Ringette Marking Mastery Online Training Instruction

The Mysterious 'X-Factor' in Ringette: How To Shut Down Forwards, Steal The Ring From Defenders, and Guarantee Wins Through Massive Ring Possession

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What Is The Mysterious 'X-Factor' for Ringette Success?

The Art and Science of Marking

Although few players and coaches realize it, there actually IS a mysterious “X-Factor” that dictates the frequency with which you prevent goals, steal the ring from your opponent’s defenders, and crush opponents who are more skilled than you.

I was reminded of this “X-Factor” by sheer fluke this season. You see, my Ringette team this year only had two defenders – which meant that more often than not, we had to put a forward on defence.

Suddenly we were getting randomly scored on – at times when this NEVER should have been happening!

Slowly it started to dawn on us. We were having two problems at the same time. First, the forwards who were filling in on defence were making small (yet critical) marking errors. These errors were letting our opponent get breakaways and “breaks” on our net (3 vs. 2 and 2 vs. 1 scoring chances). These are deadly to any team, and we were no different.

And, because we had several forwards playing defense, the forwards we did have were tired. Therefore, they weren’t marking the other team’s defenders (fore-checking) properly. As a result, we weren’t getting turnovers in the other team’s end. This left us trying to score against a triangle all the time, which is tough at the best of times (let alone when you are tired).

Before we knew it, we had lost a bunch of games we never should have lost.

This experience made me recognize the subtle, little things that excellent players do when marking the player with the ring at both ends of the ice that keep great teams on the winning side of the scoreboard.

The good news is that my ringette losses are your gain!

I’ve taken these stellar marking techniques and put them into a simple, step by step online video instruction program for you.

One of the best things about marking your opponent is that the smartest player virtually always wins. In this online instructional tutorial, you will learn KILLER strategies for preventing your check from getting the ring, neutralizing her even if she does, and stealing the ring in the other team's end.

 

 

How To Successfully Mark Any Forward

What You Need to Learn to Mark TIGHTLY

You "mark" a check when you cover her in an attempt to prevent her from getting the ring. This is a crucial skill because every time the other team has the ring, you must mark your check - so it happens a lot! If you become really good at marking, you will be quite popular on your team.

When marking a player, it is ideal if you create a turnover and steal the ring. However, your #1 job when marking is to make sure your check does not get a quality shot on net. If you have done this, you have done your job. When marking, creating a turnover is the “icing”. The “cake” is preventing a quality shot from being taken.

While the forwards are checking their booties off, the defenders should be marking tightly so the ring carrier has no one to pass to.  Tight marking and feisty forechecking are a deadly combo that will give your team total control of the game and oodles of momentum.

 

Effective marking is tight – the defender is so close to the forward that the ring carrier doesn’t pass her the ring or she passes the ring but the defender who is marking intercepts it. Check out this video of a player marking TIGHTLY:

 

 

Here are the secrets to tight, effective marking:

  • Gorgeous Gap Control (how to channel a ring carrier away from the net)
  • Smart Positioning (Goal-Side Coverage)
  • Eyes Wide Open
  • Skating agility
  • Ice Awareness

We will cover all of these in this program.

Gorgeous Gap Control

Too Close, Too Far, Just Right

The first thing you must understand is the concept of "gap control", or how much space you can leave between you and the person you are marking. Ideally, you’ll want to have a very small gap between her and you. The more you can stick with her and pressure her, the better chance you have to turn over the ring. Here is an ideal gap:

 

We call this aggressive marking. However, if you watch a ringette game, you’ll notice that most players leave a bigger gap than this, as in the following photo:

 

Watch this clip for a fantastic example of aggressive marking by the player in the red jersey:

The challenge with marking aggressively is that the smaller the gap between you and your check, the easier it is for her to shake free and get a break on your net.
 
The cure for this problem is to practice closing the gap between you and your check until you can get closer and closer to her in game situations and STILL be able to recover if she gets past you.

"Too Far", "Too Close", and "Just Right"

The easiest way to practice gap control when marking is to try it three ways: too far away from her, too close to her, and just right.
 
In practice, start out by marking "too far" away from your check for two drills (or two whistles if you are scrimmaging). You won’t get burned, but you probably won’t get the ring, either. Then, switch to marking her "too closer" for two drills. You might get burned or you might steal the ring as well.

 

Finally, try to mark her “just right”. Ideally, you will stay with her and create turnovers from time to time, but you are always in a position to get back and prevent her from getting a quality shot on net. NOTE: it’s s Ok to tell your coach what you are doing so he or she understands what’s happening. Do NOT do this in tryouts!
 
After a month of practicing this, you will find that you are able to mark more and more aggressively without getting burned. You will be able to put a LOT of pressure on the players you’re marking as a result - and they won’t like it!
 
This brings me to the next tip...

Smart Defensive Positioning

Stay Goal Side

When marking, you must stay in between your check and your goalie at all times. This is called staying “goal side” of your check.

If you are on the wrong side of the forward, you might allow her to get a breakaway on your net:

 

You are goal side when you are closer to your net than your check is:

 

Watch #9 white in the clip below. At first, she is closest to #17 blue. But, she drops off of #17 blue and lets her pick up the pass over the first blue line because another player on the blue team is rushing up ice. That player is more dangerous and if #9 white did not notice her and hussle back to mark her, she would have been open for the breakaway:

It is easy to stay goal side IF this is the only thing you are trying to do. All you have to do is back off your check and give her lots of room, and you can always stay goal side. The challenge is staying goal side when you are marking your check aggressively and she is extremely quick and agile.

However, this is easy to do if you work on your skating in practice...which brings me to the third tip...

 

If you watched that last video closely, you will have noticed the main mistake defenders make in trying to mark goal side: they watch the ring instead of their mark.

In order to become an elite defender, you must learn to watch your mark first and the ring second.  If you focus on the ring carrier, you are in danger of losing track of the player you’re marking.

Next practice, never look at the person you are marking – look only at the ring.  Do you lose track of your mark?  Did she sneak behind you?

The remaining times through, watch your mark at all times.  Never take your eyes off of her.  If you do this, you should naturally position your body between her and your own team’s net.

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Of course, you might keep perfect tabs on the forward and still get roasted if you have a foot speed problem.  Awareness is usually the culprit in poor marking but sometimes it is basic skating skills.  If you are getting beat because the forward is too fast, you must do two things:

1) practice and improve your skating and,

2) drop off your mark to give her more space.  By dropping off, you will not be as effective – you won’t make any interceptions and your forward will likely be open for good lead passes over each blue line.  That is still a better option than giving up a breakaway!

Ice Awareness

Ice Awareness

I said earlier that marking goal side is hard if you`re trying to stay tight to your mark. You can overcome this challenge by improving your skating.

The other reason that goal side marking is hard is because you sometimes have to pay attention to more people than just the one player you`re responsible for marking.

Imagine this: your team is using a two-on forechecking system. Your forwards are pressuring the other team`s defence like crazy but their defender manages to make a pass to her teammate over the first blue line. That defender doesn`t skip a beat – she immediately accelerates up the ice. Your two forwards are busy checking so no one is covering that rushing D. If nobody does anything, the D will be open for a breakaway.

Now, imagine that you`re marking so tight – and so focused on your check – that you have no idea any of this is going on. That rushing defender will get her breakaway and you`ll be the last one to know about it! Youyou’re your teammates will look at each other, wondering “what happened”??

What happened was that you all got caught with an overly narrow focus. Especially if your team is going to use a forechecking system other than “man on”, one of your jobs is to have your head on a swivel so you know where everyone is on the ice – not just your mark.

You might be perfect marking your own check, but if someone else’s check gets free and is streaking towards the net, you’ll need to leave your check and help your goalie play the 2 vs. 1.

Once you’re comfortable with aggressive marking, set a goal to keep your head on a swivel at all times on the ice. This means that you are quickly glancing around and keeping track of what’s happening, especially who is attacking your net!

Let’s return to our star defender - #9 on the white team. Earlier, I talked about what a good job she did getting back to mark goal side. Surprise, surprise, if we slow the clip down and pay close attention, we’ll see that she turns her head to see where everyone is on the ice right before she hussles back to mark the streaking defender:

 

Once you have learned to stay goal side at all times by focusing on where your mark is, you can practice broadening your focus.  The world’s top defenders are able to keep track of both their mark and everything else that is going on in the game.

Overall ice awareness becomes crucial if someone else on your team loses their check.  Imagine if you are covering perfectly but:

  • Your D partner or the centre loses her mark, or
  • One of the other team’s defenders rushes up the ice while the two forwards on your team are checking aggressively.

In either scenario, even though you are marking perfectly, the other team will get a breakaway.  That’s why elite defenders keep track of their mark as well as everyone else on the ice.  If someone breaks free of their check, your job is to drop off your mark so you can cover the most dangerous player.  If the streaking player gets the ring over your team’s blue line, you’re in a position to still channel her away from the scoring area.

Next practice, run a 5 v 5 breakout drill.  Before each repetition, your coach will meet with the team that has the ring and give them one of three instructions:

  • No defenders rush up ice;
  • Defender #1 rushes up ice;
  • Defender #2 rushes up ice.

Now it’s your job as a marking defender to notice which of these three things happened.  If nobody rushes up ice (and everyone on your team is marking correctly), you can stay tight to your forward.

If one of the other team’s defenders tries to rush up ice for the breakaway, your job is to yell that athlete’s name and drop off your forward so you can defend against the breakaway.

After each breakout repetition, check in with your defense partner to see if you both noticed what happened.  If the other team gets a breakaway, your team has to do three board rushes.  If your team intercepts the ring or runs the shot clock down past 15, the other team has to do three board rushes.

In this next video, the defender on the white team shows how to drop off your mark.  After the defender on the black team passes the ring over the first blue line, she keeps skating up the ice for the give and go play.  If no one picks her up, she might get a breakaway over the second blue line.  So, this smart defender leaves her original mark (who now has the ring) and picks up the streaking defender.

Forwards & Backwards Skating Agility

Forwards & Backwards Skating Agility

To mark aggressively, you will need to be able to turn from forwards to backwards or backwards to forwards easily using a tight turn or pivot. To do this well, you must be balanced on your edges. When you slow down or fall, it’s because you haven’t mastered your edges. Fortunately, it is easy to improve your edges very quickly!
In practice, take a few minutes at the beginning or end to skate the blue lines and focus on your edges, like this:

To push your comfort level and master your edges, try these two challenges:

  • Skate the lines and see how long you can stay on your edge
  • Skate the lines and see how much noise you can make by digging into the ice.

Skating Agility: Edges

In addition to being powerful and efficient, you also have to be nimble on your skates. Picture all the different ways that you have to move – quickly – during a ringette game.

As a forward, you have to be able to fake out the triangle and drive low across the top of the crease to get to the hot spot. You have to stop on a dime and start like a flash when forechecking.

As a defender, you have to follow a forward wherever she goes when you’re marking in the neutral zone. You have to turn quickly from forwards to backwards and vice versa. In the triangle you have to be able to put your stick right down on the ice to intercept a pass and then quickly jump to the middle of the triangle to channel a forward in a small space.

As a goalie, you have to shuffle around your crease, telescope out and back, and be able to make sliding and drop saves and recover quickly.

When you’re doing all these things, you are getting out onto the edges of your skates while remaining balanced and powerful. It’s tough work and if you’re not comfortable on those edges you’ll fall or have to skate slower.

Besides body position, edges are the most important part of skating because no matter what we are doing on our skates, we are always using at least one edge.

Inside Edges

The most recognizable way of using inside edges is the pushing motion while skating.

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Inside edges are also used for turning, stopping, crossovers, and pivots.

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Practicing inside edges is easy; simply do c-cuts across the lines on the ice. Take a look at these videos:

Here are some progressions you can use to increase how far over you can get on your edge while still remaining balanced. This will allow you to stride more powerfully, and start, stop, and turn more effectively.

  1. Skate all the lines doing c cuts to practice your inside edges. Do the first 2 lines in the “flower” position, the next 2 lines in the “mess” position, and the remaining lines in the “toilet” position.
  1. Go through the lines again and make as much noise as you can with your skate as it cuts into the ice. This requires sharp, hard c-cuts and will be easier if you are lower.
  1. This time, try to make your c-cut as big as possible. This may cause your body position to change from the “toilet” to the “mess”. Challenge yourself to stay in the “toilet” the whole time. It is normal to feel unbalanced while attempting these cuts.
  1. Finally, push past your comfort zone and lean on your edge as much as possible. It is ok to fall – this is all about getting outside your comfort zone so you improve your balance.

Outside Edges

Outside edges are also very important. Just like inside edges, we use our outside edges for almost every aspect of skating – especially turning, crossovers, and pivots.

Practicing outside edges is very similar to inside but a little trickier. Because outside edges are a little harder to get used to, start by just standing in the toilet position and turning your ankles out a little. The idea is to get a feel for where your outside edges are and what you have to do to use that part of your skate. Move your blades back and forth while standing in one spot.

Now, to practice outside edges while moving, you’ll do modified crossovers across the lines. Take a look:

Coaches, if your players are U9 or U7, they may find this quite difficult. Have them focus on their outside edge and not the crossing over part.

Here are the progressions to follow:

  1. Again, skate the lines and do two lines in the “flower” position, two in the “mess” position, and the rest in the “toilet”.
  1. Make big cuts by trying to stay on the outside edge and glide as far away from the line as possible.
  1. Push past your comfort zone – dig into the ice as much as possible.
  1. Try to touch your same hand to the ice while cutting with the outside edge. Again, this will be difficult and feel unbalanced. All of these progressions are meant to help you get further and further onto your edge.

Agility: Pivots

Pivots are used for changing direction –from forwards to backwards and backwards to forwards. The goal of a pivot is to change direction without slowing down. Most young skaters will scrape their skates to pivot. This is effective to change direction, but it is not efficient because it causes the skater to slow down. The trick is lifting your feet!

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Watch these videos of athletes pivoting in game situations. In the first video, the defender pressuring the ring carrier changes directions from forwards to backwards using a pivot. In the second video, the ring carrier pivots from forwards to backwards and provides a good demo of how much flexibility and agility a player needs to get her skate blades in a pivoting position:

Follow these progressions to master pivots:

  1. Standing on the goal line and in the toilet position turn one foot out so your blade is right along the goal line.       Now, try to turn your other skate so your heels are touching each other and the blades of both skates are running along the goal line, both blades together forming a straight line.       Most athletes will struggle with their flexibility – your heels will almost be together but at least one of your blades will be turned away from the goal line. Keep working on this, getting lower and lower to the ice, and trying to balance with your blades turned all the way out.
  2. Next, try marching on the spot like a soldier. Do a couple of steps to get the feel of picking your feet up, rather than sliding / scraping them. Now, practice the pivoting motion while standing on the goal line. One foot comes up and lands on the ice slightly in front of the other foot, facing forward. The next foot comes up in the air and turns so that when you put it down, you will be in the heel to heel position. Now pick up the first foot again, and turn it so it is facing the same direction as your other foot. At the same time, rotate your hips and shoulders. As that foot comes back down to the ice, your whole body should now be turned backwards. Keep practicing this sequence over and over until you feel comfortable “marching” your way into a pivot.
  3. Still marching, start moving forward and pivoting every 6 or 7 steps. You should not scrape the ice with your skates. This will give you the feeling of pivoting without scraping.
  4. Next, skate slowly and try lifting your feet while pivoting on the blue lines. The challenge is to do a full turn without scraping the ice at all. You will naturally stand up a little when doing your turns but the more you stand up, the more speed you will lose. Challenge yourself to stay as low as possible throughout. As always, the best way to perfect your pivots is to practice both ways. Check out this clip of ringette instructors pivoting with scrapes (on purpose) and then pivoting without scrapes. You can tell the difference because the first way makes more noise than the second:

Mastering Backwards Skating

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Let’s start with a story from Laura Warner:

“When the National team coaches asked me to learn to play defense in 2000, I willingly took on the challenge. My strategy was to watch the very best defenders in the world to notice what they were doing that worked.

Some were “rushing” defenders who scored almost a goal a game. Others were “stay at home” defenders who stayed back and never let an opponent behind them.

What they all shared in common, though, was an unparalleled ability to skate backwards. And so I concluded that becoming a world class defender required that I become a world class backwards skater.”

Defenders need to use their backwards skating when they are marking in the neutral zone, channeling a forward away from the slot, and stepping up in the triangle. Forwards use it when they’re forechecking. Goalies use it when they telescope out and back in their net.

The starting point, of course, is the toilet position, which we’ve already covered.

The next section includes step by step instructions to make mastering backwards skating simple.

Lightening Fast Stop & Starts

Stopping On A Dime

Learning to stop quicker means winning more battles for the ring, better marking, more breakaways, better forechecking… and the list goes on. As you’ve figured out by now, we teach by encouraging athletes to try things ineffectively and then effectively so that your body feels the difference between the two. The lingo for a great stop is “stopping on a dime” because a dime is tiny and a good stop is a short one. The opposite of a short stop is a long one, which we affectionately call “stopping on a toonie”.

Stopping On A Toonie

Stopping On A Dime

The Basics

Beginner athletes must start by getting a feel for their edges. Start by finding a spot on the boards and scraping your skate against the ice to see how much snow you can make (you should do this one foot at a time).

Step 1: Demo

Have two coaches race across the width of the ice and back. At the far boards, one coach stops on a “toonie”, one coach stops on a “dime”. The coach who stops on a dime should win the race. This makes the point that quick stops and starts will help you win foot races. It can make a tangible difference in your game.

Watch this next movie closely. The coaches are tied when they reach the far boards. One coach stops and starts explosively while the other coach stands up after her stop and starts slowly. That makes all the difference in their foot race.

You will notice that the coach who stops ineffectively is big (tall, standing up) and the mark she makes on the ice is big (long). Now, consider what is “small” about stopping on a dime. You’ll notice the person is small (bent at the knees, in their toilet position) and the mark they make on the ice is small (short).

Step 2: Awareness Exercises

Skate down the ice from goal line to goal line (or in another pattern – e.g., around the nets or in a butterfly pattern). Practice stopping on a toonie on the whistle. After 5 – 10 repetitions, change the drill so you are stopping on a dime on the whistle.

To really challenge yourself, look down at the ice and see how small a mark you can leave after each stop on a dime. Make sure your coach gives you a couple of seconds to do this after each stop.

Coaches, be sure to encourage anyone who falls while trying to stop on a dime. Falling simply means that athlete pushed herself past her comfort zone. This is exactly what it takes to improve a skill so falling is actually a good thing during practice, especially when practicing an agility skating skill!

Step 3: Advanced Progressions

At this point, you should be pushing yourself to have shorter and shorter stops.

Using the same skating pattern, continue to stop on a dime on the whistle. This time, though, stand up tall right after you stop.

Standing up after stopping relieves some of the pressure (pain) in your legs. In short, it’s lazy. It’s easy but it means you are not in a position to have an explosive start after your stop.

After several “standing up” repetitions, stop and stay in your toilet position (bent at the knees). After each whistle, have the coach wait a couple of seconds so you can practice staying low (many athletes stand up without even realizing it).

Another way to fix the “standing up” problem is to work in partners. Have partner A stand about 3 feet away from the boards and hold her stick at roughly shoulder height. Partner B lines up about 5 strides away from the boards. She skates to the boards, stops, and skates back to where she began. Her job is to repeat this pattern 5 times without ever standing up.

With Partner A standing close to the boards and holding her stick out, if partner B stands up after her stop, she will get “clothes-lined”!

More stopping drills

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How to Channel The Ring Carrier Away From the Net

Be Aggressive & Close The Gap!

The first thing you must understand is the concept of "gap control", or how much space you can leave between you and the person you are marking. Ideally, you’ll want to have a very small gap between her and you. The more you can stick with her and pressure her, the better chance you have to turn over the ring. Here is an ideal gap:

 

We call this aggressive marking. However, if you watch a ringette game, you’ll notice that most players leave a bigger gap than this, as in the following photo:

 

Watch this clip for a fantastic example of aggressive marking by the player in the red jersey:

The challenge with marking aggressively is that the smaller the gap between you and your check, the easier it is for her to shake free and get a break on your net
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The cure for this problem is to practice closing the gap between you and your check until you can get closer and closer to her in game situations and STILL be able to recover if she gets past you.

"Too Far", "Too Close", and "Just Right"

The easiest way to practice gap control when marking is to try it three ways: too far away from her, too close to her, and just right.
 
In practice, start out by marking "too far" away from your check for two drills (or two whistles if you are scrimmaging). You won’t get burned, but you probably won’t get the ring, either. Then, switch to marking her "too closer" for two drills. You might get burned or you might steal the ring as well.

 

Finally, try to mark her “just right”. Ideally, you will stay with her and create turnovers from time to time, but you are always in a position to get back and prevent her from getting a quality shot on net. NOTE: it’s s Ok to tell your coach what you are doing so he or she understands what’s happening. Do NOT do this in tryouts!
 
After a month of practicing this, you will find that you are able to mark more and more aggressively without getting burned. You will be able to put a LOT of pressure on the players you’re marking as a result - and they won’t like it!
 
This brings me to the next tip...

Stay Goal Side

When marking, you must stay in between your check and your goalie at all times. This is called staying “goal side” of your check.

If you are on the wrong side of the forward, you might allow her to get a breakaway on your net:

 

You are goal side when you are closer to your net than your check is:

 

Watch #9 white in the clip below. At first, she is closest to #17 blue. But, she drops off of #17 blue and lets her pick up the pass over the first blue line because another player on the blue team is rushing up ice. That player is more dangerous and if #9 white did not notice her and hussle back to mark her, she would have been open for the breakaway:

It is easy to stay goal side IF this is the only thing you are trying to do. All you have to do is back off your check and give her lots of room, and you can always stay goal side. The challenge is staying goal side when you are marking your check aggressively and she is extremely quick and agile.

However, this is easy to do if you work on your skating in practice...which brings me to the third tip...

 

If you watched that last video closely, you will have noticed the main mistake defenders make in trying to mark goal side: they watch the ring instead of their mark.

In order to become an elite defender, you must learn to watch your mark first and the ring second.  If you focus on the ring carrier, you are in danger of losing track of the player you’re marking.

Next practice, never look at the person you are marking – look only at the ring.  Do you lose track of your mark?  Did she sneak behind you?

The remaining times through, watch your mark at all times.  Never take your eyes off of her.  If you do this, you should naturally position your body between her and your own team’s net.

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Of course, you might keep perfect tabs on the forward and still get roasted if you have a foot speed problem.  Awareness is usually the culprit in poor marking but sometimes it is basic skating skills. 
 
If you are getting beat because the forward is too fast, you must do two things:
 
1) practice and improve your skating and,
 
2) drop off your mark to give her more space.  By dropping off, you will not be as effective – you won’t make any interceptions and your forward will likely be open for good lead passes over each blue line.  That is still a better option than giving up a breakaway!

How To Check Any Player

Individual Checking Skills

Have you had this experience: you understand the forecheck system, you go to the right place at the right time, but you fail to turn over the ring because you can’t finish the check to make the steal?

Or, are you one of those teams that is constantly spending more time in the penalty box than your opponent?  At least 50% of penalties in ringette are handed out to players who aren’t using proper checking technique.  Ringette is a possession game and teams who are over-penalized often lose… sometimes to teams that they would otherwise have handily beaten.

Master your checking and it will be your team that enjoys non-stop power plays.

The “Rainbow” Check:

There are two types of individual checks in ringette.

In the rainbow check, you simply use your stick to lift the ring carrier’s stick from underneath to release the ring. The term “rainbow” is used to describe the motion of checking the stick and stealing the ring. Your goal is to take over possession of the ring.  In order to make the steal, you need to be shoulder to shoulder with the ring carrier.

The Sweep Check: This check is used defensively and should be reserved for advanced players. In the sweep check, you knock the ring free from the ring carrier while skating backwards (it is not necessary to gain possession of the ring – this is a defensive check). The checker uses her stick in a sweeping motion to knock the ring loose from the opposing player, like this:

Mastering the basics of checking

Tip #1: Avoid Checking from Behind

A problem for most players is remembering to keep their feet moving while trying to check their opponent.

If you check from behind, you will end up reaching to make the check. This type of checking will result in two things: Either the check is not strong enough to break the ring free or the checker will get a penalty for tripping, hooking, or slashing.

Watch this next clip closely.  Notice where the checker is when she first reaches in with her stick.  She is not shoulder to shoulder with the ring carrier, she is behind the ring carrier.  Her reward is two minutes in the sin bin:

Reaching is incredibly common in ringette.  It’s one of the most frequent mistakes athletes make.

The good news is that it’s easily fixed.  You simply train yourself to check “feet first, then stick”.  In other words, you must get in proper position first and then go for the steal.

Tip #2: Check Shoulder to Shoulder

In order to make an effective and legal steal, you must be shoulder to shoulder with the ring carrier, making a strong stick check on the bottom third of her stick. The way to do this is to skate.  You must match the speed of the ring carrier, ensuring the correct positioning to make a successful check.

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Time for some honesty here.  Are you one of those athletes who is always being given “bad” penalties by “bad” refs?  If so, have you ever noticed that it tends to be the same athletes who get these “bad” penalties over and over J

I’ve played this game for decades and so I know that reffing runs the gamut.  I’ve had plenty of games where I see things very differently from the refs.  We’ve all felt that frustration (and, trust me, the refs are doing their very best and they get frustrated with the players too!).

I strongly urge you to take responsibility for how many penalties you take.  If you make it a goal and raise your awareness of what you’re doing right before you take your penalties, you will notice that you are in a bad position, making body contact or going for a steal when you are not in a perfectly legal position to do so.

It’s time to promise yourself (and your team) that you simply will not try to make the steal unless you can do it cleanly.  You are way better off using good body positioning to force a bad pass or take time off the shot clock than you are taking a penalty while going for an illegal check.

 

Awareness Exercises

The easiest way to become aware of when you are ‘reaching’ for the ring while checking is to practice different ways.  Here are some drills you can use to work on your awareness.

  • Checking partner while standing still
  • Checking partner while moving from one step behind
  • Checking partner while moving shoulder to shoulder

In the first progression, both players are standing completely still. The checker cannot use her feet, only her stick to check. In the second progression, the checker is only allowed to check from 1 step behind the ring carrier. In the third progression, the checker can use all her speed to check shoulder to shoulder.

Again, you can run this drill with the different progressions – the first time through, checkers have to try to check from behind the ring carrier; the next times through, they can only check from the shoulder to shoulder position.

Remember, the ring carrier cannot skate behind the net or enter the other corner of the ice.

Mastering the Finer Points of Checking

As players become more advanced at hiding the ring, you will need even more body positioning strategies to steal it. These are advanced individual checking strategies that will turn you into a fierce checker.

To steal the ring from a more skilled player, you must carefully control the space gap and angle between you and the ring carrier.

Skating straight at the ring carrier: Many ringette players skate straight at the ring carrier, going directly for the steal.  Nine times out of ten, the ring carrier will skate right by because she only needs to make one move to avoid the pressure.

Angling the ring carrier: Instead, you need to use your body just as much as your stick. You must be within a stick length of the ring carrier and use your body to angle the ring carrier towards the boards.  To maintain this body position requires hard work – “stop and start” skating to mimic the ring carrier.

Once the ring carrier slows down (or stops) and exposes the ring, you can either try to make the steal or wait for help from a teammate. Again, this is a hard skill to master because you must remain within a good gap even if you miss the first checking attempt. It takes practice and hard work.

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Elite ringette players understand that body position comes first and making the steal comes second.  If you can maintain really good body position you can force the ring carrier to make a bad pass or burn time off the shot clock, even if you don’t steal the ring.  That way, your team still gets the turnover.

These pictures and this diagram show angling towards the boards in the ideal body position. The checker takes away all other options for the ring carrier and essentially traps her along the boards. The key is maintaining a good gap (within a stick length if not closer) and using your body as a barrier eliminating skating options for the ring carrier.

I like to use the analogy of a sheep dog that herds sheep and cattle. The dog runs and uses its body to take away all options except the direction of the herd. In ringette, you have to use quick feet, stops and starts, and good body position slow the ring carrier down.

In this movie, the checker uses her foot speed to get in front of the ring carrier and force her away from the middle of the ice and towards the boards.  From there, the ring carrier’s passing options will be very limited and she may even get pinned against the boards (and checked) if another forechecker joins in.

Starts and stops are more effective than “swooping” (making big turns) to stay in front of the ring carrier. This is what makes checking such hard work, and why so few players can make the one-on-one steal: they either don’t know how to check or they do not realize how much work it is. You need to match the speed of your opponent and then use your body as a tool, taking away all other options except the boards or a teammate.

Watch this comparison of big swoops versus stops and starts:

Superior 'Ring Stealing' Forechecking

Superior 'Ring Stealing' Forechecking

Even if you have impeccable individual checking skills, you will have more success checking a defender (we call this ‘making the steal’) if you work with another player on your team to do it. This is called forechecking.

To create frequent turnovers, you need to perfect the skill of checking 2 v. 1.  This skill is more complex because the two checkers have very different jobs.

Checker #1

If you get to the ring carrier first, your job is to “contain” her – slow her down and angle her towards a trap zone (against the boards or blue line).

If the first checker skates straight at the ring carrier, she will either get roasted (the ring carrier will blow by her) or she will get a two minute rest in the penalty box (because she has to hook or hold the ring carrier to slow her down).  Check out this video and notice how the forecheck skates straight at the player who picks up the ring on the boards. She gets burned! Watch the video here:

Now, watch the very same player make the ring carrier SLOW DOWN and STOP by using “stop and start” skating. See the video here:

The best way to practice containment is to do a 1 v1 drill in a small space.  Your job is harder if you start far away from the ring carrier.  In order to get the feel for this, start with very little gap between you and the ring carrier and then gradually increase the gap as you become more comfortable.

You can also practice this skill in the OFF SEASON. Basically, do the same drill, except in your own back yard, and practice stopping and starting using your feet to stay in front of another person who is trying to run by you (you’ll need to be in a closed space, such as a small yard. Use a fence rather than the boards).

Another good tip is to practice containing the ring carrier without your stick.  Without your stick, your only weapon is your legs (foot speed).  Removing your stick makes it clear that your objective is not to steal the ring but to slow down and contain the ring carrier.

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Coaches, bring a stop watch to practice for this drill.  Time how long it takes the ring carrier to successfully cross the ringette line (or blue line).  The longer is takes the ring carrier to get out of the zone, the better your checker did!

Checker #2

The second checker’s job is to make the steal (check the ring carrier).  She must come in on the opposite side of checker #1 (so the two checkers are not on the same side of the ring carrier), get shoulder to shoulder, and make a legal stick check.

Here is a video that shows the forward doing a great job of trapping the ring carrier on the boards while the second forechecker comes in and makes the steal:

The first common mistake is when the second forechecker comes in on the same side as the first forechecker.  This leaves a lane open for the ring carrier to escape the pressure.

 

The second common mistake is when the second forechecker is too far behind the first forechecker.  To make the steal, the second forechecker must arrive almost immediately after the first forechecker.  If she is one or two steps behind, the ring carrier will be gone before the checkers can trap her and steal the ring.

Awareness Exercises:

  • Run a 2 v 1 out of the corner. For the first few repetitions, see what happens when the checkers purposely go to the same side of the ring carrier.  Chances are, the ring carrier will use the open lane to escape the pressure and break the ring up ice.After 4-5 repetitions, change the drill so the checkers must end up on opposite sides of the ring carrier.  In this progression, the forwards should start to see some success.
  • Continue with the 2 v 1 out of the corner. For the first few times through the drill, see what happens when the 2nd forechecker purposely joins the first forechecker late.  Again, chances are that the ring carrier will have already beaten forechecker #1 and forechecker #2 won’t be able to trap the ring carrier to steal the ring.  After 4-5 repetitions, change the drill so the 2nd forechecker arrives immediately after the first forechecker.

How to Turn Forechecking into Goals

Good forechecking is the most underrated offensive weapon.  Most people think forechecking is important so your team can maintain control of the ring.  That is definitely a huge benefit of forechecking.  However, most goals in ringette are scored when the other team’s triangle is not set up.  That means that most goals are scored off the fast break or off turnovers.

To increase your team’s goal production, practice attacking the net immediately after making the steal.  If you are a coach, run all the same drills mentioned above and make a rule that the forwards have 5 seconds to take a shot after they make the steal.  This will help to instill the “drive to the net” mentality.

Check out these video clips to see what I mean:

The Final Step: The Checking Mentality

In addition to mastering the skills covered here, you need to adopt a certain mentality if you want to dominate other teams with your checking.  Here are the keys:

  • Internalize what is a successful forecheck – turning the ring over OR forcing a bad pass OR taking time off the shot clock (e.g., 15 seconds or more).  If you understand that successful checking is not JUST turning the ring over, you will feel more motivated more often.  You will be proud when you take time off the shot clock or force a bad pass.
  • Celebrate forechecking on your team.  Ask your coach to consider recognizing a “checker of the game award”.  If you prefer something less formal, simply give verbal acknowledgement to your teammates during and after for outstanding forechecking.  Also, set a team forechecking goal before each game.  For example, you could set a goal to turn the ring over in the other team’s end or in the neutral zone at least 5 times per period.  If you set a goal like this, find a parent volunteer who is willing to keep track of this stat during the game so you can keep track.
  • Create rules for forechecking and consequences for breaking them.  The cardinal rules of forechecking are that you do not make a line change when you should be forechecking, you stop and start rather than tight turn, and you do not give up until the other team gets the ring over your own team’s ringette line.  You could establish a rule where any athlete who breaks these rules 3 times in a game misses a shift.  Setting these rules is about creating a culture on your team that values and celebrates forechecking.

Note: a good time for forwards to make a line change is when the other team has possession in your own team’s end.  Your forwards can also change when your team has full possession of the ring in the other team’s end.  If she changes when the ring is in the other team’s end, she should yell “control”, one of your defenders can step in while the forward changes, and the forward should hussle off the ice (not coast).

Drills for Practising and Teaching Marking

Drills for Practicing Marking

The Mysterious ‘X-Factor’ for Ringette Success

NOTE: Have your forwards practice marking players in the neutral and defensive zones as well as your defenders. It will teach them a lot about how to get away from a check. And, if you ever need one of them to play defence, you won’t be jeporadizing your team’s chances of winning.

You should spend about 20 minutes per practice on marking for the next two months. Here is a practice plan outline – you will need to customize it according to you age level and personal preferences. There are four types of drills: skating drills, body positioning drills, games, and a basic marking drill.

You will be shocked and pleasantly surprised how quickly your athletes improve at this.

Also...do NOT be tempted to skip the skating drills. If a player cannot skate, she cannot mark a check.



















Remember, all you need to do is repeat these drills for about 20 minutes per practice for the next two months, emphasizing to your athletes that they need to   a) Keep a “just right” gap on their checks and b) Stay goal side.

Drills for Practising Skating Agility

Here are two fool proof practice plans to bring agility to your team. We’ve included several different types of drills (including cool games) to keep them fun and engaging.

Practice #1












Goal Setting and Summary

Summary

To become world class at marking, master the following:

  • Get closer to the person you are marking by practicing different types of gap control and learning to mark tighter and tighter.
  • Mark goal side so you never give up a breakaway.
  • To stay goal side, master your edges (and other skating skills like acceleration and turning).
  • Keep track of where everyone is on the ice by having your head on a swivel. If you notice that a player on the other team is rushing up ice unmarked, drop off your check and play the 2 v 1 rather than giving up a breakaway.

Your Goals for Marking

Here are your marking goals for the next three months:

1st Month

To always stay goal side of your check NO MATTER WHAT.

2nd Month

To master your gap control by practicing marking too close, too far, and just right. By the end of the month, you’ll want to be able to mark aggressively and leave a very small gap.

3rd Month

To improve your edges by practicing these skating skills for a few minutes each practice.

Personal Evaluation

At the end of each month, write at least two comments in the space below. How did you do? What was easy for you? Difficult? What improvements did you make?

1st Month

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2nd Month

____________________

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3rd Month

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Light it up out there,

 

Your friend,
Lisa B.