One of the best hockey training aids out there available on the market today is the hockey shooting pad. Shooting pads are compact, portable, and can be used just about anywhere that is safe to shoot pucks. With the help of your hockey stick and a hockey shooting tarp, you can get the most out of your pad and allow it to strengthen your game in a plethora of ways. Here are a few tricks that you can store up your sleeve in order to get the most out of your shooting pad.
Have Lots of Pucks
The best way to sharpen your sniper skills and shoot points with every shot is to keep on practicing the same move over and over again until you get it perfect. If you have to go and get your puck back after every shot, it makes it really hard to get a good flow going, so make sure before you start that you have a good-sized pile of pucks to shoot from so you don’t have to keep chasing your puck every time you shoot it.
First Trick: Snipe Shot Practice
As we mentioned above, repetition is the best way to perfect your skills. In this exercise, you are going to focus your aim on one of the targets on your shooting tarp that is up high, next to the head of the goalie on your tarp. Get your shooting tarp out and ready to go, then have your pucks within reach so you can easily pull them to you so you can rapid-fire your shots. Pick one of the higher targets, either the left or right and stick what that target the whole time. Next, one after the other shoot your pucks for that target and try to hit it every time. You might make all of them, you might not. The main thing is to keep your focus on one of them and aim for it again and again.
Second Trick: Forehand Backhand Combo
Your shooting pad should be big enough so that you can move the puck back and forth with your stick. For this exercise, keep your pile of pucks close, but off of the pad. You will need to be able to maneuver your puck back and forth. Once you are all set up and ready to go, get your body in the forehand position and push the puck forward lengthwise on your pad. Allow it to venture out far enough to where you have to stretch to pull it back in. Pull the puck back with your stick far enough to where4 you can switch your stance from forehand to backhand. As soon as you get into the backhand position, make a backhand shot into the target hole of your choice.
Third Trick: Over the Chair
For this trick, you will need your pile of pucks, your stick, of course, but also a chair. It can be a chair from the kitchen table or a foldup chair from the back end of your garage. It doesn’t matter, as long as you can pick it up and put it where it will be an obstacle for you.
Place the chair in front of you between your shooting pad and your shooting tarp. The method that you use to lift your puck with the blade and shoot it over the chair into one of the targets on the tarp is up to you. The main point is that you repeatedly take that shot with the chair in your way. Slap that puck up and over the chair and try to make as many shots as possible. Repeating this kind of shot over and over again will build your shooting skills over the top.
Conclusion
Always make sure that when you are shooting your pucks that nobody is in the way. Be safe and courteous of those around you that could get injured. Stay focused and continue to practice as often as you can. The shooting pad is one of the greatest ways to get out and practice just about anywhere you want.
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