Intermediate Skills - for players with a few weeks
- Passing the Puck - There are three elements of a good 'pass' or 'shot' - Push, Spin, and Lift. Push the puck with quick forward motion - it helps to start with your elbow bent and your stick back near your shoulder so you have full range of motion when you start to push. Spin the Puck by sliding your stick along the back of the puck - the friction between your stick and the puck will get it spinning so it 'rolls' off the end of your stick. Lift the puck by rotating your forearm to make the end of your stick point UP towards the surface of the water, as you follow through your shot. A good pass combines these three elements, but timing, coordination, and 'feeling' the puck as it comes off your stick are all crucial. Practice this over and over. Watch other players and mimic their movements. Try different stick designs to find one that feels good to you. Most importantly, don't get discouraged - Passing is one of the hardest skills to learn and it may take months, or even years to get good at it.
- BOGDATs - This is an acronym - it stands for 'Breath Once, Go Down And Touch'. Start at one end of the pool and swim towards the other end, on the surface. Take a breath and immediately dive, while still swimming forward, to the bottom of the pool. Touch the bottom and then return to the surface, swimming forward the whole time. As you near the surface, clear your snorkel with a hard exhale, inhale one full breath, and dive again, still swimming forward. Think of a dolphin that surfaces, blows out, breaths in, and re-enters the water, all in one motion. Continue the cycle of diving, surfacing, and breathing until you reach the far end of the pool. As you get more comfortable with these, do longer and longer sets. A good warm-up before a practice might be 200 yards of BOGDATs.
- Head-on-a-swivel While swimming with the puck (or without it, for that matter), turn your head around in all directions (left, right, up, down, etc.) to get a better view. Remember that hockey is a truly 3-dimensional sport where team-mates and opponents can be above or below you as well behind or to the side. Looking around constantly will decrease your chances of getting blind-sided by an opponent and will help you find your team-mates so that you can pass the puck to them. Practice this skill every time you get in the pool, and combine it with any of the puck-control drills you've already mastered.
- Kick Through Your Curls Curling is one of those fundamental skills that many players take for granted once they've 'learned' it, but there is a lot more to curling than you might think. One of the simplest ways to improve the effectiveness of your curls is to KEEP KICKING. It is very tempting to stop kicking once the puck is 'safely' shielded from the opponent by your body, but if you continue kicking and spin around aggressively, your opponent will often back off (to avoid getting kicked in the head) and you may find yourself unchallenged as you exit your curl.