What do you have to do to be able to skate like Sergei Fedorov or shoot the puck like Brett Hull? Unfortunately, no matter what we do, the chances of any of us reaching that level are pretty slim. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try. So how do you go about trying to develop your skills to be the best that you can be?

Highly-skilled hockey players are not built in a day, or week, or a month, or a season. They hone their skills over a span of many years, with many, many hours of repetition and practice and a great deal of dedication.

First they learn the basic fundamental skills, and then each year they build upon that foundation to become a little quicker, a little smoother, a little stronger, a little more adept. Without the foundation, it is extremely difficult to improve and progress. For the best results, it literally has to be taken one stride at a time.

For over 30 years, Suburban Hockey Schools have conducted summer hockey school programs based on the very principle – progression.

"The contact of our basic curriculum has really changed very little over that time period," says Tom Anastos, a director of the program, and a former student himself when the school began back in the mid 1970’s.

"The fundamental skills of skating and puckhandling always have been, and always will be the same fundamental skills. It’s how they are taught that dictates the results."

Since day one, SHS has prided itself on teaching a progressive curriculum, not only from year to year as players move up in age, but from day to day during the week, and literally from minute to minute within a class.

"Skating is really the most essential aspect," says SHS director Lyle Phair, a former college teammate of Anastos at Michigan State, who went on to play four years professionally before becoming a college assistant coach in the CCHA.

"And more specifically, balance and control of your body, you will have a more difficult time developing other skills."

For that reason, all SHS programs begin with fundamental skating skills, first with forward striding, then edge control for stopping, starting and crossovers, then backward skating technique and pivoting, all adapted to the age and ability level of players on the ice.

"Each day we build upon the skills and concepts that we worked on during the previous session," adds Anastos, a former player in the Montreal Canadiens organization before going on to a college coaching career at both Michigan State and the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

"We really work to instill good skating habits early. It is critical, especially at the younger ages. Once you get into bad habits, they can be difficult to break. It can be done, but not without a lot of time and hard work that wouldn’t be needed if a player developed proper technique early on."

Each day in a week-long class, players will continue to work on techniques taught earlier on, pushed by their instructors to be a little stronger, a little faster each time.

"It really is amazing how much a player can improve in a short period of time just with simple repetition, combined with proper mechanics and technique," says Pat Carmichael, a grizzled veteran SHS staff member, with 30 years of instructional experience. As a middle-school teacher by day and an Atlanta Thrashers scout by night, Carmichael knows a thing or two about hockey and how to teach it to kids.

"You can literally see their confidence grow before your eyes as they realize that just by changing something as simple as how they hold their stick, how much they bend their knees, or how they move their upper body, they can improve their balance and control and consequently be that much faster and stronger on their skates."

In addition to developing and reinforcing those essential skating skills, SHS also has a well-tooled, progressive, and age-appropriate  hockey curriculum for each class offered.

"Again we start with the first step, stickhandling, and progress on to passing and receiving, shooting, and how to check effectively, using your stick, and your body for the appropriate age groups," offers Phair.

"Each day we build upon that foundation laid the day before, and each day we push each player to go a little faster, while maintaining their balance and control."

As Suburban Hockey School enters its 32nd summer of hockey school instructional programming in Michigan in 2005, literally thousands of young (and old) hockey players have made plenty of progress each summer. With a curriculum based on developing fundamental skills and then taking them to the next level, would you expect anything else?