Ringette Retreat Online Tutorial
The first thing you need is to become a fierce threat to anyone with a ring. You’ll do this by developing superior checking skills. In this online tutorial, you will learn insider, pro secrets to checking players 1 vs. 1. Here’s exactly how to use it:
- Read it over carefully and watch the DVD clips by clicking on the links. It will take about 20 minutes.
- Set your "checking" goals for the next 10 days. I will help you do this at the end of this tutorial. You will probably have at least two practices and one game in 10 days, if not more.
- Try your new fierœ checking strategies in at least three ice sessions.
- Evaluate yourself at the end of 10 days. How did you do?
- If you have any questions or want tips, email Laura Warner at info@lisabrown.ca and she will help you!
The Rainbow Check
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.
You need to be shoulder to shoulder with the ring carrier before attempting to check her. This is the key point of the skill and it’s the main thing you should focus on for the next 10 days when practicing your Rainbow Check.
Watch an example of the Rainbow Check in the video clip below. To watch the clip, click on the link or copy and paste it into your browser:
Here’s another example of players checking using the Rainbow Check. Notice that whenever a player checks, she is shoulder to shoulder with the ring carrier:
Insider Tip 1: Move Your Feet!
A problem for most players is remembering to keep your feet moving while trying to check your opponent.
If you check from behind, you will usually 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 you will get a penalty for tripping, hooking, or slashing.
Insider Tip 2: Check HARD
Once you’ve started off by moving your feet, you need to stay in good position.Also, make a strong stick check on the bottom third of the opponent’s stick.
Insider Tip 3: "That’s My Ring!"
You can see that the Rainbow Check is actually pretty simple to do. What I am asking you to do is out-hustle the ring carrier. You do this by saying to yourself, "That’s My Ring!" Often, it’s those little extra inches that make all the difference.
Insider Tip 4: Gap Control
To steal the ring 1 vs. 1, you must carefully control the gap how much space there is between you and the ring carrier – when she trying to carry the ring past you.
‘Too Close’ Gap
Many ringette players get excited and skate too close to the ring carrier (basically lunging at her) whenever they try to check. If you do this, the ring carrier will skate right by you because she only needs to make one move. For examples of rushing too close to the ring carrier, watch these clips:
You can see that the checker is not thinking very far ahead she rushes towards the ring, trying to get it, and gets burned!
‘Too Far’ Gap
Another common sight in ringette is a checker trying to check her opponent from too far away.
When you are too far away, you skate towards the ring carrier, but you leave too late and never get close enough to her to even check her. Obviously, this will never work!
‘Just Right’ Gap
Instead, practice your timing so that you skate in front of the ring carrier close enough so that your stick can touch hers (you could check her) and stay in front of her. To maintain this body position, you will need to work hard and use stop and start skating to mimic the ring carrier. Starts and stops are more effective than swooping, or making big turns. This is what makes checking such hard work, and why so few players can make the one-on-one steal: they get too excited and lunge at the ring carrier or they do not realize how much work it is. You need to match the speed of your opponent and try to slow her down using stop and start skating.
Once the ring carrier slows down (or stops), she will expose the ring to you. At this point, you can either try to make the steal 1 vs. 1 or wait for help from a teammate. Again, this is a hard work, because you must stay in front of her when she is trying to get by you!
Key: Your goal should be to slow your opponent down or make her stop. Slowing down her momentum makes stealing the ring possible.
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 use use starts and stops to slow the ring carrier down.
A great clip of good gap control is here:
Notice how Laura Warner stays in front of the ring carrier at all times.
Insider Tip 5: Trap The Ring Carrier On The Boards
The boards are a trap zone and you can use them as a sixth teammate on the ice! This is how you can double your turnovers every game.
Now that you are good at making the ring carrier slow down or stop, you can use the boards to trap her. To trap a player along the boards, you skate along side her and angle her into them without usingany illegal body contact. Here is a photo:
Angling Too Far In front
Sometimes you leave too early and get in front of the ring carrier by accident. If you do this, she can turn away from the boards and skate away. In this diagram, the defense is the ring carrier trying to skate the ring out of the zone. The forward is angling her towards the boards, but she is a step too far ahead of the defenseman. This allows the defenseman to step around the forechecker and skate freely to open ice (see below).
Angling Too Far Behind
In this case, you leave too late and you are too far behind the ring carrier. You then leave a small gap for the ring carrier to slip through.
Angling Just Right
This picture and diagram show angling towards the boards in the optimal body position. The checker has taken away all other options for the ring carrier and has essentially trapped her along the boards. The key is maintaining a close gap (within a stick length if not closer) and using your body as a barrier, eliminating skating options for the ring carrier.
For an example of great checking angling the ring carrier towards the boards, click here:
As you become excellent at trapping the ring carrier using gap control and angling, it will become much easier for you to check other players. You will also set up your team to make a lot of turnovers, because as soon as your teammate arrives, she will be able to help.
The Sweep Check
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 you use to prevent players from getting a good shot away).
To understand the basic motion, watch Laura Warner demonstrate a sweep check in slow motion:
Insider Tip 6: More Gap Control!
You must be within a stick length of the ring carrier. You do this by skating backwards fast, keeping yourself a stick length ahead of the forward until right before you check her.
Notice the discipline of the defender! Her goal is to stay between the forward and the net, giving her nothing to shoot at. She only does the sweep check at the very last moment. The check is the ‘icing’. The cake is channelling the forward wide of the net. If the defender had tried to check the forward earlier, she would have gotten beat and given up a scoring chance.
Your Checking Goals
I want you to set 3 goals for checking for the next 10 days. Here are some examples:
"I want to skate shoulder to shoulder with the ring carrier
before I try to check her."
"I want to stop the ring carrier by staying in front of her
using stop and start skating."
"I want to angle the ring carrier towards the boards
until she stops."
Set Your Goals Here:
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Personal Evaluation
At the end of 10 days, write at least two comments in the space below. How did you do? What was easy for you? Difficult? What improvements did you make over the last 10 days?
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Light it up out there,
Your friend,
Lisa B.
