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

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

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

The PowerSlide Hockey Slide Board Allows you to Imitate a Skating Motion while Developing Other Skills

A while back I was talking to one of my coaching buddies about some of the cool off-ice training equipment that is available these days. I mentioned something about combining a hockey slide board with a stickhandling skill pad, and how it would be cool to be sliding back and forth while stickhandling, passing, shooting, or anything else.

At the time I thought my idea was completely original… but, it turns out that innovative hockey coaches have had their players doing this for years!

What You Get, and Set-up:
So… here’s what I did. I picked up the PowerSlide slide board from HockeyShot. It’s a really high quality slide board that is portable, so you can take it places; adjustable, so you can use with athletes of various sizes and abilities; durable, so it’ll hold up to a lot of usage; and super grippy, so it won’t slide around on you.

The first thing I did was watch the free DVD that came with the PowerSlide. The DVD was very helpful for instructions on putting the PowerSlide together, but the exercise instructions and demos were a little weak to be totally honest. You’ll be better off just using your own creativity to develop your own set of exercises. Plus, as a hockey player or coach, I’m sure you’ve got no shortage of skating drills that can be transferred to the PowerSlide!

Set up was a breeze. I unrolled the PowerSlide, attached the adjustable end piece so that it was a good length for me, tightened it down, and I was all set.

The PowerSlide consists of two end-piece assemblies (where you’ll be pushing off from), and a flexible slide mat. There’s an interesting design feature that I quite like on the PowerSlide. The end piece assemblies aren’t just flat, like most other slide boards. They are made using solid rubber “ramps” that enhance the grip underneath the slide board, and improve the pushing angle of your stride. This feature allows you to stride really hard, but stay very stable in the process.

The PowerSlide also comes with a carrying bag, and a set of booties to wear over-top of your shoes.

My Experience:
I decided to use my PowerSlide on top of my Dryland Flooring Tiles, which gave me tons of room for stickhandling and passing. It worked REALLY well! The only thing that surprised me was that the PowerSlide was SO grippy that they were causing the Dryland Tiles to shift a little bit against the garage floor!

Once I slid the tile set-up into the corner, it anchored itself down a bit better, and I didn’t slide anymore.

Using the PowerSlide was amazing… not only was it a lot of fun, but it was a FANTASTIC workout! In fact, you can see a bit of sweat on my face at the end of my video review What’s even better though, is that it felt A LOT like the real thing. I was able to work on all sorts of skating, passing, and stickhandling combos, all in the “comfort” of my own garage!

Conclusion:
This was one of the funnest, most realistic set-ups I’ve had the chance to mess around with, and I definitely recommend adding this to your Home Hockey Training Center.

If you decide to pick up the PowerSlide, I would HIGHLY recommend grabbing a few other items while you’re at it… Here’s a quick list for you:

1. Dryland Flooring Tiles or Roll-up Shooting Pad (both have HUGE surface areas)
2. A few stickhandling pucks or balls
3. Attack Triangle
4. Sweethands
5. Extreme Passer

Yes, you’ll spend a bit more upfront, but it will make your experience a lot more worth while in the long run.

Technorati Tags: Buddies, Creativity, Design Feature, Exercise Instructions, Exercises, High Quality, Hockey Coach, Hockey Coaches, Hockey Player, Innovative Hockey, Interesting Design, Powerslide Slide Board, Ramps, Skating Drills

The Extreme Passing Kit is a Great Way to Incorporate Passing into your Off-Ice Workouts

Passing is a skill that most players don’t think about working on away from the rink. The main reason they don’t think to work on passing is pretty obvious: because you need a partner to pass to, and to receive passes from… Unless, of course, you have the Extreme Passing Kit.

Overview:
The Extreme Passing Kit is a really cool skill pad & passing rebounder combo, that will let you work on multiple skills such as regular passes, touch passes, and one-time shots.

The Extreme Passing Kit comes in two different models, the One-Timer Model (which you see in this video), and the Bungee Cord Model. The only difference between the two is that the rebounder is removable in the One-Timer Model, and can be mounted onto another shooting pad, or even your dryland flooring tiles. This feature gives you a little more flexibility than you have with the Bungee Cord Model.

On the Bungee Cord Model, the rebounding bungee is mounted right onto the skill pad, making the unit completely self contained (which has it’s benefits as well, in my opinion).

Both models use the 4×8′ roll-up shooting pad (huge!), which is light weight, durable, and portable. You can easily roll it up for storage when you aren’t using it, or pack it in the car to bring it to a new dryland training location.

My Experience:
The Extreme Passing Kit comes already rolled up for you. When I first unboxed mine, it had retained the shape of being rolled up (which is to be expected), and I had to sort of “pry” it open and “reverse roll” it a bit on the ends to keep it from rolling back up on me. I let it sit out on my driveway in the hot sun for about an hour, and it flattened right out.

Once the shooting pad had flattened out, I mounted the rebounder to one end (it just clamps on), and went to town!

One thing you’ll notice about the Extreme Passing Kit is that it works really well with pretty much any type of puck. I’ve used mine with regular black pucks, FlyPucks, and Green Biscuits, all of which slide really well, and stay flat off the rebounder. In fact, the pucks stayed flat enough that I was actually able to work some one-touch passes as well (which actually surprised me a little).

Conclusion:
In conclusion, the Extreme Passing Kit is definitely a worthwhile product to add to your Home Hockey Training Center. It is well built, versatile, portable, and the surface area of the skill pad is big enough to use it for shooting, stickhandling, or passing.

Technorati Tags: Buddies, Bungee Cord, Clamps, Coach, Coache, Conclusion, Defenseman, Defensive Stance, Dimensional Model, Dryland Training, Flexibility, Flooring Tiles, Hassle, Hot Sun, Incorporate, Kit Overview, Models, Puck, Real Player, Realistic Experience, Self Contained, Shape, Skates, Storage, Time Shots, Timer, Token Resistance, Training Tool, Triangle, Triangles, Workouts