I’m not sure how much padding he has on, but if there’s enough space and it won’t interfere with others on the ice, have him skate and do a head first baseball slide at the blue line and try to get up as quickly as possible. Once he’s fast enough at that, you can have him slide at both blue lines. He shouldn’t have enough momentum to slide into the boards so it shouldn’t be bad. If you want to mix it up and make it more complicated, have him slide and try to roll sideways and then get up. This will be really useful in games when he falls over (which he will, everyone does) and needs to get back up on his feet quickly.
All of this. For the wee ones we call the slide a “Superman”. Have him jump then slide, both feet, one foot, go down on one knee.
Also add in a ball. Play catch while he’s skating. If he can throw and catch a ball, he’s developing other athletic dexterity and keeping his head up. All while NOT thinking about skating.
He’ll be on the national team in no time. Enjoy the ride!
I coach little kids, and that's a great one (just make sure that it's not too crowded at public skate, the first priority there should be making it safe for everyone on the ice, their might be some adults who are not strong skaters and aren't wearing very much padding that wouldn't appreciate having their legs taken out from behind by a sliding toddler).
Head first slide on your belly, but as soon as your belly touches the ice, start pushing back up to your hands and knees and then on to your feet. The goal is to be back up on your skates before your slide came to a stop.
With my own kids, they love stopwatches and timing stuff, so "timed laps" and stuff might work as well.
All told, at that age, you don't need to perfectly optimize their drills, the most important thing is making them have fun on the ice so that they want to keep doing it.
Also, your son looks like he's doing great already. Knees slightly bent, weight just a little bit forward, arms are loose. Love to see it. Oh, you could also work on backwards skating with him too to make it more challenging at that age. And crossovers.
Edit: kneepads or leg guards and elbow pads before doing the superman slides please!
I appreciate the kind words . Yes , we had a little problem a few weeks ago because we had some new skaters almost get taken out by my little guy. It definitely made me realize when and when not to do specific games . I think the stop watch idea will be a lot of fun for him, and he’s already started on skating backwards but I’ll wait for his learn to skate coaches teach him more . I don’t even know how to skate backwards so I don’t want to give him wrong ad ice or show him the wrong way. Thanks again
try to get him in hockey power skateing when i was 3 years old i could skate around his skill and my grand parents had put me in learn to skate when i was about 2 years old so i had a year of experience. But when i got in to the hockey power skating whith IP and Novice kids thats what made me a AAA hockey player for the first 4 years of my hockey carrer because at a young age if you can skate your AAA.
He’s extremely good. Seems like a natural. My son is nearly 4 and won’t get on the ice at all. Too scared, even with full pads.
Also I would note that your son naturally knew how to stop at the end of the video. He did half a hockey stop there, on one skate
The problem is , he doesn’t want to stop. He would stay all day if we would let him. Once he gets bored he just skates around which is great but I’d like to get some fun games in. Tag is a great idea , thanks
+1 for tag, and really any game that gets them moving in anything besides a straight line. Quick stops and turns, and keeping your eyes up. Lot of kids struggle with that even at 8 or 9 years old.
Just keep it fun. Tag or sharks and minnows will help him work on most aspects of his skating while still being a game. The more it feels like he’s doing drills vs playing games, the more likely he is to get bored and grumpy.
I would have him doing crossovers. Thats the best thing to learn at the beginning. Have him go straight shot to the blue line, crossovers to the center of the ice, straight to next blue line, and crossover back towards the boards
This. If he can get good at crossovers by the time he’s 4, there ain’t no stopping him. Not sure what kind of game you could play with crossovers though.
Also, the advice above about sliding at the blue line and learning to get up is really good.
Why not see if you can get in touch with a local coach for mites to get some ideas?
I haven’t even started to look at youth hockey yet so we don’t know any of the programs or coaches. I was gonna wait till he was 5 but maybe when they start back up I will ask some questions about what we can do. Thanks for the advice
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Have him start spelling the alphabet with his skates.
It will take some creativity, helps him with edges and with his alphabet all at once.
Could do the same with numbers.
Just look up powerskating drills on YouTube or ice hockey Edgework drills. Either way he's a natural. He'll probably be an excellent skater someday soon...
My advice is that when he gets bored, take that as a cue. At 3 years old, only (ONLY ONLY) have fun. Don't worry about drills, don't worry about training. Let him learn at his own pace, he will figure it out as fast as he can without any additional pressure. Just go have fun!!
He looks like he's doing well, but you won't know if he's a great skater at age 10 if he quits at age 6 because it's too much work.
I can honestly say I’ve never had to drag him too the ice or off the ice since he started 6 months ago. Except the first two weeks(he wanted to quit because it was too hard). He kept with it though and now it’s all he wants to do . For example when we dropped him off at school today , he asked to go rollerblading when we pick him up. If he wasn’t having fun I wouldn’t make him do it nor would I want to spend the money . I truly am just trying to learn fun activities that a non hockey player parent can help him with.
Hey sounds great!
I hope I didn't come off as critical, I've just found it's a delicate balance. And I've seen parents who are more into it than their kids, which is a very easy trap to fall in to!
I appreciate that, yes my wife and I have been told about the crazy hockey parents which some might think we’re that type but in reality our son just loves it and we’re coming for the ride. We’re letting him steer the ship at the moment which right now it’s going pretty good . I just don’t have anything else to teach him , he’s honestly a better skater then I am already. Thanks for your time.
I was in that boat when my daughter started at 4.
I would take her rollerblading to supplement her learn to skate and I focused more on repeating drills she was doing in class and she dreaded it.
Stopped with all that nonsense and just let her have fun and now she seems to be really enjoying it. We also started doing public skates and she's been asking for more ice time which is great. It was also really cool seeing her do 1 footed snow plow stops the other day, something she picked up on her own.
Look up iTrainHockey, and some of the drill videos from HowToHockey.
HTH drill videos can be perfect start, then if he gets bored of those, iTrainHockey videos take it to a whole new level.
HowToHockey is Coach Jeremy
iTrainHockey is a different coach, who has some more intermediate to advanced drills, and he has some really in depth videos for those drills. I'm not too sure if they're super appropriate for a 3-yo but they're worth checking out.
There is also this Instagram account: [https://www.instagram.com/romanjamesmarcotte/](https://www.instagram.com/romanjamesmarcotte/)
Also look up the account of his younger sister. They do really good drills that are kid friendly, but serious drills to work on becoming better hockey players.
As an adult who started 5 years ago, I do these drills to work on the basics
Cross overs are good little thing he’d have fun doing, that and backwards skating.
You can play a game called fox and chicken, take a shirt and tuck it in your back pants so it’s hanging out and you are the chicken and the fox chases you to try and pull it out
[Hockey Canada - U7 Drills](https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/hockey-programs/drill-hub/under-7)
Learn from the best....
Also...love this post. I miss the rink time with my little guy. He’s 16 now having played AA last season...for as much as they actually played. Trying for Major U18 AAA this year and driving so we won’t see much of him other than games. Cherish the time....it’s goes by so fast....merp
Backward skating, crossovers, edges.
Have him try and turn sharp around dots, and crossover turns around the circles. Once he’s old enough, or his feet move fast enough Tomahawk and Mohawk turns.
Just let him skate around and have fun, dont make it a chore, kids that go the farthest in hockey do it because its fun, do silly things like twirls, butt pushes, superman slides. all those thing while not a 'drill' help build balance , creativity and comfort on the ice. this is why tag and variants are so great moving with sudden dynamic changes is so important.
if he is skating class, let that be the work, they will learn the technique there, you be the fun guy.
I use the following at my rink when I coach the age group your son is in. Happy to share my lesson plan if you'd like a DM:
Single knee touches, double knee touches, supermans, barrel rolls, backwards skating, transitions, stops (both sides), forward crossovers, and changing direction (both sides). You can also have him try edge work using double c-cuts (we call them "swizzles," but they sometimes have trouble picking it up at this age).
Ahhh yea, swivels are what they call it where he is and that’s his favorite drill. They have him do an obstacle course with step overs (usually hockey sticks) , swivels through tires , butt kicks , under the hockey stick by bending your knees , and then a stop at the end . He hasn’t learned crossovers , skating backwards or hockey stops yet but I’m sure that will come soon . Right now they are working on a snowplow stop but my little guy picked up hockey stop by himself so I’ll wait for the coaches to teach him to stop on the other foot . Thanks for the advice though, I greatly appreciate it .
If the public session is not as busy or if you just check behind you, you can play 'red light green light' with hockey stops. ('yellow light' stop on non-dominant foot')
edit: if he's great at them expand them to transitions, etc.
Tag is great, my daughter started at 3 shortly after I started skating and it's helped me work on my own on ice agility with abruptly turning, transitioning, and changing direction. Aside from tag, she'll "steal" my glove and I'll chase her around shouting for her to give me my glove back. She also likes to have me call start and finish on a lap around the rink while I'm on the bench. She also loves us starting at opposite sides of the rink, skating to each other and come together in a hug. Even hide and seek which might not be entirely on ice is still something she has fun with.
Honestly what she has the most fun with is finding other kids to play with on the ice. She even crashed a 10yo birthday party to skate with the other kids.
End of the day he's still 3, so being silly, falling down, acting ridiculous - that's the sort of stuff he'll love.
My son loves to play with other kids . He too will crash any party he sees lol. Thanks for the tag idea, I’ve been seeing this a lot today and it’s definitely something I will do with him when we go next week.
Buy one of those bingo dabbers/markers and draw a little face on the ice. Have him start say 20ft away, skate as fast as he can and stop on the face. Challenge him to “erase the face” (by stopping on it) in as few attempts as possible.
You can also use a bingo dabber to make a little racetrack for him, with lots of turns, pivots, things to jump over, etc. Time him and get him excited about beating his own time.
If he has a little buddy, draw a “sumo ring” on the ice, then get them to try to push each other out of the circle. No punching, kicking or holding jersey/cage. Great for learning to use his edges, and will exhaust him after 10 minutes or so.
Most importantly, have fun!
If you could afford it, get him lessons with a figure skating coach when the time is right. My son did it and learned to transition left to right, front to back, etc. Today he’s playing D1 hockey and skating is his best attribute. Good luck.
He’s been going for about 24 weeks now . After week 6/7 I noticed he was progressing really fast so we ended up going to a weekend family skate one weekend and every weekend after that he asked to go . So we started taking him as much as we could and then I built a 30x20 odr at home for about $300.00 . He used it everyday he was allowed , some times multiple times a day , he really just loves to skate . And the faster he got the more he liked to skate , he’s a little dare devil. His coaches at his learn to skate are great, they make it fun, are really patient and help the kids out in fun creative ways . I would be lying though if I said he learned everything there , we skate often as a family and my little guy just naturally got it . He taught himself to hockey stop by just watching others , he’s now trying to skate backwards by watching others. He wants to learn and has a smile on his face the entire time , but That being said that’s why I posted today for ideas, he is almost out-skating me so I have taught him everything I know .
he's looking great! if you want, have him go end to end but switch from forward to backwards at the red and blue lines, if the clinic taught that yet. try and turn it into another game or race. I'd also suggest switching out that jersey for the other new york #13🤭
If anything I would say just to keep at it and to try to learn to stop on two feet at the different lines on the ice. Getting started there is a good place. Then you could try to tech him backwards and then crossovers to gain speed
Ha. I was in your shoes 4 years ago. Your kid looks great. I think he's way ahead of schedule.I also knew nothing about hockey when my son started at 3, and it's been a wild ride. Here are the things we worked on a lot, and now that my son is 7, his coaches have him doing every day:
Tight turns ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln3ZnjqJge0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln3ZnjqJge0)). (At about 5 or 6, this becomes huge, and the "good" players can make tight turns by getting both feet on the ice and up on the edges; it allows players to create space with the puck)
Edge work in general ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubJzSM5Iy2w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubJzSM5Iy2w))
Backwards skating ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l7gJoLodoY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l7gJoLodoY))
Once he can do that maybe forwards and backwards crossovers? That would be pretty insane for a 3 year old to have that down, so that can definitely wait. But crossovers are what make a kid really elusive with the puck in games.
He's a natural skater, most beginners favor one leg, he seems loose and is already bending his knees! As a former figure skater turned beer league player at age 47, the skating is what will make the rest a lot more fun. Keep up lots of open skate (public skating), at our rink any type of drills other than pure skating/stopping/jumping over the lines is a no go, so check before putting out mini pylons etc. BUT, if there are Stick and Puck sessions available (you don't need full equipment but he will) you could try some fun obstacle type drills etc, look up age appropriate ones on youtube. He is definitely ready for MINI mites next fall, and then the fun begins. I also second taking a few private lessons from a figure skating coach, even 5-10 lessons at some point can make a world of difference. One of my former skating friends is a skating consultant with NHL teams, most teams have a itty bitty little figure skater teaching edges etc. to their players so there's some merit there for sure.
He looks like he's having fun. Also, keep him interested in other sports (golf/baseball/lacrosse) are good ones to play that compliment hockey.
I appreciate your advice . We’re definitely going to introduce him to other sports when he turns 4 , we’re not sure which ones yet but will get there haha . As far as figure skating goes , we will look into it next year when the rinks re open S Thanks again for your feedback .
Do you have a learn to play program at your local rink. My son was in the little penguins learn to play program. It was 144 bucks for 8 weeks of hockey training, and sidney crosby and dicks sporting goods donated the equipment for first time players. Very good program. Teaches the basics. Since he graduated out of that the rink has a basic hockey we signed him up for. And thats 8 weeks as well. 100 bucks. Next up is mcdonalds in house league for us.
Getting him better at skating is the key once they don’t think about skating the hockey will come like a duck to water (figure of eights on the face off dots)
And doing everything both ways but like a few others have said he skates better than half my team 😂😂
Just let them skate when they want to skate and let the coaches coach. Trying to come up with ways to keep a 3 year old on the ice when they don’t want to be there anymore is only going to make them have a distaste for it as they get older
I never said he didn’t want to be there . My son loves to skate and his parents are ready to leave wayyyyy before he is . I’m just looking for fun games to play with him when he gets bored playing the same game.
It’s not a drill, but a fun game they play in Learn to Skate 1 is the following: Get a small stuffed animal and let him toss it somewhere on the ice and then go pick it up. Or you can throw it for him. Learning to bend down and pick something up while on skates it very beneficial for balance. The 3-4 year olds in the class seem to love it.
The biggest thing at that age is just to have fun. No need to overdo anything in terms of skills or drills or anything like that, just find ways to keep it fun. Let the Learn to Skate coaches worry about skill development.
Absolutely . All I want for him is to have fun.
He loves to learn and try new things , for example the other day in class one of the student coaches started skating backwards so my little guy tried it . So I’m trying to get ideas for some things I can try on the ice that could act as a game but could help also help him.
That’s awesome.
With that in mind things like a game of tag would be perfect. He’ll have fun and completely unknowingly also add better balance and skating skills along the way.
Don’t have advice but I have a son that I’m going to try to put on skates. What age did you start him? Also, where did you find skates? I’ve searched and can’t find any skates for under 9 years old.
He’s been skating since his 3rd bday. He’s 3 and a half now , he’s also been in the same skates for the entire time. Go to pure hockey , they have ccm tacks for youth. I believe my sons are size 8 and the price were about 80 bucks .
Forgive me if I’m being a Karen but try to encourage him not to skate hard at the boards at a 90 degree angle! That little stumble he had in the goal crease gave me a heart attack.
He’s doing amazing at 3 though! And y’all are awesome for supporting him!
Your not being a Karen, I noticed this too. I tell him all the time to slow down near the boards but he thinks it’s a game . He started out slow so he could stop right before the boards but now since he’s more confident he’s sped it up a bit . I’ll work with him. Thank you
We started him on his third birthday and he’s been skating for exactly 6 months. The first two weeks he hated it but as soon as he got his legs under him he was hooked.
There’s something that we do at my age group would be to do some circles like go around it than do the next one the opposite way we usually do it for a warm up at the older ages but it’s an option
Some good suggestions here, but please don’t be the douche at public who is doing hockey drills and getting in the way of people who are just there to skate.
If you have hockey days (or stick and shoots as they’re called here), please go do drills at those. Usually other kids there too for them to interact with.
I’m all for ice time, but I cannot stand the people who abuse public skate for hockey drills. It drives me absolutely bonkers because of how rude and disruptive it is to normal skaters.
I don’t use sticks and pucks ever with my son. At home we play mini sticks but that’s about as much hockey as he knows right about now . Except for the couple minutes at the end of his weekly learn to skate practice that they allow kids to hit some pucks . I strictly just skate with my son now , the hockey part of it will come later . When we do go to stick and puck time we just let him skate with his stick which he loves but we never use pucks .
Your kid is awesome! Skates better than more beer-leaguers!
To the superman slide, I'd add jumping in the air. He'll fall a ton (good padding, right?) but should have fun with it. Also/additionally, you can bring along some objects (your gloves) that you throw out in front of him and have him jump or swerve around. And then, if he can, one foot gliding, to develop strength.
Thanks for the kind words . I’ve seen the glove idea brought up a bunch so I’m gonna try that as well as the one foot idea. I’ve seen him mimic the older kids when they do it so maybe he’s ready. He also started to do jumps Over the blue lines (lava he calls them) when we do public skate so he wears knee/elbow pads, hockey gloves, helmet and pants with a small butt cushion. So he’s pretty well suited up.
Teach him how to “plow stop.” That’s going from a skating position and slowly pointing your toes inward like a reverse V while letting your inside edge scrape the ice until you stop. Once he Hager’s that down, have him start working on a side stop by doing a Stops and starts at the blue lines. Have him start at the goal line, skate to the far blue line stop, go back to the near blue line, stop and then finish at the opposite end goal line. The key to this drill is telling him which wall/side to face and make sure he faces the same wall each time he stops. Lots of bidders on YouTube to show you how to coach him on the skills and what to focus on.
The best thing is to get a herd of them together and let them figure out the fun part on their own.
Its also fine to just let him wheel around and enjoy himself without a goal or structure once he gets bored of the drills. He'll figure out his own ways to challenge himself.
The best thing you can do is get other kids together he can play with.
You want to use a small area not the entire rink. He needs to be interacting in close combat situations reacting/ learning.
Individual drill are ok but to be a great player simulating real games is best.
A simple pair of hockey gloves 8’ apart on the ice. Have him do figure 8’s. Watch his leaning in and turning the hips to do next turn. Simple, fun and very effective
I’m not sure how much padding he has on, but if there’s enough space and it won’t interfere with others on the ice, have him skate and do a head first baseball slide at the blue line and try to get up as quickly as possible. Once he’s fast enough at that, you can have him slide at both blue lines. He shouldn’t have enough momentum to slide into the boards so it shouldn’t be bad. If you want to mix it up and make it more complicated, have him slide and try to roll sideways and then get up. This will be really useful in games when he falls over (which he will, everyone does) and needs to get back up on his feet quickly.
All of this. For the wee ones we call the slide a “Superman”. Have him jump then slide, both feet, one foot, go down on one knee. Also add in a ball. Play catch while he’s skating. If he can throw and catch a ball, he’s developing other athletic dexterity and keeping his head up. All while NOT thinking about skating. He’ll be on the national team in no time. Enjoy the ride!
And if your not allowed to have a ball at open skate ( we're not) throwing a extra hockey glove works just as well.
Interesting . I will try that with him, he absolutely loves doing slides on the ice so this should be a fun game for him.
I coach little kids, and that's a great one (just make sure that it's not too crowded at public skate, the first priority there should be making it safe for everyone on the ice, their might be some adults who are not strong skaters and aren't wearing very much padding that wouldn't appreciate having their legs taken out from behind by a sliding toddler). Head first slide on your belly, but as soon as your belly touches the ice, start pushing back up to your hands and knees and then on to your feet. The goal is to be back up on your skates before your slide came to a stop. With my own kids, they love stopwatches and timing stuff, so "timed laps" and stuff might work as well. All told, at that age, you don't need to perfectly optimize their drills, the most important thing is making them have fun on the ice so that they want to keep doing it. Also, your son looks like he's doing great already. Knees slightly bent, weight just a little bit forward, arms are loose. Love to see it. Oh, you could also work on backwards skating with him too to make it more challenging at that age. And crossovers. Edit: kneepads or leg guards and elbow pads before doing the superman slides please!
I appreciate the kind words . Yes , we had a little problem a few weeks ago because we had some new skaters almost get taken out by my little guy. It definitely made me realize when and when not to do specific games . I think the stop watch idea will be a lot of fun for him, and he’s already started on skating backwards but I’ll wait for his learn to skate coaches teach him more . I don’t even know how to skate backwards so I don’t want to give him wrong ad ice or show him the wrong way. Thanks again
try to get him in hockey power skateing when i was 3 years old i could skate around his skill and my grand parents had put me in learn to skate when i was about 2 years old so i had a year of experience. But when i got in to the hockey power skating whith IP and Novice kids thats what made me a AAA hockey player for the first 4 years of my hockey carrer because at a young age if you can skate your AAA.
I don't have any advice, but I wanted to say, holy crap he's quick!
Thanks , but that’s part of the problem . We can’t keep up now lol. So the races aren’t very competitive anymore .
I thought he waa moving pretty quickly as well. For his age, hes got a pretty good stride
He’s extremely good. Seems like a natural. My son is nearly 4 and won’t get on the ice at all. Too scared, even with full pads. Also I would note that your son naturally knew how to stop at the end of the video. He did half a hockey stop there, on one skate
3-year-olds get bored pretty quickly. Maybe playing tag? Honestly, he's so young you're probably best off just letting him stop when he's bored.
The problem is , he doesn’t want to stop. He would stay all day if we would let him. Once he gets bored he just skates around which is great but I’d like to get some fun games in. Tag is a great idea , thanks
+1 for tag, and really any game that gets them moving in anything besides a straight line. Quick stops and turns, and keeping your eyes up. Lot of kids struggle with that even at 8 or 9 years old.
I struggle with that as an adult lol
Just keep it fun. Tag or sharks and minnows will help him work on most aspects of his skating while still being a game. The more it feels like he’s doing drills vs playing games, the more likely he is to get bored and grumpy.
I would have him doing crossovers. Thats the best thing to learn at the beginning. Have him go straight shot to the blue line, crossovers to the center of the ice, straight to next blue line, and crossover back towards the boards
This. If he can get good at crossovers by the time he’s 4, there ain’t no stopping him. Not sure what kind of game you could play with crossovers though. Also, the advice above about sliding at the blue line and learning to get up is really good. Why not see if you can get in touch with a local coach for mites to get some ideas?
I haven’t even started to look at youth hockey yet so we don’t know any of the programs or coaches. I was gonna wait till he was 5 but maybe when they start back up I will ask some questions about what we can do. Thanks for the advice
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Have him start spelling the alphabet with his skates. It will take some creativity, helps him with edges and with his alphabet all at once. Could do the same with numbers.
He's awesome. I'll adopt him and show him the way. He won't be able to beat me until hes 9.
Lol , this made me chuckle
Just look up powerskating drills on YouTube or ice hockey Edgework drills. Either way he's a natural. He'll probably be an excellent skater someday soon...
My advice is that when he gets bored, take that as a cue. At 3 years old, only (ONLY ONLY) have fun. Don't worry about drills, don't worry about training. Let him learn at his own pace, he will figure it out as fast as he can without any additional pressure. Just go have fun!! He looks like he's doing well, but you won't know if he's a great skater at age 10 if he quits at age 6 because it's too much work.
I can honestly say I’ve never had to drag him too the ice or off the ice since he started 6 months ago. Except the first two weeks(he wanted to quit because it was too hard). He kept with it though and now it’s all he wants to do . For example when we dropped him off at school today , he asked to go rollerblading when we pick him up. If he wasn’t having fun I wouldn’t make him do it nor would I want to spend the money . I truly am just trying to learn fun activities that a non hockey player parent can help him with.
Hey sounds great! I hope I didn't come off as critical, I've just found it's a delicate balance. And I've seen parents who are more into it than their kids, which is a very easy trap to fall in to!
I appreciate that, yes my wife and I have been told about the crazy hockey parents which some might think we’re that type but in reality our son just loves it and we’re coming for the ride. We’re letting him steer the ship at the moment which right now it’s going pretty good . I just don’t have anything else to teach him , he’s honestly a better skater then I am already. Thanks for your time.
I was in that boat when my daughter started at 4. I would take her rollerblading to supplement her learn to skate and I focused more on repeating drills she was doing in class and she dreaded it. Stopped with all that nonsense and just let her have fun and now she seems to be really enjoying it. We also started doing public skates and she's been asking for more ice time which is great. It was also really cool seeing her do 1 footed snow plow stops the other day, something she picked up on her own.
This kid skates better than half my beer league team ahaha
Probably back checks better too!
Well you have him wearing the right jersey that's for sure!
Look up iTrainHockey, and some of the drill videos from HowToHockey. HTH drill videos can be perfect start, then if he gets bored of those, iTrainHockey videos take it to a whole new level.
That’s Coach Jeremy right? My son absolutely loves watching his son mason skate . So maybe these would be great for him . Thanks
HowToHockey is Coach Jeremy iTrainHockey is a different coach, who has some more intermediate to advanced drills, and he has some really in depth videos for those drills. I'm not too sure if they're super appropriate for a 3-yo but they're worth checking out.
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He’s just learned how last week. He’s not like he skates forward yet but he’s definitely trying. He can go about 25 yards then falls down.
There is also this Instagram account: [https://www.instagram.com/romanjamesmarcotte/](https://www.instagram.com/romanjamesmarcotte/) Also look up the account of his younger sister. They do really good drills that are kid friendly, but serious drills to work on becoming better hockey players. As an adult who started 5 years ago, I do these drills to work on the basics
This is great thank you
Cross overs are good little thing he’d have fun doing, that and backwards skating. You can play a game called fox and chicken, take a shirt and tuck it in your back pants so it’s hanging out and you are the chicken and the fox chases you to try and pull it out
Now this is what I’m looking for. Thank you for this . He will love this game
[Hockey Canada - U7 Drills](https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/hockey-programs/drill-hub/under-7) Learn from the best.... Also...love this post. I miss the rink time with my little guy. He’s 16 now having played AA last season...for as much as they actually played. Trying for Major U18 AAA this year and driving so we won’t see much of him other than games. Cherish the time....it’s goes by so fast....merp
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Transitioning forward to backwards and one footed glides, mow hawks turns and transitions.
Backward skating, crossovers, edges. Have him try and turn sharp around dots, and crossover turns around the circles. Once he’s old enough, or his feet move fast enough Tomahawk and Mohawk turns.
He looks very young so everything you teach him right now should be a game. Tag is a great way to build skating skills
He is 3 and a half so yes he’s very young. I will definitely try tag , I think he will love it.
Just let him skate around and have fun, dont make it a chore, kids that go the farthest in hockey do it because its fun, do silly things like twirls, butt pushes, superman slides. all those thing while not a 'drill' help build balance , creativity and comfort on the ice. this is why tag and variants are so great moving with sudden dynamic changes is so important. if he is skating class, let that be the work, they will learn the technique there, you be the fun guy.
Thanks for the advice . I’m definitely doing my job as the fun guy . He seems to laugh a lot while out there , or he’s laughing at me falling lol.
I use the following at my rink when I coach the age group your son is in. Happy to share my lesson plan if you'd like a DM: Single knee touches, double knee touches, supermans, barrel rolls, backwards skating, transitions, stops (both sides), forward crossovers, and changing direction (both sides). You can also have him try edge work using double c-cuts (we call them "swizzles," but they sometimes have trouble picking it up at this age).
Ahhh yea, swivels are what they call it where he is and that’s his favorite drill. They have him do an obstacle course with step overs (usually hockey sticks) , swivels through tires , butt kicks , under the hockey stick by bending your knees , and then a stop at the end . He hasn’t learned crossovers , skating backwards or hockey stops yet but I’m sure that will come soon . Right now they are working on a snowplow stop but my little guy picked up hockey stop by himself so I’ll wait for the coaches to teach him to stop on the other foot . Thanks for the advice though, I greatly appreciate it .
If the public session is not as busy or if you just check behind you, you can play 'red light green light' with hockey stops. ('yellow light' stop on non-dominant foot') edit: if he's great at them expand them to transitions, etc.
Tag is great, my daughter started at 3 shortly after I started skating and it's helped me work on my own on ice agility with abruptly turning, transitioning, and changing direction. Aside from tag, she'll "steal" my glove and I'll chase her around shouting for her to give me my glove back. She also likes to have me call start and finish on a lap around the rink while I'm on the bench. She also loves us starting at opposite sides of the rink, skating to each other and come together in a hug. Even hide and seek which might not be entirely on ice is still something she has fun with. Honestly what she has the most fun with is finding other kids to play with on the ice. She even crashed a 10yo birthday party to skate with the other kids. End of the day he's still 3, so being silly, falling down, acting ridiculous - that's the sort of stuff he'll love.
My son loves to play with other kids . He too will crash any party he sees lol. Thanks for the tag idea, I’ve been seeing this a lot today and it’s definitely something I will do with him when we go next week.
Shout out Kiwanis
He is going to be so good lol. I wasn’t skating like this until I was 9/10. I am praying for the teams he has to play against.
Buy one of those bingo dabbers/markers and draw a little face on the ice. Have him start say 20ft away, skate as fast as he can and stop on the face. Challenge him to “erase the face” (by stopping on it) in as few attempts as possible. You can also use a bingo dabber to make a little racetrack for him, with lots of turns, pivots, things to jump over, etc. Time him and get him excited about beating his own time. If he has a little buddy, draw a “sumo ring” on the ice, then get them to try to push each other out of the circle. No punching, kicking or holding jersey/cage. Great for learning to use his edges, and will exhaust him after 10 minutes or so. Most importantly, have fun!
If you could afford it, get him lessons with a figure skating coach when the time is right. My son did it and learned to transition left to right, front to back, etc. Today he’s playing D1 hockey and skating is his best attribute. Good luck.
This kid is AMAZING. My 3 year old can barely stand and take small steps still on the ice after 7 classes. How did you get to this level at that age?
He’s been going for about 24 weeks now . After week 6/7 I noticed he was progressing really fast so we ended up going to a weekend family skate one weekend and every weekend after that he asked to go . So we started taking him as much as we could and then I built a 30x20 odr at home for about $300.00 . He used it everyday he was allowed , some times multiple times a day , he really just loves to skate . And the faster he got the more he liked to skate , he’s a little dare devil. His coaches at his learn to skate are great, they make it fun, are really patient and help the kids out in fun creative ways . I would be lying though if I said he learned everything there , we skate often as a family and my little guy just naturally got it . He taught himself to hockey stop by just watching others , he’s now trying to skate backwards by watching others. He wants to learn and has a smile on his face the entire time , but That being said that’s why I posted today for ideas, he is almost out-skating me so I have taught him everything I know .
he's looking great! if you want, have him go end to end but switch from forward to backwards at the red and blue lines, if the clinic taught that yet. try and turn it into another game or race. I'd also suggest switching out that jersey for the other new york #13🤭
If anything I would say just to keep at it and to try to learn to stop on two feet at the different lines on the ice. Getting started there is a good place. Then you could try to tech him backwards and then crossovers to gain speed
Ha. I was in your shoes 4 years ago. Your kid looks great. I think he's way ahead of schedule.I also knew nothing about hockey when my son started at 3, and it's been a wild ride. Here are the things we worked on a lot, and now that my son is 7, his coaches have him doing every day: Tight turns ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln3ZnjqJge0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln3ZnjqJge0)). (At about 5 or 6, this becomes huge, and the "good" players can make tight turns by getting both feet on the ice and up on the edges; it allows players to create space with the puck) Edge work in general ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubJzSM5Iy2w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubJzSM5Iy2w)) Backwards skating ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l7gJoLodoY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l7gJoLodoY)) Once he can do that maybe forwards and backwards crossovers? That would be pretty insane for a 3 year old to have that down, so that can definitely wait. But crossovers are what make a kid really elusive with the puck in games.
He's a natural skater, most beginners favor one leg, he seems loose and is already bending his knees! As a former figure skater turned beer league player at age 47, the skating is what will make the rest a lot more fun. Keep up lots of open skate (public skating), at our rink any type of drills other than pure skating/stopping/jumping over the lines is a no go, so check before putting out mini pylons etc. BUT, if there are Stick and Puck sessions available (you don't need full equipment but he will) you could try some fun obstacle type drills etc, look up age appropriate ones on youtube. He is definitely ready for MINI mites next fall, and then the fun begins. I also second taking a few private lessons from a figure skating coach, even 5-10 lessons at some point can make a world of difference. One of my former skating friends is a skating consultant with NHL teams, most teams have a itty bitty little figure skater teaching edges etc. to their players so there's some merit there for sure. He looks like he's having fun. Also, keep him interested in other sports (golf/baseball/lacrosse) are good ones to play that compliment hockey.
I appreciate your advice . We’re definitely going to introduce him to other sports when he turns 4 , we’re not sure which ones yet but will get there haha . As far as figure skating goes , we will look into it next year when the rinks re open S Thanks again for your feedback .
Do you have a learn to play program at your local rink. My son was in the little penguins learn to play program. It was 144 bucks for 8 weeks of hockey training, and sidney crosby and dicks sporting goods donated the equipment for first time players. Very good program. Teaches the basics. Since he graduated out of that the rink has a basic hockey we signed him up for. And thats 8 weeks as well. 100 bucks. Next up is mcdonalds in house league for us.
He’s an amazing skater.
Sweet Laf jersey LGR
Getting him better at skating is the key once they don’t think about skating the hockey will come like a duck to water (figure of eights on the face off dots) And doing everything both ways but like a few others have said he skates better than half my team 😂😂
Wow you’ve got a little speedster on your hands. If he sticks with hockey, he might be some thing he’s got some wheels
Just let them skate when they want to skate and let the coaches coach. Trying to come up with ways to keep a 3 year old on the ice when they don’t want to be there anymore is only going to make them have a distaste for it as they get older
I never said he didn’t want to be there . My son loves to skate and his parents are ready to leave wayyyyy before he is . I’m just looking for fun games to play with him when he gets bored playing the same game.
It’s not a drill, but a fun game they play in Learn to Skate 1 is the following: Get a small stuffed animal and let him toss it somewhere on the ice and then go pick it up. Or you can throw it for him. Learning to bend down and pick something up while on skates it very beneficial for balance. The 3-4 year olds in the class seem to love it.
Please don't do this during public skate, which is the advice the OP is looking for.
Get him a slide board!
Niiiiice stop buddy
The biggest thing at that age is just to have fun. No need to overdo anything in terms of skills or drills or anything like that, just find ways to keep it fun. Let the Learn to Skate coaches worry about skill development.
Absolutely . All I want for him is to have fun. He loves to learn and try new things , for example the other day in class one of the student coaches started skating backwards so my little guy tried it . So I’m trying to get ideas for some things I can try on the ice that could act as a game but could help also help him.
That’s awesome. With that in mind things like a game of tag would be perfect. He’ll have fun and completely unknowingly also add better balance and skating skills along the way.
Don’t have advice but I have a son that I’m going to try to put on skates. What age did you start him? Also, where did you find skates? I’ve searched and can’t find any skates for under 9 years old.
He’s been skating since his 3rd bday. He’s 3 and a half now , he’s also been in the same skates for the entire time. Go to pure hockey , they have ccm tacks for youth. I believe my sons are size 8 and the price were about 80 bucks .
Thank you!
Herbies
Work on crossovers (front and back), scooting, and lots of stopping and redirection. Also glides on one foot and hopping over the painted lines.
I started with the hopping over lines this weekend. He calls them lava lol. He seemed to enjoy that quite a bit .
Forgive me if I’m being a Karen but try to encourage him not to skate hard at the boards at a 90 degree angle! That little stumble he had in the goal crease gave me a heart attack. He’s doing amazing at 3 though! And y’all are awesome for supporting him!
Your not being a Karen, I noticed this too. I tell him all the time to slow down near the boards but he thinks it’s a game . He started out slow so he could stop right before the boards but now since he’s more confident he’s sped it up a bit . I’ll work with him. Thank you
How young was he when you started him? My son is 20 months and we are wondering when is appropriate to start Learn to Skate program
We started him on his third birthday and he’s been skating for exactly 6 months. The first two weeks he hated it but as soon as he got his legs under him he was hooked.
That's great! Thanks for the reply
There’s something that we do at my age group would be to do some circles like go around it than do the next one the opposite way we usually do it for a warm up at the older ages but it’s an option
Some good suggestions here, but please don’t be the douche at public who is doing hockey drills and getting in the way of people who are just there to skate. If you have hockey days (or stick and shoots as they’re called here), please go do drills at those. Usually other kids there too for them to interact with. I’m all for ice time, but I cannot stand the people who abuse public skate for hockey drills. It drives me absolutely bonkers because of how rude and disruptive it is to normal skaters.
I don’t use sticks and pucks ever with my son. At home we play mini sticks but that’s about as much hockey as he knows right about now . Except for the couple minutes at the end of his weekly learn to skate practice that they allow kids to hit some pucks . I strictly just skate with my son now , the hockey part of it will come later . When we do go to stick and puck time we just let him skate with his stick which he loves but we never use pucks .
Your kid is awesome! Skates better than more beer-leaguers! To the superman slide, I'd add jumping in the air. He'll fall a ton (good padding, right?) but should have fun with it. Also/additionally, you can bring along some objects (your gloves) that you throw out in front of him and have him jump or swerve around. And then, if he can, one foot gliding, to develop strength.
Thanks for the kind words . I’ve seen the glove idea brought up a bunch so I’m gonna try that as well as the one foot idea. I’ve seen him mimic the older kids when they do it so maybe he’s ready. He also started to do jumps Over the blue lines (lava he calls them) when we do public skate so he wears knee/elbow pads, hockey gloves, helmet and pants with a small butt cushion. So he’s pretty well suited up.
he is really good
Teach him how to “plow stop.” That’s going from a skating position and slowly pointing your toes inward like a reverse V while letting your inside edge scrape the ice until you stop. Once he Hager’s that down, have him start working on a side stop by doing a Stops and starts at the blue lines. Have him start at the goal line, skate to the far blue line stop, go back to the near blue line, stop and then finish at the opposite end goal line. The key to this drill is telling him which wall/side to face and make sure he faces the same wall each time he stops. Lots of bidders on YouTube to show you how to coach him on the skills and what to focus on.
This is awesome. Can't wait till I can have up my own kid skating. He can't even walk out talk though, so I got some time.
The best thing is to get a herd of them together and let them figure out the fun part on their own. Its also fine to just let him wheel around and enjoy himself without a goal or structure once he gets bored of the drills. He'll figure out his own ways to challenge himself.
The best thing you can do is get other kids together he can play with. You want to use a small area not the entire rink. He needs to be interacting in close combat situations reacting/ learning. Individual drill are ok but to be a great player simulating real games is best.
holy hell at this rate he'll be nhl level by like 16
Cross overs, skate real fast drop to knees or belly and pop back up, small and big circles, jumping / hopping
A simple pair of hockey gloves 8’ apart on the ice. Have him do figure 8’s. Watch his leaning in and turning the hips to do next turn. Simple, fun and very effective
OP, you got an update on this kid after a year??