Attacking 1 on 1

Actually, this one is really covered well in The Offensive “Bag of Tricks”.  The point in that piece is that an attacker must gradually accumulate a vast array of offensive moves (or tricks, I call them), these to be used anytime he or she finds himself or herself in a 1 against 1 match-up.

As you’ll notice me often pointing-out, each kind of match-up is unique, thereby requiring a unique approach.  And, as that applies to the offensive side of a 1 on 1, I’m going to suggest that the attacker is really on his or her own to somehow beat the lone defender.

In a way, I think successful one against one guys and gals also have a special kind of mind set.  I mean, most of them take unbelievable pride in their success, and that seems almost always to be reflected in the way they practice.  Yes, they absolutely hate being beaten, in a game or in a practice.

A little story to help make that point…  I can recall some 20-ish years ago a coach on my camp staff repeating something an old-timer told him, in that, “If you want to know who the stickhandler is in your group, just blow the whistle and look for the one who doesn’t stop dribbling!”  You might be smiling at that one, just as I am right now.  And you probably also get the point to that observation, in that offensively minded skaters love playing with the puck, they tend to like experimenting with it, and in the long run they become pretty dangerous, even pretty exciting attackers.

So, while I’m going to ultimately share tons of great 1 on 1 attacking ideas (because it’s one of my favorite topics), I’ll leave with these few reminders:

• As we discovered in the segment on “Read” and “React” Skills, 1) a puckcarrier must quickly recognize when he or she has a 1 on 1 match-up, and 2) he or she has to know how to attack in that unique situation.
• A player must take the attack side of a 1 on 1 personally.  After all, it is just him or her against the sole defender.
• The attacker’s success in 1 on 1 match-ups usually boils down to his or her offensive bag of tricks.

Oh, and I forgot three more keys to 1 against 1 success…  Practice!  Practice!  Practice!

 

Russian-style Skills Emphasis – Part 2

As I mentioned last month, I have an on-line radio show called Coach Chic’s Hockey Secrets.  And, while it’s free, and I welcome you to visit there when you have the time, I’m also going to occasionally edit some show segments and enter them here for you, because they contain information I’d really like you to know.

Now, let me remind you that noted skills analyst, Jack Blatherwick, expressed some pretty strong feelings (as did I) when it came to comparing Russian and North American training for young players.

In this second audio segment, Daniel Coyle takes us to a small, out of the way tennis club in Russia, where we learn the ways of the Spartak coaching staff.  (Sorry, that while I mention a link to Coyle’s column in this recording, my understanding is that that piece is no longer available on-line.)

This is good stuff.  And, while perhaps neither you or I can change the way things are done in our local youth organizations, we surely can borrow some of these ideas to help the young ones in our charge.

I hope you enjoy this…

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Playing With Balance

As you’ll likely discover from my comments in numerous other areas, I’m really big into allowing very young skaters to play as free as birds.  Said another way, I’d love for little guys and gals to play wide-open, offensive hockey, at least at first.  It’s just great for their skill development (and it probably helps encourage aggressiveness).

At the same time, there has to come a point in their development whereby skaters learn to play with a little more balance.  I mean, a typical hockey game ultimately requires them to split their duties between offensive and defensive roles.  And, as I’ll describe in next month’s entry, this entails the concept of “reading and reacting”.

As an aside here…  I’ve always felt that players should be able to skate with certain information — or a theme — in their heads.  For example, the higher levels of our game often include tactical matches  of skill and wit — with one coach’s X’s and O’s aimed at stifling the other team’s approach to the game.  Those X’s and O’s are also often changed a number of times during a game, which means that players might need to correspondingly adjust their approach.  And so does the score and the time-remaining change throughout, this requiring players to make similar adjustments (please see “Turning Points” for an example of this).

As for that “balance”…  I’m of the opinion that a player should always keep another theme in his or her head, realizing that the very next instant might require a quick change in his or her role — from offense to defense or from defense to offense.

In particular, I’m concerned with the first application, the reaction from offense to defense.  For, if (depending on game conditions) more than one or two players go overboard on the attack, there’s the likelihood the rest of the team is going to be caught undermanned if the puck is suddenly lost.

Also, as you’ll discover next month, the best players tend to be those who can quickest — mentally and then physically — change their roles.

The Idea(s) Behind Those “Goal-scorer” Gadgets

Hoping you’ve had a chance to really absorb last month’s entry, about ”Creating the Early Goal-scorer“, I thought I’d go a little deeper into my reasons for eventually creating the obstacles featured in that video…

You see, I spotted something frequently happening when my players went live — or tried the moves they’d just learned against live competition.  And, what I noticed is that my attackers were actually executing their dekes pretty well at times, but the defender or goaltender was too frequently getting lucky and foiling the play.  I mean, the attacker did everything right, yet he or she received negative feedback just because of lousy luck.

Hand in hand with the above goes my feeling that progressions should go from no resistance to increasingly more resistance.  But the jump from practicing moves to going live left no in between steps.  “Oh,” I thought, “if only there was a way to practice those moves in an intermediate step, perhaps against a not-so-live defender or goalie.”

The SMG (or simulated goaler) was my first creation.  For sure, I’d owned lots of gadgets to cover a net — like nets with pockets in the corners or plywood sheets with specially located holes.  Those weren’t as realistic as I wanted, though, and they certainly didn’t offer a chance for my kids to practice moves; they’re really only good (so they say) for shooting accuracy.

Eventually, I also created various versions of a simulated defender.  I don’t think there’s one better than another…  The main idea is to provide three obstacles — representing the defender’s feet and stick-blade, or the three open areas we want our attacker to work against.  (FYI…  I no longer carry the professionally made Attack Triangle shown in the video, although I believe they are still out there on the market.)

As suggested in the last paragraph, I don’t think the looks or construction of a given obstacle matter.

That said, here are a couple of ideas for parents and coaches who want to help a youngster or youngsters perfect the moves:

• a mom or dad could easily stand with feet spread (on or off the ice) and hold a stick down to simulate all the open triangles;
• a coach – dealing with numerous players — could have them pair-up as demonstrated in the video by some of my junior high school kids (I always ask that the player assuming the defensive role “be a good teammate” by offering a steady posture);
• more recently, I’ve devised a next progression on the way towards working against a live defender, having a teammate move rather slowly towards his puck-carrying partner.

Finally — and as you’ll hear me often say, progress comes from the doing.  In other words, the gadgets don’t improve an attacker, practice does!

Repetition Versus Boredom

Throughout this website you’re going to frequently hear me refer to the conflict between repetition and boredom.  For, while repetition is surely the best teacher, it can sometimes lead to boredom.  And, to me, boredom IS the greatest threat to effective teaching.

Off-ice training is just one of several notable alternatives to on-ice training…  In other words, the amount of work performed on-ice in a given skill could be at least doubled in extra off-ice sessions.  And, just because that work is done within different surroundings, there’s the likelihood that a player will feel refreshed from the extra training rather than bored.

The use of different types of training aids can further excite a player…  Actually, I’ve noticed my students oftentimes fighting to get to the fronts of lines in attempts to battle a given gadget.  And, this sort of enthusiasm is VERY good when it comes to the repetition versus boredom issue.  Additionally, since there are frequently several kinds of training aids that can be used to deal with the same skill attributes, gear can be rotated to attain even more positive repetition.

So, my point this month (and going hand in hand with last month’s video):  varying training venues and training tools usually brings about more gains than if all the training took place on the ice.

A Great Passing/Receiving Drill

Searching for ways to gain more repetition with a given skill (just to avoid doing the same drills over and over again), I especially like substituting “hand passing” — with a beanbag, a ball or a puck — as a way of reinforcing basic passing skills.

And, the reason I KNOW this form of drilling meets my aims is because I find myself making almost the exact same corrections and comments as when we’re doing traditional-type passing drills!

By the way…  Although I usually do this type of drilling away from the ice, it can be done on practice ice, so long as necessary safety precautions are in place so that hand injuries won’t likely occur.

Handling More Than One Problem At Once

If you think about it, our game is rather chaotic.  I mean, it’s wild and crazy out there on the game ice, with players needing to constantly read and react to quickly changing situations.  And players also oftentimes need to bob and weave (and save their lives against body-checks) while at the same time lugging a puck.

So, how well will comfortably dribbling a puck or ball in place really prepare a player for that kind of game action?  I’d say, not very.

Oh, beginners need to learn almost every skill in place, and at a relatively slow pace.  However, if a player is preparing for real game-like challenges, he or she would be wise in learning to deal with numerous problems at once.  In fact, you may have noticed some examples of this sort of training among the short video clips I included in Critical Periods in Motor Learning.  (Take another look at that video if you want some immediate ideas.)

To be honest, I don’t think it matters all that much what other challenge we add to puckhandling; the point is for a player to just deal with more than one physical problem at a time.

As an aside here…  I recall hearing a coach address this issue some time ago, suggesting something to the effect that, “We have to really overload our players’ nervous systems!”

So, through the years, I’ve mixed puckhandling with all sorts of other simple challenges –  even ones as simple as jogging or hopping.

Although difficult to see in the above photo, that young fellow in green is jumping a long rope being twirled by two teammates.  AND, at the very same time, he’s dribbling a golf ball, on the floor and even in the air!  Talk about dealing with more than one challenge at a time!

Hyper-active Players

Q: Deb, a Colorado-based coach of high school aged kids, asks for advice on managing players with emotional problems.  She goes on to point-out that, attending to their needs can tend to consume a lot of the team’s practice time.

A: To begin, Deb shouldn’t feel alone.  In fact, over the many years I’ve had a special section in my player application forms for noting such needs, the number of kids with ADD, ADHD and other special learning problems has drastically increased with each passing season.

I might suggest that Deb and other coaches do something like I’ve mentioned above, by acquiring the necessary information on all the players long prior to a season’s start.  (Absent a request, parents might let their child’s coach know in advance if there’s a learning problem of any kind. I think it’s THAT important for a coach to know.)  Just knowing about the various kids’ needs will be helpful.  Moreover, I actually have a lot of parents amazed — and thanking me — because I asked for that input.

Next, those of us in charge of any group have to realize that each individual has slightly different learning needs (and I’m talking about everyone here, including those without learning difficulties).  To mention just a few…  There are those who learn best by seeing the information presented, there are those who prefer to hear it, and there are those who do best in a discussion-like format.  That said, it’s necessary for us to frequently vary our presentation approach so that we meet player’s needs.  (I’ll have to remember to post some ideas on that subject in a future post.)

Finally — and with all due regard for our presentation techniques, I’m going to suggest that the slightly hyper kids crave less talking and more action.  So, a fairly fast paced and physically challenge practice probably keeps their attention best.  Better yet, I might be inclined to hold a few competitions per practice — like races, and games of tag and keepaway.

Any members have additional ideas?

Proprioception

Okay, don’t let that mouthful scare you (it’s pronounced:  pro-pri-o-cep-tion), despite the fact that I’ll suggest this topic is pretty important for anyone in sport to know…

To begin, I think we’d all agree that balance is important to a hockey player.  And, with that, you should know that balance is derived from the fluids in the inner ear (and that it might also be referred to as equilibrioception).

That term out of the way, let me spend a little more time on the subject at hand.  For, proprioception is defined as the sense of one’s orientation of the limbs in space.  Or, said in an even simpler way, it’s the ability to use our limbs without having to actually watch them.  Hey, even with our eyes closed, we have a sense of where our arms and legs are, and we also sense where and when we’re moving them.  And this awareness — or the ability to know where our limbs are, is required for every movement we make.

Muscles, tendons, joints and the inner ear contain stretch receptors that relay positional information through the central nervous system and to our brain.  The brain consequently analyzes this information and provides feedback about our body’s orientation and movement.  That relayed information also tells the body how to react, as well as how much tension the various muscles have to apply for a given movement. So can the skin, the palms of our hands, the soles of our feet and other sensors work together with the brain to sense muscle tension, weight shifts, load and range of motion.

Of course, these basic senses are natural in humans, thereafter being continuously retrained, as a body attempts to deal with numerous everyday movements.  And, while they are at first unconscious abilities, they can be enhanced with training.

So, does this all sound like something we hockey types should be aware of?  You bet!  Actually, I’m going to go out on a limb to stretch the meaning of proprioception a bit, suggesting that I think it’s at least partly what we see in that athlete we refer to as “a natural”.  I mean, there’s a grace about him or her, and a lot of this has to do with his or her balance and body awareness.  Just picture it:  a player flying down the ice, bobbing and weaving in and out of opponents, moving the limbs in a pretty efficient stride when needed, and even knowing — without looking — where a little black biscuit is out on the end of an extended stick and arms.

Finally, from the above, you should know that proprioception and balance — while not exactly the same — can still usually be enhanced at the same time, or with the same exercises.   Consequently, future posts — here and in the ones From The MOTION Lab — will provide you plenty of ideas towards that end.

Most balancing exercises — combined with some sort of skill work with the hands — will yield improved hockey-related proprioception.

Strength on the Hockey Skates

I was noticing lately that some of my youngest and newest players were being thrown around out on the ice as if they were rag dolls. On yet other occasions, the same kids were losing the battles — and toppling over — each time they had a collision.

Now, I’ve discovered through the years that certain players don’t instinctively adjust their skating posture according to circumstances. I mean, a player can move in just about any posture when he or she is in open-ice; however, once he or she moves into traffic, that posture has to become far stronger, far more stable.

Two main things go into a stronger, more stable stance:

• a wide base (or spreading the skates);

• a low center of gravity (or sitting low).

A Follow-up to "Chasing-out"

Right after posting my ideas on Chasing-out last month, I was asked if there are ever times when it’s okay for a forechecker to chase a puckcarrer out from behind the safety of his net.  Great question, because it gives me the chance to share even more extremely important checking principles…

I think the short answer provided by most high level coaches would be that, “You’d better KNOW you’re going to be able to get that guy — or the puck!”

But, here’s a better, more detailed explanation, and it has to do with how much a checker should respect a given puckcarrier…

• Obviously, there’s a huge difference in whether a puckcarrier is facing the checker or has his back to him.  For, if the offensive man is turned away, he usually has fewer escape options, and he can’t be as tricky from this position.  In contrast, the defensive player MUST respect a man who faces at him (and also has the next thing going for him).
• For, just as obviously, an offensive player has to really be respected if he is facing up-ice and in good control of the puck.

I might mention that conditions can change in an instant, though.  I mean, the offensive player might have both things going for him one moment, which calls for the checker to act conservatively.  Just as suddenly, however, he could turn his back or fumble the puck, either being a signal for the defensive player to pounce right on him.