Monday, June 8, 2009

The SBH System of Progressive Training

Stone Bros Hockey was created in early 2006 with one main focus; to create an educational environment for hockey players of all ages and ability levels to learn hockey at its’ most basic and fundamental level. It is only when the game is broken down completely can one understand how to apply a system of progression to reach the highest level of one’s ability.

Stone Bros Hockey philosophy is based on the belief that all great hockey players begin as strong, fundamental skaters.  Players must demonstrate the most basic mechanics of skating before progressing to the next level of adding power, speed, and puck control.

The Stone Bros philosophy is not new to the world of hockey. However, the world of hockey (in the U.S. and Canada) has abandoned the basic principles that are the building blocks that give every player the necessary mechanics and fundamentals to compete at a high level. European programs continue to build players starting with edge balance and posture. Most Pro scouts and coaches will tell you that the most skilled players in the world today are European players.

SBH focuses on the fundamentals of hockey, and we apply those fundamentals with a focus on age appropriate skills training.

….. So, what is Progressive Training?

BALANCE    >    POWER    >   SPEED

• Every training session starts with a focus on edge balance and posture

• We arrange all drills so every session takes a set of fundamentals and mechanics, and we teach the players to put the mechanics together. For example, we start with edges, then add proper body posture, then proper hand placement.  These are the elements of Balance.

• Once we set the building block that can allow proper stride, we begin to teach stride extension, proper cross-overs or more appropriately, cross-unders and how to set edges through transition. These are the basic elements of Power.

• Now players are ready to add take these learned skills and apply them through a series of increased pace and tempo drills. Now they have the tools to add Speed. Without the previous mechanics and fundamentals, a player can still skate with speed, but they will never be able to play at their top speed and be in control!

The same philosophy is used for Shooting, Stick handling, Passing and Checking.

In summary, we use Progressive Training from the beginning to the end of every session, over the course of a clinic and over the course of an entire season.