What is hybrid skating? Who is Christian?

What Is Hybrid Skating?

We have combined all skating disciplines. Same as the best skaters in the NHL. That is why they are so fast. So skilled.

Most hockey programs teach hockey skating and stop there. That is a mistake. The best skaters in the world pull from multiple disciplines. Speed skating builds explosive power and efficiency in your stride. Figure skating develops edge control and body awareness that most hockey players never develop. When you combine those with hockey-specific skating mechanics, you get something different. You get skaters who can do things other players simply cannot do.

We teach how to use both the inside and outside edges. That sounds basic. It is not. Most youth hockey players never learn to use their edges properly. They skate on top of the ice instead of into it. Once you learn to push into the ice correctly, your acceleration changes. Your balance changes. Everything changes.

Why Edges Matter More Than Speed

Raw speed is overrated if you cannot control it. Edge work is what lets you accelerate out of a turn, hold a tight angle into the corner, and change direction without losing momentum. The NHL players who look effortless are not gliding. They are working every edge with precision. Most players at the youth level have never been coached on what that actually looks like mechanically, and that gap follows them all the way up.

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Who Is Christian Grunnah?

Christian is a highly skilled skating coach with a unique background across multiple skating disciplines. His father was an Olympic speed skater. His wife comes from a figure skating background. He holds a master's degree from Harvard. That combination of lived experience and academic depth is rare in this sport.

Christian has intellectualized the art of skating and how to make hockey players faster and better skaters. He does not just show you what to do. He explains why it works at a mechanical level. That matters, especially for older players and serious athletes who need to understand the movement to own it. A player who understands why their hip alignment matters will fix it faster than a player who is just following instructions.

He is an excellent communicator and tactician who brings a deep understanding of skating mechanics to his coaching. When you are on the ice with Christian, he is watching things most coaches miss. Hip alignment. Knee bend at push-off. Ankle flexion. He sees the whole picture and he knows how to fix it. That level of detail is what separates a player who looks better on the ice from a player who actually is better.

What Makes Christian Different

A lot of skating coaches played hockey their whole lives. That is their only reference point. Christian comes at it from a different angle. Speed skating mechanics teach you how to generate power efficiently. Figure skating teaches your body how to move with precision on an edge. Hockey is the application. When you coach from all three disciplines, you see the game differently. Christian sees it differently, and that shows up in his players. The athletes who train with him come out moving in ways their teammates simply cannot replicate.

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Hybrid Skating Camps

Christian leads specialized skating camps designed for advanced skaters. These camps focus on skating-specific development with limited enrollment to ensure individual attention for each participant.

This is not a general skills camp. There are no drills for the sake of drills. Every session has a purpose, and every player gets seen. Small groups mean Christian can identify what is actually holding your skating back and address it directly. That is the only way real improvement happens. You cannot fix what you cannot see, and in a group of fifty kids, nobody is seeing anything.

If your skater has hit a ceiling on their skating development, this is where to go next. We are not interested in players going through the motions. We are interested in players who want to break through.

[View All Pro Ambitions Camps and Programs]

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is hybrid skating in hockey?

Hybrid skating is an approach to skating development that combines mechanics from speed skating, figure skating, and traditional hockey skating. Instead of training one-dimensional hockey movement patterns, players learn how to use their edges, generate power, and move their bodies the way elite multi-discipline skaters do. The result is a more complete skater who is harder to defend and harder to catch.

Is hybrid skating only for elite players?

Christian's camps are designed for advanced skaters who are serious about development. That does not necessarily mean NHL prospects only, but it does mean players who are coachable, willing to work, and ready to be challenged. If a player is not ready to be honest about what they need to fix, they will not get as much out of it. This kind of training rewards focus and effort.

How is this different from a regular hockey skating camp?

Most hockey skating camps teach crossovers, edges in the context of hockey turns, and maybe some agility work. That has value. Hybrid skating goes further. It looks at the mechanics underneath the hockey movement, the same way a speed coach or figure skating coach would break down a stride. Players come out of this with a technical understanding of their skating that most players at their level simply do not have.

How long does it take to see improvement from this type of skating training?

That depends on the player and how much they continue to work on it after camp. Some players feel a difference within the first few sessions because they are activating muscles and edges they were not using before. Real, lasting improvement takes repetition over time. The camp gives you the foundation and the understanding. What you do with it after is up to you.