The trick to skating is in bending the knees

This helps the skater to maintain balance

THE BEGINNER:By DEBBIE CHAN
debbie@thestar.com.my 

IF there was ever a book written about ways to skate like a professional, it would only be a one page handbook with three words in bold – Bend Your Knees.  

Throughout my practise sessions, the instructors repeatedly drilled that phrase into my head, emphasising how important it was to bend my knees while skating because it helps maintain balance.  

Bending the knees also means lowering your body’s centre of gravity and it reduces the likelihood of a skater falling. A tip to remember is to bend your knees and put your hands on the knee-cap whenever you feel wobbly. 

Basic moves: Debbie manoeuvring the stick and keeping control of an imaginary puck while skating around the rink.

To add a little spice to my skating lessons, I joined my instructors in one of their inline skating hockey sessions.  

The team, Underdogs, travel to Singapore twice a year to play in different leagues, as there are currently no inline hockey leagues in Malaysia.  

Playing hockey requires me to learn several new techniques like being able to skate in circles and turn swiftly. The players also use a different technique to stop when they are in a hockey game.  

My instructor Steven Tan taught me the basic move of skating in circles by shifting my body weight onto one leg and using the other to push out against the direction that I want to turn to.  

Tan also said that most people have one ''lazy'' side which they find hard to maintain balance. It turns out that my ''lazy'' side is the left leg so I had to try very hard to learn to skate in a circle towards the right. And once again, Tan repeatedly asked me to bend my knees lower as I was going round and round trying to perfect my turning. 

For safety: Debbie getting a lesson in putting on the right gear as this helps to prevent injuries.

Other than the techniques, the gear that the hockey players use are also very different from the conventional skating gear.  

On top of the usual elbow, knee and hand protection gear, the players also pad up at their chest and shins, as the game is fast paced and accidents might happen. Hockey players also use a different kind of helmet, which is shaped to give more protection to the head. 

Next, Tan gave me a crash course on handling the hockey stick. I felt more comfortable holding the stick with my left hand so I was categorised as a left-hander in the hockey game.  

The sticks are different for left and right-handed players. The proper way to hold a hockey stick is with one hand at the end of the stick and the other at elbow-length of the first hand. The hockey blade must lay flat on the floor with no gaps to keep the puck in control. 

The first exercise that I had to learn was to manoeuvre the stick to my left, right and centre with an imaginary puck so that my wrist would get used to the movement.  

Tan also explained that the hockey stick was not only to control the puck but also to help maintain balance during the game.  

Players can use their hockey stick for support like a walking stick and they can also practise skating small swift circles around the stick.  

I learnt that the easiest way to shoot a puck is the flat shoot. It is a basic move of placing the hockey blade flat on the floor and pushing the puck to the front. A few practise swing later, Tan offered to let me try shooting with Michael Chen, an instructor, as the goalkeeper.  

For the rest of the session, I practised manoeuvring the stick and keeping control of the puck while skating around the rink. I realised that while I was focused on the puck, I had forgotton my fear of falling while on skates and I could actually skate faster and better.  

The session definitely helped me gain more confidence for the big challenge of Subang Jaya 10 KM Run.  

The skaters group for their hockey session every Tuesday night at the open tennis court in Taman SEA and most of my instructors conduct skating classes every Saturday afternoon in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.  

I will be attending these sessions to brush up on my skating and learn more new techniques for the big challenge so to all skaters or beginners out there, come join me!  

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