Public skating sessions are a great way for hockey players to get some ice time without paying an arm and a leg. While cheap ice is great, public skating has its disadvantages — primarily the fact that the public is there! Most hockey players go to public skating to work on their skills, but it’s hard to do when there are so many people in the way! When you’re at a public skating session, you need to respect the other people on the ice. The following do’s and don’ts show you how to have fun at public skating and build your hockey skills without annoying everyone else on the ice.

What NOT to do at public skating:

• Skate full speed, blowing past everyone on the ice.
• Weave in and out between grandma and grandpa and all their grandkids.
• Try something new close to a big crowd — you can not only embarrass yourself, but also wipe out and knock them all over!

You might be thinking “How am I supposed to have any fun if I can’t skate around like a wild man?” As a hockey player myself, let me share how you can have fun and improve your skating.

How to respect other skaters AND build hockey skills at public skating:

• Focus on form: Take slow and intentional strides and focus on proper form. This helps you improve your stride, which will make you a better skater. Where’s the fun in that? The fun part comes in the hockey game when you blow by other players who don’t practice their skating!
• Look for open ice: Unless they are orange and cone shaped, you shouldn’t use them as obstacles on the ice. While you might think nearly missing everyone on the ice is fun, people who are just learning how to skate certainly do not. Instead of practicing evasive maneuvers, practice your hockey sense. A great way to do this is skate just a bit faster than the crowd and look for big openings, skate for the big gaps and then look for a new one to skate for. This helps you naturally skate for open ice, which means you will be getting more passes.
• Read the crowd: If the majority of skaters are beginners, then take it easy and work on subtle movements like crossovers and skating forwards and backwards. If a lot of skilled players are out there, you can take it up a notch or maybe even have a game of tag.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Jeremy Rupke of HowToHockey.com for this story. You can subscribe to his hockey tips blog, which offers tips, skills, drills, videos and more.