Shooting: Dropping Your Body-Weight
Today, we’re looking into the age-old question many players, young and old, ask themselves: “How do I get a harder shot?”
Most youth players are taught to utilize a sweeping shooting motion. While it’s a good idea from a weight transfer standpoint, it ignores simple physics and takes much longer to release the puck.
What we want to do is move towards shooting mechanics that take advantage of body weight and full-body strength.
Dropping weight
Downforce is a key ingredient in generating power, whether it’s relating to skating or shooting.
One of the best ways to do this is by ‘dropping’ your body weight into your stick.
This can simply be done via a weight shift and/or dropping a knee. Let’s take a look at what this looks like.
Weakside Leg
The ‘weakside’ leg is the one opposite of your handedness. I.e., left leg for right-handed shooters & right leg for left-handed shots.
Angle #1
Angle #2
Strongside Leg
The strongside leg is the one on the same of your handedness. Left leg if you’re a left-hander & right leg if you’re a right-hander.
Dropping Through the Shot
It’s not just about dropping, but also the timing of the drop. Notice that the timing matters as well. Here the shooter is dropping his weight through the entire shooting motion.
Moving from a sweeping motion into a downforce technique is a key step in a player’s shooting development and getting a harder shot.
Further Reading - check out our entire shooting technique posts:
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