Partner VOR while skating (forward or backward)
Category:Â Neck control & endurance
Level: 2
15-30 seconds
- Maintain visual focus on your partner's jersey logo as you move your head from side-to-side (as if shaking your head to say 'no')Â while skating forward or backward
- Progressions:
- Slow to fast (increase speed)
- With puck: stick handle or pass back and forth with partner
- Shaking head too quickly where point of focus becomes blurry
- Cue "Only go as fast as you are able to while still focusing on the target"
- This exercise engages the vestibular system. The vestibular system provides a sense of position and balance for the body. This is essential in hockey when one might make contact with opposing players.
- It is important for this exercise to be completed on-ice whenever possible. VOR training is context specific, so it needs to be trained in the same environment as a practice or game.
- If time is a barrier, players can complete this while standing in line for a drill by focusing on a spot on the boards or the glass