tags: Experiences, First Impression, Flooring Product, Flooring System, Flooring Tiles, Hockey Training, Huge 2, Piece At A Time, Portability, Rubber Mallet, Slick Surface, State Of The Art, Stickhandling, Tandem, Tile, Tile Set