Peeling the Banana

Yum.

I like this drill but I'm quite crap at it. If you know how to tomahawk, hockey stop or plow, then you should be okay to do it.

Basically, you start with two pace lines, and you go at some speed that works for everyone. If you want the drill to be harder, you go faster. That's pretty easy. It's fun though if everyone is roughly at the same skill level. If not, put the people who are fastest at the beginning of the pace line and the slower people at the end. Or at the very least try to pair up the people in the pace line so they are with someone of a similar skill level.

Anyway, so you have your two pace lines moving together. On the whistle, the pair of skaters at the top of the pace line each "peel off" the pace line (but they should still stay within the track lines, so make sure the pace lines are actually in the middle of the track), so you basically stop with a tomahawk, hockey stop or plow, skate to the end of the line and then rejoin the line.

So it looks something like this:

And rinse and repeat. It gets tricky if you
try to send through multiple pairs.

If you tomahawk, you should also switch sides so you can practice transitioning both ways before you stop. But the faster you do it, the harder it gets. I have a bad habit of flinging my arms around to try to help me stop and I almost punched someone in the mouth. :/