Stop-and-Choose Skating Read
Decision-Making
Legend
- player
- cones
- ball
- movement path
How it works
Teach young players a basic stop-and-choose decision by reacting to a color cone held up by the coach while skating.
What you need
- hockey stick
- puck
- colored cones
- ice
Your focus
Decision-making at the youngest level is about training the brain to react to visual information while in motion on skates. This fun, simple exercise builds the neural habit of reading-and-reacting that underlies all future hockey decision-making. Pairing physical movement with a simple cognitive choice creates the earliest version of the game-speed reads needed in real competition.
Players skate toward the coach who is standing at center ice holding two different colored cones.
Before crossing the red line, coach holds up one cone, red means turn left, blue means turn right.
Player reacts to the color and turns in the correct direction, skating to the appropriate boards.
Run 10 reps, rotating colors randomly; cheer players who react correctly and quickly.
Goal
You've got it when you react to the coach's cone color before you've stopped thinking about it, feet moving, turning the right direction.
Helpful cues
- Watch the coach, not the ice
- Skate first, decide in the middle
- Quick feet after the turn, do not slow down to think
Adjust the challenge
Make it easier
Strip it back
Allow players to stop before reacting, giving them more time to process.
UpLVL it
Add the next challenge
Add a puck carry through the entire drill, decision plus puck control simultaneously.No account needed
Build a practice plan
Add drills, keep the plan in this browser, then share a link with your staff or parents.This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.
This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.After every practice, UpLVL automatically surfaces the drills each player needs to work on most. See it for yourself.