Laura Stamm's Power Skating

At the time of this review, I am 31 years old and preparing for my first season of adult hockey. I had almost zero skating experience (aside from maybe three public skating sessions when I was 12 or so years old) when I decided I wanted to play hockey. Before I started taking skating seriously, I would just go out an mess around on the ice for a half hour at a time. All that did was breed bad habits and frustration. Then, I purchased this book: I can't stress to you just how much the descriptions in this book helped form good skating habits while avoiding/undoing the bad ones. Remember, I am a self-taught skater and by no means perfect, but this book solidifed the fundamentals and spelled out the execution necessary to maximize my power. In just three months of practice patterned after the excercises in this book, I feel like a totally different individual than the unbalanced, directionless clown I was when I started out. Consider this book a must-read if you're looking to get into hockey.

This is an excellent book. I am a recreational skater, who plays the occasional pick-up/old folks hockey. I learned skating skills and techniques from some of the chapters, that I could not learn from my friends. My skating has improved since I read Laura Stamm's Power Skating. The author really knows how to express herself and teach. Techiques are described with clarity and appropriate drills are detailed. This should be beneficial to all skaters, from novice to expert. If you are only buying one hockey skating book, it should be this one.

Although I play roller hockey instead of ice hockey, this book is still an excellent resource. Very thorough explanations, illustrated with many clear photographs. I think it is most appropriate for beginning to intermediate skaters. However, if you are an advanced skater and want to check that your mechanics or sound, or want to squeeze the last bit of performance from your technique, you should consider this book. I can't recomend this book highly enough. In the first week after getting it, I was able to skate faster than many of the other people in my hockey class who had blown me away the previous week.

This is a great prep book before starting hockey clinics. She gives you lots of subtle position and balance tips that really change the feel of your feet on ice and help you move faster with more assurance. She's got practice exercises as well.

I started skating just this year (I'm finishing a delta class now) and got this book in preparation for an upcoming power skating and hockey clinic. It's great -- there are lots of subtleties that I missed in my lessons thus far that Stamm covers very well, things like balance points, where to center your weight for most efficiency, and the most common mistakes that cost you speed.Considering the cost of private lessons, this book is more than worth it! I've got lots to practice now even before I start the clinics.