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JANUARY 2006
Got Hands? Try SweetHands
If you want to become more proficient with the puck, this product is for you. SweetHands StickHandling is a revolutionary new hockey training aid that will truly improve your stickhandling and puck control skills while allowing you to practice in a fun and challenging setting.
It all started one year ago based on a need. Lance Pitlick, former |
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NHL player with the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers, and now a coach in the Wayzata Youth Hockey Association (MN), struggled with his young players as he tried to teach them basic stickhandling skills.
“As a father of two hockey players and a coach as well, I noticed that the young players in our association were lacking the tools necessary to teach them basic hockey fundamentals – proper skating technique, passing and stickhandling,” said Pitlick, “I wanted to help them further their puckhandling skills by developing something that would be challenging, yet fun, so they could work on skill development but still maintain a real love of the game.”
And hence Sweet Hockey Products and the SweetHands StickHandling Training Aid were launched. Starting out with a basic prototype put together in his garage, Lance brought the contraption to the Mite Skill Development sessions he taught every Wednesday evening. Even though the prototype was raw, and difficult to lug around town, Lance noticed two things – the kids stickhandling skills were improving each week, and they were having a blast challenging themselves on the many drills.
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“Having played hockey all my life, my biggest concern is always, ‘Are the kids still having fun?’”, said Pitlick. “Hockey is a time-consuming game and a huge commitment nowadays, but it isn’t worth it if the kids aren’t in love with the game every time they hit the ice. We wanted our company and our products to focus on developing things that helped keep the game fun for the kids, while also furthering their skills.”
Since the days of that first prototype, Lance and his partners enhanced the SweetHands product further by making the unit out of a light weight, durable injection molded plastic. The device is comprised of eight one foot sections to make either one eight foot unit or two four foot units. The product comes with two end pieces, which consist of two bases connected by an arm, and six middle pieces, which consist of one base and an arm. SweetHands is light weight and easy to carry in your hockey bag with all your gear – the total weight is less than nine pounds. SweetHands also comes with small spikes that screw into the base to help minimize sliding when using SweetHands on ice.
Retailing for only $89.99, SweetHands can be purchased online at www.sweethockeyproducts.com or by calling (877) 793-3883. Said Pitlick, “We wanted to keep the price of SweetHands affordable for families with young kids. |
In this day and age of the $200 one piece composite stick, we felt strongly that our product would need to be priced right so that parents could feel good about buying their kids those expensive sticks. After all, a $200 stick isn’t worth much unless you can use it properly.”
Having sold several hundred units in only a few months across 34 states and three provinces in Canada, Pitlick is sure that he has a winner on his hands. “The challenge now is to continue to develop more products that make sense for our company, but more importantly that will truly enhance a young player’s skill development and love of the game. Everyone dreams of playing in the NHL some day, but what we really want to do is to develop skills for life, so that our customers today are still playing the game of hockey on a pond or a rink somewhere when they’re 40-years-old”, commented Pitlick. “Then we’ll know we’ve made a difference.”
SweetHands Stickhandling will greatly improve your speed, timing, eye and stick coordination, precision, puck control, touch, feel and consistency when handling a puck or stick handling ball. If you are interested in learning more about the product and viewing live streaming video of some drills in action, visit www.sweethockeyproducts.com for more information.
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