The 2-1-2 Forecheck

Before getting into the following video, I mention in it that there’s a simpler forecheck — more suitable for younger or less experienced players — offered elsewhere on this site.  So, if you happen to be coaching a team that fits such a description, I’d really suggest you try the old “L” forecheck.  I’ve found even young Mites capable of learning it and executing it well.

Now, although I define this as THE 2-1-2, I should really say that it’s MY version of that forechecking scheme.

You see, by saying it’s a “2-1-2″, I’m really only describing the layout of players — as in 2 guys working in deep, one guy back high in the middle, and 2 defensemen positioned as the third wave.

Coaches all around the world use the layout I’ve just described.  And, while most of us probably teach a lot of the same tactics within this formation, I’ll suggest that every coach adapts each role to his or her liking (or philosophy).

All that said, here is MY version of the basic 2-1-2 forecheck…

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Athletes Just Keep Getting Stronger and Stronger

Two recent news events cause me to bring a few thoughts to members’ minds…

I heard this morning that a new batting helmet is now being tested in Major League Baseball, this in hopes of protecting hitters from 100mph fastballs.  And, of course, the Dallas Cowboys’ new overhead scoreboard is also in the news, this because punters are already dinging it.

Starting with that scoreboard, I wonder if casual football fans know that the one in Big D was hung 5′ higher than the NFL’s rules dictate.  That’s right, the league states that they must be at least 85′ above the playing surface, while the one in Dallas actually hangs at 90′.  What I’ve also heard is that the 85′ rule is a little old, and that it should really be evaluated.  (Why so?)

Then, thinking back to my younger days, it was rare to see a guy throw in the high-90mph range.  Sure, there were the Bob Fellers, the Herb Scores and the Nolan Ryans.  But, on average, I recall that most big league pitchers heaved that rawhide in the mid- to high-80’s.  And, just as I did in reference to the NFL’s need to reassess their scoreboard placements, I have to ask why MLB has to rather quickly rethink their defense of batters.

The answer, I believe, is two fold.

I think the advancement of technology — particularly when it comes to the use of video — has hugely improved player technique.  And computer generated stick-figures can be used to study the biomechanics of any single athletic movement.  I mean, a frame-by-frame analysis can be performed on the likes of a thrower or punter to arrive at the exact motions needed to achieve maximum power.  (I actually own a computer based program that does this, although hockey motions aren’t as easy to define as the ones I’ve noted here.)

Of course, the answer you probably expected is that trainers today really know their stuff when it comes to building speed and strength.  And, do they ever.  Over recent years there have been unbelievable advancements, with many of the latest techniques explained here within the pages of CoachChic.com.

As a quick aside…  Yes, “We’ve come a long way, baby!”  For, I’m recalling my younger years again, about a time when barbells were taboo for skilled athletes.  Having played and then coached a lot of baseball way back when, I can even remember scouts saying that hitters with large shoulders were hampered in their swings.  And I suspect that tennis players, sprinters, wide receivers, most backs in football, soccer players, basketball players and the likes were also steered from touching weights.

Of course, I’m never really talking about those other sports here at CoachChic.com.  But I do believe that it’s right to keep watching what’s happening elsewhere.  Let’s face it:  Whatever is found to work with one kind of athlete is eventually going to aid a lot of others, including ice hockey players.

Then, I might mention one other thing…  Just as I described in my video, “Some Food For Hockey Thought“, I’ll suggest that most major gains in the areas of speed, strength and agility are taking place far away from playing surfaces.  Yup, I’ve seen big-name baseball hitters improve their hand-eye coordination and quickness with computer gadgets, I’ve seen a similar device used with goaltenders, and I’ve watched videos showing baseball pitchers gaining arm and shoulder strength using weighted balls and mini-trampolines.  (Down the road, I’m going to tell you about a new shoulder strengthening device I just came across.)  And, while I know little about it, from interviews with new pitchers who’ve joined the local MLB entry, I’ve frequently caught references to the benefits gained in a special throwing program currently used by the Boston Red Sox.

My point to all this is to recommend that my CoachChic.com friends continue mixing on-ice and off-ice workouts — throughout the year.  Yes, ice-time is needed for certain skills work.  However, I don’t believe a modern day hockey player can move beyond the masses (<= please think about that one) without the benefits of scientifically based off-ice training.

Hmmmmmm…  This late-breaking item…  I was just interrupted by a telephone call from a long-time student.  He’s trained lots before in The MOTION Lab, so he knows the benefits.  Anyway, it seems he’s just received a starting date for his minor league pro training camp, and he wants to get working in the Lab again.  I had to also smile when he said he wanted an old student of mine to be his training partner.  It seems that friend said something to the effect that, “If Coach Chic can’t prepare me for my college season, no one can.”  Ah, nice to hear.  But it’s doubly nice that two young guys appreciate what can be gained through off-ice training.

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Starting the School Year Strong

Starting the School Year Strong

By Kat Hasenauer

Ideally, hockey teams want to come out strong at the start of a game’s first period. The better you come out from the locker room, the better chance you have given yourself to win the game.

The exact same thing can be said for the start of the academic year. Heading into the first weeks of school prepared and with the right mindset will give a young student athlete the best chance at success in a new school year.

As we begin a new school year, how can a young hockey player or his or her parents get into that positive academic mindset? Even if you have already had your first day of school, the following tips can be tried at any point during the school year — especially when you need a refocus.

Visualize the first day of school/first day of the week – Much like coaches use visualization techniques, asking their players to picture making a dynamic play or hitting a skill, visualization can be used to focus on school as a positive experience. If you are approaching the first day of school, take a few minutes to envision walking into your classroom for the first time, meeting your teacher for the first time, seeing your school friends again.

If school has already started, take a few minutes during the weekend to picture walking into school on Monday and having a positive experience with your teacher, acing a quiz, successful answering a question, eating lunch with friends. Framing the school experience as a positive one can go miles towards helping a student face daily challenges that could snowball into longer lasting problems.

Set achievable goals for the school year - Through elementary school, I struggled with spelling tests (which was a serious problem for a young writer in the non-computer age of the early- to mid-1980s). In fourth grade, I set a goal that I would not fail a spelling test all year. I definitely came close at times, but ended up not failing a spelling test all year. Just having stated that as a goal pushed ten year old me to devote more studying towards the subject, and affected my attitude heading into each quiz.

A goal doesn’t have to be massive. Set goals that you think you can actually attain, but that you will still have to expend effort at. It also should be one that will better your academic behavior for years to come. A goal should not be, “I will get an A+ on every single exam this year,” but more like, “I will study more in advance of every test this year,” or “I will write out my test schedule on a monthly calendar in my room, and I will pay attention to it every day to be more mindful of what is upcoming.”

Take advantage of time out of season - Some hockey leagues won’t practice or play for the first week or two of the school year, if not longer. Other hockey teams won’t begin until October or November. Relish that time to devote singularly to academics.

For older students, this will be a good time to attempt to read ahead for English and social studies classes. This is also a good time to fit in any school community service requirements or mandatory extracurricular attendance (for example, if your teacher says you must attend a play at some point during the school year and write a report on it, get it done now).

For younger students, take advantage of the extra time with educational games added onto homework time. Flash cards, family wide trivia games (I have always found the Brain Quest trivia cards, with decks suitable for several grade levels, a fun and convenient tool), reading for enjoyment, are all ways to supplement time without serious hockey practices.

If the season has already started, or if you never have time off from practices, take time on a weekend early on in the school year to make academic enrichment a priority.

*

Parents, I know this might sound daunting, and maybe you’ll have to put off a household task or two to do so, but the above will be helpful to your young hockey player in the long run.

Taking the opportunity to start the school year right will help a student get out ahead and keep him or her better on pace with their classmates when in the thick of a hockey season. Creating balance in school and hockey lives doesn’t always mean that an exact balance exists everyday — devoting more time now to academics will help in those times when the balance is heavier in the hockey direction.

Smiling at the awesome advice Kat just provided us, I thought I’d mention that my grandfatherly advice to Anthony Chic — as he headed-off to college this weekend — was pretty close to what’s noted above.  Truth be known, I was a poor student in my earliest years, but a huge turn-around came when I started doing some of the things Kat suggests here.  Yes, a little prior prep goes a long, long ways to making us feel good about any new challenge.

– Dennis Chighisola

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Coach Chic’s MP Drill Format

As a preface, I want to explain my need to place this entry in three different “Thinking The Game” categories.  For, while it surely does involve some General knowledge, the drill format I’m going to explain and show here is awesome for perfecting both the Offensive and Defensive sides our game, as well as for helping our players improve their transitions from one phase of play to another.

Now, I’ll once in awhile joke that some of the biggies in our game follow what this old coach is doing.  And the start of this video might give you an indication of how that probably started.  (Oh, I’ve given them plenty more cause through later years, but…)

As I said in the preface, my MP Drill Format is truly awesome for teaching, practicing and then perfecting nearly every phase of a team’s playing system.  As I also suggest in the video, my MP has continually evolved through the years, and I’ve found ways to adapt it to all sorts of practice conditions (like off- or on-ice), and with all the different age groups.  I will even suggest that member coaches should seek ways to alter the concepts to meet their own teams’ needs.  That’s okay; I don’t believe the MP Drill Format is done evolving yet.

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By the way…  A few years ago, I went to a far different type of forecheck than that depicted in the video.   And this presented some real challenges as I tried to fit it into my MP.  Again, though, coaching is all about troubleshooting.  And, as I said previously, the MP can — and should — be adapted to meet a given team’s needs.  So, sometime in September I’m going to show you a simple but rather interesting thing I added over the past summer.  For now, however, get your own MP Drill Format going.  You won’t be sorry.

PS:  No, that isn’t me shown coaching in any of the video clips.  I’m always stuck with the camera.    Instead, the most prominent guys shown are two great former NEHI camp coaches, Dave P and Rich B.

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Help for a Hockey Coach’s Sore Throat or Hoarseness

I’ve just finished a week-long hockey camp with Team NEHI players.  And most of my fellow coaches know what that means…

Most drills need to be explained beforehand, a coach needs to provide constant feedback while the drills are in progress, and then he or she usually needs to offer a brief wrap-up at the completion of each drill.  Of course, this also means competing with the droning sounds of rink machinery, whirring fans and pucks booming off the boards.  So, as you might expect, I’ve been suffering with some serious hoarseness and a really sore throat since about last Monday night.  Worse yet, my fall/winter season is about to begin, which means that things aren’t about to get much better where my voice is concerned.

Obviously, I was thrilled to come across the following video entitled, “Hoarseness:  Save Your Voice”.  Then, knowing you likely suffer as much as I in this area, I thought I’d see about making it available to all my coaching brethren.

– Dennis Chighisola

Now, I’ve said it countless times within the past year, in that one can meet some of the world’s best and brightest over on the social media site called Twitter.  CoachChic.com guest writers — like Scott Umberger, Jason Price, Kat Hasenauer and the folks from the Mental Edge — are great examples, as is our current guest contributor, Dr Talli van Sunder.

Dr van Sunder is a self proclaimed “health fanatic by passion”, but she also possesses the scientific background necessary to provide truly sound advice for her huge following…  Talli is a graduate of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, later adding to her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.  And, besides sharing awesome advice through a website I’ll tell you about a little later, Dr van Sunder is a physical therapist by trade.

Now, here’s the advice I’m going to follow for now on.  And, if you like this presentation by Talli, please see below for some other ways she might be able to help us (and even our players)…

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Dr Talli van Sunder runs an awesome website called Being Healthy for Busy People.  (<= Kinda sounds like us ice hockey coaches, huh?)  There you’ll find some written advice, some podcasts you might want to download and listen to on the go, as well as other great video presentations.

Talli also welcomes you to contact her with your health related questions… Click to Email Tali

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Readying for Tournaments and Tryouts

I just received a question from a long-time Twitter and Facebook friend, Sandi, and this topic seems as timely as one can get.  And, although it has to do with tournament prep, I’d have advised much the same if she was headed to an important tryout)…

You see, Sandi and her son are on their way to a hockey tournament a few states away, and she thought she might swing a little out of her way on the drive to have her son’s skates sharpened a little differently than usual.  (Sandi had read elsewhere about my interest in a new sharpening method.)  Thankfully she asked my opinion on this BEFORE venturing off-track.

My advice to Sandi was to NOT do anything differently from the norm as she sends her boy into the tournament fray.  In other words, I suggested that she do everything to make her son feel comfortable, which includes doing everything as usual.

If you can appreciate what I’m saying here, there are times when experimentation can be helpful, and there are times when I would definitely avoid doing anything outside the norm.  Many — or probably most — hockey movements require fine motor skills, and these can only be thrown-off by different equipment or different equipment alterations.

In my humble opinion, the right time to experiment — or to break-in new gear — is when there are several weeks (or even months) to acclimate oneself to a different “feel”.

Ultimately I suggested that Sandi and her son visit that new kind of skate sharpening shop on their way home from the tournament.   At least the boy could try the results of that sharpening at home at a practice.  From there, he could experiment and judge better whether he wants to continue using it in future games.

PS:  I plan on explaining the skate sharpening process in a coming post.  It’ll be pretty in depth stuff aimed at helping my member friends really know their stuff in this area.  My hope is that you’ll henceforth be able to also troubleshoot any blade problems when they arise.  Then, when I’m really sure about the new sharpening process Sandi and I talked about, you’ll be among the first to know my recommendations.

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Goalies: Readying For Your Season

Goalies:  Readying For Your Season

By Todd Jacobson

It’s now late August and you’re most likely looking to head back to school. For youth hockey or club players, your practices and games begin in a few weeks. High school players, on the other hand, are either looking forward to a fall sport like football or soccer, or your half season town or club team is about to get underway. So I’ll break this up into two parts, one for the youth player and one for the high school player, plus I’ll add a few reflections from a coach’s perspective.

For youth or club team members:

There really isn’t a lot of time between your first practice and your first game. (As a long time youth coach I used to hate the way the schedule was formed. You’re lucky to get any practices in before you put on the jersey for your first real game. Personally, I found it took a good six to eight practices to really be ready as a team, and this depended on how practice attendance went.)

The one thing I did notice as a coach was who worked out or did that little extra in the summer. It usually was pretty evident in the first few drills, and sometimes it was as easy as seeing the guy come through the rink door and onto the ice (it was that obvious). Hopefully you did do some training in the spring and summer months so that the coach will see that you’re ready to play. (As a youth coach with two goaltenders I would usually let my goalies rotate between starting and finishing the game, but sometimes I would step in and make the decision for them. Typically I would want my stronger goaltender playing in the second half of the game, hoping the first could keep us close, while the second goalie would give us the chance to close out the win.)

So while most goaltenders at these levels aren’t competing for time, I am sure many coaches out there have a sense of which goaltender they want to use in the clutch. Do you want to be that goaltender? If you are serious, many of the training ideas we have spoken about in the last few months could still be done throughout the season. It just takes a small amount of time and commitment to stay sharp. And the respect you get over the coming season just might boil down to some simple choices:  While maybe the other goalie is watching TV at his home, you could be improving your game on your own in an unstructured environment. The best players make themselves better in their free time. So keep working on the little things, like juggling or some of the hand quickness drills we previously discussed.  And won’t your coach be happy with your level of commitment and your level of play come game time.

The high school goaltender faces a different kind of challenge:

While I know many will be competing with at least one other goaltender, some of you might be in a battle with numerous other goalies.

As a high school coach, I’m pretty sure every candidate can pretty much stop a puck.  So I look for two things that tend to separate the serious players from the pretenders.  Number one with me is work ethic in practices (because typically the one who works harder in practice usually works harder in the games).  Secondly comes a host of intangibles (what else can the goaltender do to help the team?)

Going further into those intangibles, I much prefer the aggressive goalie who likes to play the puck and make clearing passes, compared to the goaltender who sits in the protection of his or her net. Communication falls in this category, too.  So I like a goalie who directs traffic in front of the net, and one who talks with his or her defensemen?  Focus is also important, even when the puck is down the other end of the rink. (Yes, “little things” like these will impress a coaching staff.  And when it comes down to picking a starter, coaches like that guy to be a leader out on the ice.)

So while you may still have three months to prepare for your season, don’t sit around waiting for good things to happen for you.  Keep working on your own in a creative setting.   You probably won’t have much time to impress a coach in tryouts, so you have to take advantage of every opportunity. Be sharp when you show up for tryouts, especially as a goaltender.  Most coaches can’t afford to wait for a goalie to play himself into shape, so you could win a job just by being ready at the first tryout.

Then, to end with a quick story, way back when I started coaching high school we were about four days into our tryouts when a sophomore goaltender came to me.  Mind you, we only had one day of tryouts left, when he asked, “Coach, what do I need to do to make the Varsity Team?” My immediate answer was, “You probably should have asked that back in March!” And, while my answer might have been a bit harsh, it did reflect the reality of high school hockey.  Still, there was a happy ending to that story.  That boy did end up being a varsity backup, while playing in most of our JV games.  At the end of the season I put together a program for him to do over the off season (with some of those drills being the same ones I’ve shown you). Wouldn’t you know that same kid won the starting varsity job his junior and senior years, he led us to the state tournament both years, and had an absolutely phenomenal senior year in which he was a main part of our success. Amazing what a little work and focus on your own can do.

Keep working, and good luck,

Coach J.

Build Your Own Off-ice Hockey Training Center

A lot of the content this month has to do with being creative, and Todd Jacobson and I have (and will continue to) suggest ways you can solve problems by actually creating new drills.  At the same time, many good drills require some sort of training aid (I’ve mentioned previously that a lot of pretty good training tools can even be homemade).

Well, what got me started on the current topic was Craig Shaw’s awesome article on “How Training Like an Astronaut Can be Beneficial to the Brain“.  For, in that piece he mentioned a lot of great little training devices that really CAN help a player improve his or her athleticism — a lot.

But, here’s my fear:  It’s easy to read an article such as Craig’s, drink-in the main idea, then gloss-over some of the other (might I suggest equally important?) particulars.  And in this regard, I’m talking about Craig’s mention of rope skipping, juggling, a trampoline, scooters, wobble boards and the likes.  And I’d throw into that mix something like those Bosu aids (or small inflatable disks often used for balance training).

As an aside here, every parent is probably familiar with the oft repeated summertime chant of youngsters, like, “Ma, there’s nothing to do!”  And my answer to this is to always have a few gadgets sitting somewhere nearby (these have often been conveniently located in our back hall or at the end of our driveway).  Ease in grabbing something to play with is key here.  Hey, no one, including us adults, wants to spend a half-hour setting something up, only to have less time to play with it.

All that said, I thought I’d just mention how I’ve come by some of the unique gadgets you’ll often seen used in videos or photos taken up at The MOTION Lab…

– Of course, jump ropes are inexpensive — or, at least the types I suggest using.  Those made from something like a 3/8″ vinyl will whip through the air pretty quickly.

- So is a container of tennis balls fairly inexpensive.  Actually, the lower the quality, the less bounce you’ll get from one that’s dropped.  There are even some great tutorials available on-line that make juggling fairly easy to learn.

- In some of the videos from our Lab, you might notice a goaltender hopping and juggling while wearing a patch over one eye.  These eye patches are also readily available — and only a couple of dollars — at most local drugstores.

– And would you believe I found our first trampoline at a neighborhood yard sale?  I think it went for about $5.  I later discovered that one of the largest department stores in our area carries pretty decent tramps (so the dad of a Lab student tells me) for a little over $20, and these are available on-line if they’re not in stock at the store.

- I know that scooters were a rage when my grandson was about 10-years old, and I still see them frequently offered at low costs in most local department store flyers.  Oh, by the way…  When Anthony was motoring around our neighborhood, I suggested he split his time on that gadget — I mean, thrusting with his left leg as often as with his right.

– Wobble boards (or teeters, as I call them)?  You don’t need to buy one.  Two crossed 2″ by 4″ boards about 2′ long will do just nicely (and store very easily).  Actually, wait until you see my video on “Chop Stix”, whereby I’ll show you how to make a batch of great balancing, puckhandling and core strength gadgets from a single $3 hunk of wood. 

- Then, about those Bosu trainers…  They’re dawgoned expensive.  However, local department stores carry pretty inexpensive (about 12″ wide by about 2″ deep) inflatable disks that go for about $10 to $12 each.  I have a batch of those in The MOTION Lab, and they’re awesome.  But, while you could easily get away with owning one, two disks are all you’d ever really need.

Two final thoughts…

Whether price is an issue with you or not, I like to make it one as I offer this kind of advice.  (I don’t ever want a player’s chances of improving tied to his or her wallet.)  If there was one thing I took away from my long ago studies in the USSR, it was that those folks were dirt-poor.  Yet, while a lot of their gear was old and worn (not shiny and new like you see in most US gyms), it — and the teaching — was extremely effective.  (I somehow sense my old Moscow friends would smile if they visited my Lab today.)  Anyway, seeing what I did back then caused me to forever after adopt the following sentiments…

Yes, I feel the need to repeat something I’ve said quite a few times in other prior posts, in that, “It’s not really the gadget (or weight set) that makes us better; improved skills and greater athletic qualities come from the way we use them!”

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Improve Your Puckhandling with Coach Chic’s Chopped Stix

I thought I’d give everyone a break from the Incredible Stickhandling series to show you something that is absolutely awesome for puckhandling (not to mention core strength, balance, and a host of other physical skills).  (Trust me:  There are plenty more Incredible Stickhandling drills to come!)

As the following video points-out, I feel compelled to problem-solve.  And I also feel for parents’ pocketbooks — as well as their available resources — as I head towards a solution.

Here you’ll also discover ways a lot of previously mentioned drills and training gadgets can be made and used in a relatively small area.

So, take a look, enjoy the video, and please DO make a set of Chopped Stix to have handy around your house…

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By the way…  As a coach, I am preparing to make a batch of these so that my guys can use them in our weekly off-ice training sessions.  (More recently I discovered The Home Depot has bundled stakes — dirt-cheap, and all one needs to do is saw-off the pointed ends to have about a dozen ready-made Stix!)

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10 Things I Wish I Had Done as a Young Athlete

I am one lucky guy (and I think you are pretty lucky members), in that great new guest writers just keep coming on board at CoachChic.com!  That’s how I feel today, as I get to introduce Jason Price, a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, an Athletic Trainer, a Personal Trainer and a USA Weightlifting Federation Club Coach.  Jason has over 10-years experience working at various levels of Collegiate Sports.  And, as you’ll discover over time, Coach Price has a unique insight into Sports Performance with an injury preventative twist.

– Dennis Chighisola

10 Things I Wish I Had Done as a Young Athlete

Jason Price – MS, CSCS, ATC, LAT, CPT, USAW Club Coach

Athletes Equation

jason.price@athletesequation.com

I must admit I borrowed the the following idea from another on-line strength coach (see below), on his 10 things he wished he had done as an athlete.  After I finished reading the article I was so impressed with his insight on his past training I thought I would give it a try.

This is not a list of my regrets as an athlete, but simply items I wish I had done more of, known more about, or listened more to the advice someone had given me when I was younger.

So here it goes:

1. I wish I had spent more time static stretching. I had poor flexibility as a youth athlete, I had poor flexibility as a High School athlete, and I had poor flexibility as a college athlete. I’d battled injuries that would have been significantly less frequent or prevented all together by having good and functional flexibility. It is only now as an adult athlete and coach that I appreciate static stretching and all of the benefits of maintaining and having good flexibility.
2. I wish I paid more attention to my diet. In high school I took your typical health class but I never knew until I got to college that I needed to eat different and better as an athlete. It was not uncommon for me to eat some type of fast food prior to a game, or even worse hit up the snack bar during the JV basketball game prior to my game, and eat some Mike and Ike’s with a coke. Then I would be left wondering why my energy level crashed in the second half.
3. I wish I had spent more time performing metabolically correct conditioning for my sport. I was a Basketball player and I would spend a lot of time performing long, slow distance running to prepare for the season. Now I did my fair share of playing basketball, but when I wanted to do a conditioning workout I usually laced up a pair of running shoes and went for a 2-5 mile run. I’d kick myself when I went for these runs, but every start to the hoop season I would be dying during the first two weeks of practice because metabolically I wasn’t ready.
4. I wish I never fell for gimmicks. Yes, I bought strength shoes. In the late 80’s and early 90’s strength shoes were a staple for basketball players. If you are unfamiliar with strength shoes, they are the shoes with the huge platform on the forefoot promise to help you perform plyometrics. Now if I had saved myself $150 bucks and just did the plyometrics, I probably would have seen the same results if not more. So, the truth about gimmicks is that they are gimmicks and there is no quick and easy way to build strength.
5. I wish I lifted weights during the season and not just in the summer. I would hit the weights in the summer hard. After my freshman year my father got me a weight set for Christmas and we put it in the basement. There it sat all winter long until spring track ended and I could then hit the weights. All summer long I would get stronger and I would feel great once soccer season would roll around. But, then came mid August and the weights would sit in the basement and collect dust again. I wish I knew to keep my workouts intense and drop the volume, that I could get stronger during the year that way, and consequently maximize my strength.
6. I wish I didn’t buy a body building book to learn how to lift weights for sports performance. The first strength training book I had was a paperback, “The Gold’s Gym Strength Training Book”. It was filled with loads of good solid advice and exercise routines, if I was training for Mr. Universe, not for high school sports. I needed to get away from the knee extensions and biceps curls and do more squats and over head presses.
7. If I just could have understood that it was NOT cool to fight through injury. The resulting pain and loss of function is the body’s response to injury and not just a hurdle to get over to stay in the game. At the age of 34 I am paying for this mistake, over and over again. Now, I am not saying to quit playing with every little bump and bruise. But, if a medical professional like a doctor, athletic trainer or physical therapist, for example, suggests you should sit out, I would follow that advice. When you are making millions of dollars professionally, then think about playing injured. When you are still developing physically, I’d suggest an athlete sit it out.
8. I wish I had more access to video. Watching video of your play is one of the best ways to see what mistakes you are making. Today, with affordable digital cameras and other forms of multimedia, it is easy for athletes to perfect technique in all aspects. But, the big mistake is watching video for enjoyment, or not having an idea of what to look for. Going through film of your play or drills should be from a critic’s point of view. You should be looking for your mistakes, not looking to see how good you look. You should also watch tape to gain a sense of what breakdowns you are having, and how you might correct them. Critiquing for critiquing sake is no good.
9. I wish I worked out with heavier weights and did lower rep. For some reason, playing soccer, basketball and track, lifting heavy weight for low rep was frowned upon. I listened to too many people who did not have the background to give advice on the matter and I also paid too much attention to that body building book. To build strength you need to lift heavy, and for fewer reps. Working at 90-95% of your 1 Rep max for sets of 2-3 is a good recipe to get stronger. Performing 3 sets of 10-12 at 60% max effort is a good scheme for a soccer mom.
10. I wish I paid attention to having FUN. Playing sports and participating in athletics is fun!!! Yes the goal of playing sports is to win and to be successful. But, the overall satisfaction of laying it on the line to achieve victory should be fun. There is no sport that is life or death, and it should not be treated as such. Now, I am not saying that you should not have a bad taste in your mouth after losing.  You should. But, if you know you gave it your all and your all wasn’t good enough, it does not mean you shouldn’t have enjoyed the effort!

That is my list of things I wish I did differently. So, if you are a current young athlete, please heed some of my advice as it will only help you achieve your goals. If you are a former athlete, I would love to hear some of the things you would have done differently.

PS:  I borrowed this great idea from Jeremy Frish’s article found at http://www.strengthcoach.com

Dustin Pedroia’s Hand-eye Coordination

Dustin Pedroia’s Hand-eye Coordination

By Dennis Chighisola

By now, everyone knows that I’m into keeping an eye on other sports.  I’ll dig into anything that will help me coach our game better.  At the same time, I’m a real baseball and football fan (in particular, a devout Red Sox and Patriots follower), and I usually get into the basketball playoffs if the local Celtics are involved.

So, this being a warm, lazy Saturday morning in August, I spent a little time reading on-line about my beloved Bosox before tackling a more serious todo list.

As you likely know, one article can lead to another, as did the write-up on the Sox’ thrilling win last night eventually bring me to an MLB Pro Blog by Steve Hyder.

Now, I also love ESPN’s Peter Gammons.  So, when I noticed Hyder’s recent blog entry was about his interview with Gammons, I really got into it.  And I really got into the part where Gammons expressed his admiration for Red Sox second baseman, Dustin Pedroia.  As he said, “What makes Pedroia special is his hand-eye coordination.  As a boy, he played a lot of tennis and pingpong.  The other thing that sets him apart is his incredible will to win…”

Oops, back-up…  He played a lot of tennis and ping pong as a boy?  Hmmmmm…  That’s something that deserves some discussion with my friends at CoachChic.com!

So, I hope you’re thinking along with me on this one…

Pedroia has great quickness from side to side, and I’m thinking he really does react in the way a tennis player would.  You learn to be light on your feet in that sport, and you learn to be cat-like in pouncing towards any of four directions.  (I’m reminded of two hockey players I recommended tennis to a few years back.  One was a goalie and the other a forward, and they both lacked that lightness on their feet, or those cat-like reactions.  Both players — or their parents — seemed not to heed my advice, though.  And, since “what we refuse (ultimately) defines us,” both boys are now out of the game.  Ya, I win some and I lose some.  Darn.)

As an aside here…  There’s a difference between speed and quickness, you know.  I mean, speed usually refers to longer distances, while quickness has more to do with one’s reactions.  So, while Pedroia doesn’t possess very good speed on the base paths, I think he’s extremely quick in small areas.  (Someday I’m going to get into the way I see speed and quickness in hockey.  But for now, I’ll suggest that true success in our game has more to do with how well a player deals with short sprints and in-close battles.)

Pedroia also has what I call “hands”.  Yup, he gobbles-up just about every ball he can reach.  Ping pong, huh?  That’s what I’m guessing.  And, if you’ve ever seen a high level match in that sport, you know there’s as much footwork and body control required as there is in tennis.

As yet another aside…  When I was an older teen, handball was at the height of its popularity (on the courts where squash is now played).  I played it often at the local YMCA.  The beauty of handball — and how I see it as being such a great skill enhancer, is that the ball can be hit with either hand.  Consequently, Todd Jacobson and I have our goalies play a lot of this against the boards at our weekly off-ice sessions.

Now, there’s one thing Gammons didn’t mention, probably because it has little to do with Pedroia’s hand-eye coordination.  But, I’m guessing that the young second-sacker’s throwing arm was being strengthened every time he took a swipe with either a racquet or a paddle.

Okay, I have to get on to a lot of other stuff now.  Still, I thought this insight into the little things that might go into an ultimate elite athlete was worth sharing with you (even if it is a warm, lazy Saturday morning in August — !)

PS:  While I hope CoachChic.com will include every bit of hockey and athletic advice you’ll ever need, I really do encourage you to pay attention to what athletes from other sports are doing (or have done).

Oh, if you want to catch Hyder’s blog, it’s at:

http://shyderblog.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/06/youve-gotta-love-gammons.html?obref=obnetwork

Training Like an Astronaut Can Help the Hockey Brain!

It gives me great pleasure to introduce yet another awesome guest writer in one Craig Shaw.  Craig has been involved in hockey for over 30-years — as a player, coach and cognitive trainer (or what he calls a “brain trainer”). He has also worked as an educator, counselor and educational therapist specializing in motor skill and cognitive enhancement.  Craig plans on contributing a series of articles explaining what parents and coaches can do to improve some of the underlying motor and mental capacities of their athletes.  (And, lest you think this stuff is just for youngsters, know that Craig is also currently using a very similar approach with elite level hockey players.)

– Dennis Chighisola

How Training Like an Astronaut Can be Beneficial to the Brain

By Craig Shaw

Have you noticed how Coach Chic uses a variety of off-ice techniques to improve balance and coordination, such as trampolines, wobble boards and skipping? These kinds of exercises are consistent with what researchers are finding out about brain development. Studies have shown that rocking, swinging, bouncing and spinning babies not only helps to soothe them, but also enhances their later motor development. In one study babies were spun in swivel chairs in several positions ten repetitions four times a week for a month. These babies showed more advanced motor development than the control group. Likewise seniors who continue work on their balance in such activities as walking, dancing, skating and yoga show slower mental decline as they age.

Why is this? Balance (or the vestibular system in the inner ear) is integral to our ability to control posture, body movement, arousal, eye movements, and sensory integration. In other words, accurate perception, a much-needed ability in the game of hockey I might add, largely comes down to a smooth running vestibular system. And how we perceive the world has a lot to do with healthy brain functioning and emotional stability.

Can this ability be enhanced? It most surely can. Balance is one of the easiest things to train, and our body responds quickly to this training. The types of movements that help to train balance involve changes of movement in space:

1. Up and down movements – such as jumping, skipping, trampolining or going down a slide.
2. To and fro – such as running, skating, starting and stopping and swinging.
3. Centrifugal force – carousels, doing the ‘circles’ on the ice.
4. Turning movements of the body – movements used in spinning, dancing, rolling or turning somersaults.
5. Depth – riding a scooter, skating forward.

The best ways to develop these abilities is gymnastics (I recommend starting them young), doing activities such as those done in Coach Chic’s Motion Lab, and many and varied sports. Activities that require multi-tasking or divided attention, eye tracking and rhythm are particularly good for the vestibular system and the brain in general. Such drills would include juggling, juggling on one foot, juggling on a balance board or a mini-tramp, dribbling while bouncing on a tramp or balancing on a balance board, skipping, skipping while doing mental challenges or singing songs. Standing on one foot with your eyes closed is also effective. (I once worked with a boy who had little confidence in school and came to me for help. I ended up teaching him to juggle on one foot while reciting the Canadian prime ministers in order. When he did this in front of his school, he got a standing ovation! Did that do wonders for his confidence?)

One last thing: now, I have not read any specific studies on this, but it is just an observation that I believe follows some of the ideas that you have just read about. I once traveled to six different middle class elementary schools in Japan to teach them conversational English and Canadian culture. Well, I boiled it down to maple syrup and hockey. Anyway, one school was miles ahead in many ways – ability to learn English, behavior and so on – and I wondered what was different with that school. The only thing I could find was that they had a well-stocked shed holding about 150 unicycles. And did those kids use them! I don’t recall seeing any obese kids, and do you think they had good core strength?

Readying to post this unbelievable article, I can’t resist the urge to add a little something…

In the “good old days”, it was thought that specializing was the best approach to preparing an elite sportsman.  Oh, for sure, so many individual skills must become ingrained in the athlete (for example, skating, puckhandling and shooting in our sport).

At the same time, however, modern day scientists have discovered that certain foundation qualities (like those mentioned by Craig) have a huge bearing on an athlete’s ultimate chances at success. Just think about YOUR favorite NHL skater (my guy happens to be the great Ovechkin) or YOUR favorite goaltender…  In nearly every instance, these guys are acrobats on ice, or gymnasts on their skates and with their bodies.  They’re not one-dimensional at all.

– Dennis Chighisola

Making A Lockerroom Sign

Although there’s still plenty of summer left right now, I feel it’s the hockey coach’s job to plan far ahead.  For sure we hope our players are doing the same — or doing their off-season training right now.  At the same time, we coaches have to work behind the scenes DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS to ensure a smooth start to the coming season.

I happen to use a lot of aids or gadgets to make my coaching job easier.  And it’s during these off-season months that I can relax and do the job rightly.  As a matter of fact, lots of the little things I do are in answer to problems I’ve spotted in past seasons (and most of them come from the notes I’m constantly taking during the season).

As for the current little helper…  Almost every rink I deal with lately has multiple surfaces.  And, even if my players and parents know which rink we’re skating in on a given night, there’s always the confusion of which lockerroom we’ll be using in that rink.  Ya, if you get my drift, most kids end-up peeking in one dressingroom after another until they discover a familiar face or two.

So, I long ago solved this problem — for my teams, as well as for other teams who wonder the hallways.

What I did was to make the shown sign to be affixed on our lockerroom door.

I first did the artwork on my computer, printed it, then copied that onto a fairly stiff card stock.  (I’ve often doubled or tripled the thickness of the final sign by just gluing extra cards to the back.)

Most rink lockerroom doors are metal.  So, having saved a bunch of refrigerator magnets (the ones that are always arriving via mail to advertise the local real estate agent, whomever), I glue about four of these on the back.

I next protect both sides of the sign with a clear Contact Paper (or you might have the local print shop laminate yours).

As an FYI…  Magnets actually lose their strength if they’re not kept in contact with a metal surface.  So, since I carry a large 3-ring binder to each game (for rosters and other game related materials), I keep an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of tin in that book upon which I affix the sign for storage.

Sure, this all sounds like a bit of work.  At the same time, it’s awesome to be able to walk into a rink, find a lockerroom, and then slap that sign on the door.  My players get used to looking for it soon enough, and I think they like the idea of not having to drift around to find their mates.

Also as an FYI…  The sample shown here is one sign I’ve used in the past.  Some others have my New England Hockey Institute logo on them, and I’ve even had some that displayed a brief motivational message — ie, “Enter here with…”

Core Confidence

Core Confidence
Justin Johnson
Mental Edge Performance Advisor

One of the best feelings an athlete can have is when you stand on the playing field and have no doubt you will be able to achieve your objective. The most consistent finding in athletes who perform at a peak performance level is the direct correlation between their confidence and success. Every year from pre-game chalk talks to post-game interviews you hear about the importance of having the confidence in your ability to succeed. Yet for many athletes regardless of their level or past experiences have a weekly struggle with their confidence. The primary reason this occurs is that athletes tend to place too much importance on external results rather than their inner belief in their abilities.
As an athlete you gain confidence from two segments: external and internal.

External confidence is often the easiest to recognize and what you are most likely familiar with, making a big play, encouragement from a coach, or wining a big game for your team gives you an instant dose of confidence. It is easy to gain confidence from such events and the feeling is often very powerful. However there is a very real danger in staking all or even too much of your confidence on external events. The reason athletes struggle with confidence is because they fail to realize they do not have complete control over external events. Instead, your focus should be on elements you can control in order to influence events in a way that results in your favor. For example as a baseball hitter you don’t have complete control over whether you get a hit, because the pitcher decides where to throw the ball. You can, however, influence the chance of getting a hit by working on your swing technique and by deciding to swing at quality pitches.

So, how do you know if you are an athlete who places too much emphasis on external confidence? Chances are, if you only feel confident when you make a big play, or when coaches are encouraging you, or when you are winning, you tend to place too much emphasis on external confidence.

To avoid the rollercoaster feeling of having your confidence at the mercy of positive or negative outcomes, you must learn to develop your internal or core confidence. Core Confidence is developed from two sources, the movement towards mastery of skills and by engaging in quality thought. If you are a goaltender, for example, developing crisp movement, solid positioning, and smart save selections, these are skills you have complete control over. Core confidence comes from an inner assurance that when needed you can execute these skills to stop the puck. This is why many coaches suggest going back to the basics to reclaim your confidence. By setting aside a portion of time in practice to concentrate on basic skills you allow yourself to focus on the areas you have control over. This results in a higher level of assurance that you are capable of executing the skills of the trade.

The second source of core confidence is having quality thoughts. Much has been said about the importance of positive thought, so much so, that this has become a cliché of sorts to many athletes. What few athletes realize is that quality thinking is a skill, just like any other physical skill in athletics. Because it is a skill, the more you work on it the better you become at it! Core confidence is built by the quality of thoughts you have about what is going on around you. An athlete who engages in quality thought notices their strengths and successes and looks at failures or shortcomings as a skill or opportunity that has not yet been fully developed. Remember thoughts are very powerful, so powerful in fact that they dictate how you feel which in turn tells your body how you should act. So, in order to perform in a confident manner you must have the type of thoughts that produce confident play. As you develop your quality thinking skills less effort will be required and the foundation of your core confidence will be built.

Quality Thoughts = Quality Emotions = Quality Actions

So how do you develop your core confidence? In order to build core confidence you must:

• Identify and focus on what you can control You don’t have control over events; instead focus your energy on the thoughts and actions that will influence events to occur in your favor.
• Devote time to the physical basics Skill refinement allows you to build your assurance that you can do the job.
• Train yourself to think quality thoughts You have control over your thoughts so choose quality thoughts, which will lead to quality performances.

Simply put, you know you have core confidence when you believe you can make the play, instead of, because you made the play.

How to REALLY Tie Hockey Skates

Actually, this topic should have been one of the very first ones addressed here.  After all, isn’t skate tying part of the foundation for all a hockey player will do once he or she hits the ice?  Thankfully, though, a member recently mentioned his bout with “lace bite”, which caused me to put the following together — for him and for all my other CoachChic.com friends…

Now, we have to begin with a premise (or two) here.  I mean, the greatest skate tying job in the world isn’t going to help a player if his or her skate boots aren’t 1) of good quality and 2) properly fit.  Those things assured, the boots should support a player through the rigors of hockey movements, even with a poorly done lacing.

And that last point is important to keep in mind as we go about tying the skates.  In other words, a quality boot that fits right is already somewhat supporting the feet…

1. So, understand that there is absolutely no need to pull the laces very tightly in the lower to middle eyelet areas.  Worse yet, to tie the laces extra tightly over the arch area of the foot is going to put pressure on the arch, and it’s also likely to cut-off blood flow (since this area contains blood vessels that supply the lower portion of the foot).  My advice then is to tie the lower and mid eyelets as you would dress shoes or sneakers.
2. The real “support” in a skate boot stems from the leather (or more likely the modern day synthetic materials) that surround the ankle.  And it’s the top three or four eyelets that — when pulled pretty tightly — will draw the skate boot snuggly around the ankle.  (The number of holes involved in this can vary, but it is usually in the ball park of three or four eyelets.)

That’s it, folks..  Because there’s no real supportive impact in the lower to middle holes, and because there’s a danger of causing great pain by tying those areas too tightly, the laces down below should be left relatively loose.  And, because the top eyelets are the ones that affect support, these are the only ones that should be pulled snugly.

Then, a few more tips…

After years of video analysis, I can spot from the far end of the rink a player with excess tape or laces wrapped around the ankles.  There’s something unnatural — or rather robotic — to his or her movement, because they’ve lost the ability to really flex or snap the ankle from being so encumbered.  (In a way, they’ve pretty much removed the ankle joint from the skating motion.)

Like the premise that skates should be of good quality and fit properly, it just makes sense that spending $2 for the right length laces is worthwhile.  And, although there’s nothing wrong with using a light wrap of tape to just keep the lace-bow in place, excess tape should not be used in an attempt to gain extra support (hey, good boots and the right lace job take care of that).

Now, I’m always fearful of sharing this last tip, mainly because I don’t want the parents of younger, weaker skaters rushing things (let them first learn to skate and let them develop some foot strength).  However — and this might help that skate bite victim…  A lot of years ago, a pretty stylish skating pro player suggested I try not using the very top eyelets in my skates.  (He was talking about stopping short at the next to last hole on each boot.)  As he said (and it’s the very opposite of what those who bind their ankles with tape or laces achieve), “It really helps to get more flex at the end of each thrust!”  I tried, I loved it, and I’ve ever since I’ve been advising my older players to do just that.

______________

Since this article has brought about some spirited discussion by way of member Comments, I thought I’d add the following picture just so that we could all have a pair of skates in view while pondering various opinions…

Losing Players by the Whistle?

I’m kinda shaking my head as I ready this post for release…  I mean, as much as I’m into improving skating and stickhandling and playing smarts, I’m frequently thinking this website wouldn’t be worth a hoot without the kind of articles that are surfacing in this very special section.  Ya, and it’s YOU writing in this area (not us so-called experts), and I’m thinking YOU are saying some things here that just need to be said.

With that, along to my desk comes the following article submitted by the hockey playing daughter of a long-time charter member.  And, man, does it hit home with me, as it should with other parents and coaches.  So, please pay attention to what young Samantha is saying.  For, without heeding her advice, we never get to teach kids the skating, puckhandling and other stuff…

– Dennis Chighisola

Losing Players by the Whistle?

By Sam Hiller

Discipline has always been an important aspect to the game of hockey, but how much is too much? We’ve all seen good coaches, sometimes even great ones, but usually they can only be spotted in the upper levels of age groups and skill level. This is to say that the players these coaches acquire have made it past youth hockey and the issues that many players go through to get to higher levels of the game. Then I ask myself, just how much influence does a coach have on his/her players?

I believe it starts when the player first joins a team at a young age. They have so much to look forward to and every time they lace up their skates (or have someone else lace them) they just want to have a good time. Rarely can they follow positional hockey because they’re just out there to have a good time and put the puck in the net. For a coach, this could be frustrating and sometimes lead to too much screaming and not enough instructing. All parents should be cognizant of the environment their child is playing in regardless of whether or not they’re in competitive or non-competitive hockey. When a player is just learning how to skate or learning the basics of hockey, there’s no need for them to worry about the complex threads of the game because all they want is to have fun. However, fun doesn’t just stop when you have to learn more technical and physical objectives of hockey. My first year of competitive boys hockey as a second-year squirt was probably the biggest jump for me. My coaches were supportive and never yelled at the team or even remotely sucked the fun out of our game, but I learned a lot and carried that with me to peewee hockey. These were the two worst years of my young hockey career where I almost dropped the gloves for good.

My head coach was terrible and even though I was young, I was intelligent, yet he was always condescending towards me. Sometimes the drills weren’t done correctly (frequent in all levels of hockey) and I was usually the example player for what not to do. He pointed out my faults to the team and it was embarrassing to say the least. I was never the star player for those two seasons but I wasn’t the weak link either. Being the only girl on this competitive team, I was often ridiculed by other players and I usually felt uncomfortable in the locker rooms. When I brought this to my coach’s attention he did nothing. He may have said, “treat her like an equal” once, but he looked at me as a woman in a male dominant sport, not a player. It’s almost shocking how our coach’s attitude rubbed off on the team. The players weren’t like that at the beginning of the season, but they soon picked up on the fact that I was not the favorite and got the idea that these actions were okay. Our coach was also rude to referees and occasionally other coaches. With our impressionable minds, we thought this was okay, too, so we joined in. We were no more than 13-years-old and here we were cussing at referees and cheap-shotting players because we hated the other coach. After those seasons I took about four months off. It was just too much to handle. I thought I was going to quit the game that I once loved and couldn’t stop thinking about. While kids my age were crushing on other kids, I was sitting there crushing on hockey and missing every moment of it.

During the summer prior to eighth grade, I went to a hockey school in Breckenridge, Colorado. This camp made me want to wipe the cobwebs off my equipment and get back on the ice because I realized that I wasn’t going to let one coach get in the way of my dreams. Cammi Granato was a guest coach there and I tried to stay beside her for most of the camp and learn as much as I could from her. One day, for lecture, they brought the girls into a meeting room on the second floor of the arena. The fluorescent lighting with the backdrop of a scoreboard and the mountains that lingered outside was the perfect setting for a story. Cammi began to tell us about youth hockey for her and all the issues she faced as a girl on a boys team with a coach that wouldn’t do anything about it. My eyes watered when I thought of my own experiences and now that I reflect on it, I see why many kids drop-out of the sport. Not only women, but boys who think that their coaches don’t care for them or give them a hard time without purpose.

Boys don’t necessarily get to hear these heart-felt stories about how to recover from a terrible season. They can’t complain to another coach and say, “I’m not being treated fairly” because it’s not the ‘masculine’ thing to do. They’re supposed to just suck it up right? So instead of sacrificing dignity, they’d rather quit the game and waste whatever talents they used to have. I have many friends who played AAA hockey or midget major AA and right before junior hockey, they quit. Not because they couldn’t make it, but because they could no longer have fun with the game. The pressure from coaches saying, “you gotta be the best” and skating them until they puke or from parents showing disappointment dwells in a kid’s mind. An 18-year-old is still out there to have a good time, just like a 9-year-old.

Yes, there is a lot to learn and oftentimes a coach needs to be strict with his/her team if they want to get somewhere. From mini mites to midgets is youth hockey and a coach needs to recognize that. What is it that each individual player wants? Some are college-bound and some are not. Some want to play past the age of 40 and some don’t. I believe it’s the job of the coaches to help the players keep open minds about their future with the sport. Something brought them to it, so don’t take that away from them. Coming from the view of a youth player, all I want is for a coach to treat me as an equal to every player on the team. I want a coach who can crack a joke but be honest and serious when it’s necessary. Coming from the view of a young referee, I think the more a coach can respect the rules and how we choose to execute them, the more respect they gain from their players and everyone in the vicinity. We refs make mistakes, too, but I promise you, I don’t hear a coach any better at three times the volume. Finally, coming from a young instructor/coach, I think it’s important to laugh and smile. It’s important to let a kid know that he or she is the future of the game and give them pointers and praise at the same time. It’s our job as instructors and coaches to teach and share our love for hockey with our players.

Yawning While Exercising?

Now, several times long ago I felt like strangling my grandson for yawning as I was talking to him between exercises up in The MOTION Lab.  I mean, that’s a little rude, don’t you think?  (A few other students have done similarly while up in the Lab.)

On the flip side of that, Anthony Chic is far from a rude young guy.  Naw, Tony C and the others are pretty polite kids, which caused me to think there might be something else at play here.

Actually, a conversation with a hockey parent recently shed at least a glimmer of light on the subject, with that parent suggesting that yawns are my players’ way of catching-up with a momentary shortage of oxygen.  Hmmmmm…

Now, I have yet to find anything really definitive on the subject.  However, I have traveled quite a bit through cyberspace in search of answers…

- A number of sites obviously took the safe route, just suggesting to visitors that a frequent yawner ought to seek medical advice.  Okay, I can buy that — being safe, I mean.  At the same time I have found a couple of people who seem to agree with the aforementioned hockey parent.

- As I found offered on the Prevention.com site:

“Some experts believe that a yawn is your body’s way of gearing up for energetic or difficult activity. Physiologically, yawning boosts your blood pressure and your heart rate. It’s well documented that Olympic athletes often yawn before competition and paratroopers yawn before a jump.”

Then, I discovered the following in the forum within the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association™ Community website:

“…About your yawning while exercising, try taking deep breaths while peddling away on the bike. Obviously you are using up more oxygen than you are currently breathing in, causing you to yawn and take a deep breath. Researchers have found that most people who yawn at the end of the day have triggered that response by slowing down their breathing in preparation for sleep. Your body does not use as much oxygen when sleeping, so your breathing becomes slower and shallower. However, if you are still awake and your blood oxygen level drops, your body tries to adjust it by causing you to yawn…”

By the way…  As I did my brief Internet study, I discovered that my grandson and a few Lab students aren’t the only ones who tend to yawn as they exercise.  No, Google listed 552,000 links in answer to my “yawning while exercising” query.  So, quite evidently it’s pretty common.

Finally, as a sidebar…  While I joked at the opening — about wanting to strangle Anthony, I never did say a word to him.  My method of dealing with it (or not dealing with it) doesn’t point to any genius on my part.  I just wasn’t sure about the cause so I decided to leave things alone and just concern myself with the real work at hand (like helping him get stronger, faster, whatever).  You might say I got lucky in that regard.  So might member parents and coaches get lucky if they save their first impressions about a player until a little bit more is known about a given observation.

Studying Alexander Ovechkin

Early next month I want to share something pretty interesting with you.  I’m going to give all my friends a little homework first, however. 

Of course, any study of the great Ovechkin has to be worthwhile.  And I’ll suggest that there’s something to be learned from watching every single goal the great OV has ever scored.

Now, if you watch all of the goals shown in the following video you’ll notice that Ovechkin shoots off a different foot nearly every time.  I mean, he’ll have his weight on the left foot while firing one time, and the next time he’s likely to be balanced on the right.  That’s the mark of a great goal-scorer, you know.  Goaltenders can’t get comfortable — or really set — with OV owning the puck, because he can shoot at any time, not just while in a traditionally comfortable posture

Once you’ve had some fun, though, here’s your homework:  I’d like you to study goals #4 and #2 as much as possible.  In both instances the right-shooting Ovechkin is balanced on his right skate and doing something a little different with the left foot or left leg.  Then, after you’ve had a chance to do that for awhile, I’ve added a few more comments below…

As an aside here…  The above video obviously comes by way of the NHL and YouTube.com.  And I can’t stress enough the benefits of using such great resources.  The human mind learns a great deal from observing others.  So, what better way for a player, parent or coach to improve than to study the world’s absolute bests!

What Ovechkin is doing in those selected clips is not as pronounced as I’ve seen at other times.  Still, there’s a hint of what I’m going to be getting at later.

Actually, the first times I saw him shoot in this manner, I felt the slight wiggle of the foot opposite his stick-blade had to be an awful distraction for a goaler.  Still, it wasn’t until a long time later that I discovered The Great Eight had something else — even more challenging — in mind for the goaltender.

So, stay tuned…

More On YOUR Hockey Stick’s Shaft

I’ve spent a lot of time with the Slapshot Visualization video over the past few days (see it under the free *Gifts download section).  I mean a LOT of time — running and re-running it so many times that I can probably recite most of it by heart.  In so doing, something really jumped out at me in one of the clips…

Now, those who have been through this site a number of times should probably recognize my grandson, Anthony.  Anyway, in a sequence of on-ice stop-action shots, Tony C’s stick is frozen for all of us to see.  And, it is frozen in a pretty good bend.  In other words, his stick-shaft is REALLY flexed, or loading-up to unleash all it’s power into the waiting puck.

Take a look at Anthony’s stick as it bends quite a bit.  (Actually, I suspect we could have found it to flex all the more if some video frames weren’t missing.)

Next, a funny (and at the same time sad) story…  I knew the science of such things when Anthony first entered the game.  The problem back then was that super-thin shafts weren’t yet available to little guys.  So, I actually trimmed adult wooden sticks so that they’d fit into his little (5-year old) hands, and they’d flex when placed under the small amount of pressure a little one could apply.

The funny (or good) part to this story is that folks marveled at how well he could handle that stick and fire the puck.  In fact, one teammate’s dad constantly told me, “I get goose bumps every time I see Anthony shoot the puck!” 

As for the sad side to this tale…  I always tried to be careful in Anthony’s team lockerroom (although that wasn’t always easy).  But when I took some ribbing about my young buddy’s homemade sticks, I dared explain the science to any nearby parents who might listen.  If there was a problem, few (if any) did heed my advice.  Naw, most of the kids never did get the sort of benefits I’m talking about here — either stickhandling wise or shooting wise.  And hardly any from that group even went on to play local high school hockey.

So, I’m hoping I get the attention of all my friends here (if that’s really needed).  And, I’ll direct you to one of the first videos I posted here when this site first opened — that one on Your Stick.  You (or your player/s) won’t be sorry for the quick review.

Basic Strength Exercises for Ice Hockey Players

Once again Scott is arming you with some great information, this time with exercises that are going to provide you with a strong foundation, as well as help guard you against some injuries.  (If you’ll recall from one of my earlier posts, I mentioned how much faster my grandson has felt on the ice this summer, this surely attributed to the strength he’s gained by doing a workout very similar to the following one.)

Then, just as this entry was being readied, Scott asked me to remind you about his last post, in that it’s important to be well warmed before you start lifting.  In fact, the more attention you pay to those “dynamic” warm-ups, the more you’ll tend to gain from the actual lifting exercises.

– Dennis Chighisola

Click on each exercise Photo to see a short video.

Back Squat

The back squat is much easier to learn than the front squat.  Make sure that your hands are evenly set up on the bar.  When placing the bar on the shoulders you will want to shrug the shoulders back and up to create a “shelf” for the bar to sit on.  If you do not shrug, the bar will sit on your spine which is not good.  The key to the squat is to break the hips first and sit back like sitting back on the toilet.  Make sure that your chest is up with your back arched upwards.  Lastly, maintain a tight grip on the bar.  This will keep your entire upper body tight.   Make sure that your knees do not collapse and that you keep your weight on your heels, not the toes.

Front squat

Although this young hockey player is using kettlebells rather than a loaded bar, the technique is still the same as Scott describes here…

Again, use an even grip.  Keep your elbows up which will keep the bar on your shoulders.  You don’t want the bar on your clavicle (bone at the base of your throat).  Like the back squat, the first movement is to sit back.  Make sure that your knees do not collapse and that you keep your weight on your heels, not the toes.

Bench

Scott is using a slightly different (and more difficult) load to his bar, but the technique is just as he describes here…

Make sure that your grip is closer as opposed to wider.  You are not a power lifter.  Make sure that you keep your elbows tight. Bring the bar down to your nipples or lower.  Ladies, the bottom of your sports bra is correct for you.

Hang pull

Pick up the weight with a stance that is shoulder width apart.  Bend over while pushing your butt back like for the squat.  Stop right above the knee, pause and then explode the bar vertically keeping it tight to the body.  The key is to keep the bar vertical while not hyper-extending your back (leaning backwards).  I suggest holding off on adding weight to the bar until after you have mastered the movement.

Hang clean

Pick up the weight with a stance that is shoulder width apart.  Bend over while pushing your butt back like in the squat.  Stop right above the knee, pause and explode the bar vertically keeping it tight to the body.  The key is to keep the bar vertical while not hyper-extending your back (leaning backwards).  Some coaches teach their athletes to slide their feet out while sitting down.  Like the previous exercise, I recommend adding weight to this after you have mastered the movement.  When you catch the bar, make sure that your elbows are up like in the front squat so that you catch the bar on your shoulders.  As you catch the bar, bend your legs and sit your butt back to absorb the force of the bar.   The Hang Clean is a hang pull and a front squat.  The only added aspect is catching the bar at the your shoulders.

Deadlift

This young lady is performing a variation of the deadlift, but she still serves as a good example of what Scott describes here…

Set up with your feet a little outside of your shoulders, but not much. Grip the bar so that your arms are outside of your legs.  Drop your butt down to the bar keeping your chest up and back arched upwards.    The key to the deadlift is to stand up while keeping your chest up.  Many people straighten their legs when they stand up.  You are supposed to make sure that the movement is one piece, not two.  Drive your heels into the ground as you raise your chest upwards.

Along with his opening suggestions concerning proper warm-ups, Scott also asked me to point-out to you that THIS is the time – at the end of a heavy workout – when “static” stretching should be done.  I’ll let the authority go deeper into this at a later date.  However, let me at least point-out that lactic acid (the byproduct of heavy exercise) builds-up during a workout like this, as well as when you practice on-ice or play a game.  And that’s a major reason for muscle soreness afterwards.  So, if you want to bounce back quicker than usual (and quicker that other players), gradually “cool-down”, and finish by statically stretching all the major muscle groups.  Both will aid in getting the lactic acid moving and on its way out of your body.  (Scott says he uses ”stretch bands” at this point in a workout, and others will suggest massaging the muscles.  But, let me leave those kinds of details to Scott.)

– Dennis Chighisola

Failing HUGE!

Simply one of the best articles to appear on CoachChic.com to date!

– Dennis Chighisola

Shaun Goodsell M.A.
Senior Performance Coach

Mental Edge

After 8 years of working with athletes of all ages I have concluded that there isn’t enough failing taking place.

Now this might sound strange to hear because of our insatiable need to always perform with perfection and excellence. Without a doubt the number one fear and driving force in the mind of many athletes is how their current performance is being seen by a parent or a coach. When this happens the athlete stops being aware of the environment around them and hyper focuses on the opinion and thoughts of the person they are trying to please. This critically injures their capacity to play decisively and aggressively because they are ultimately afraid of displeasing or disappointing their parent or coach. This type of environment stifles the athlete from taking the necessary risks that often result in development and growth.

Ideally, the athlete would be free to learn about what adjustments to make, and what skills need development by focusing on what the game teaches them, when to take a risk, when to hold back, when to stay still and when to move. They are not aware of these important cues when their focus is on pleasing the coach or a parent; they become frozen with fear that something they do will result in disappointment or punishment. Competition will teach the athlete if they are open to taking in what is there to learn and the environment rewards taking risks by communicating with the athlete about what they are trying to do and why. Often times the intention is right on but the execution is lacking. I was watching a soccer game recently and the young player had a really good intention but failed to execute the play. That moment could be used to learn that the skills needed to complete that play need work but the thought behind the play was good.

If you are an athlete that is hampered by a fear of failure I have some tips for you that will help you break free from this disabling state of mind:

1. Focus your attention on mastering your skills. These skills are what you will need to create greater competency in your sport and earn you more and more opportunity in competitive situations.
2. Evaluate yourself by your own set of standards. Determine what your goals are, work for them.
3. Take risks. Risk taking helps us increase our understanding of our abilities and helps us see where we need to work in order to improve. Without taking risks we will never reach our full potential.
4. For every “Failure” there is a potential positive outcome. If you are successful with the risk then there is positive if it doesn’t work out then it doesn’t happen. To make big plays you need big risks and sometimes that means failing.
5. Set out to take risks. Not stupid risks, just risks. The biggest asset you have as an athlete is to use your mind and courage to see what you can do during competition. So next time you are preparing to compete get yourself to fail huge!

*

Having thought long and hard about Shaun’s words — or about his theme, something ultimately struck me…  My guess is that each of us has a favorite pro player or idol.  I know I have several of them.  And, the ironic thing is that I think the one quality I admire most in each of them is their daring.  (I mean, can we picture an Ovechkin here?)  Think about your own favorites — in any sport.  Consider how often they dare to fail.  And, consider that THAT just might be a great quality to emulate!

– Dennis Chighisola

An Interesting Study

The following entry is made with some connection to the previous article in this section, Analyzing the Forward Stride (below).  So, it would be helpful if members review that video so that they better appreciate what I’ll be suggesting here.

– Dennis Chighisola

Todd Jacobson is as much into chasing down scientific studies as Old Coach Chic.  And he’s just as eager to share something interesting when he gets the chance.

Such was the case recently when he sent me the link to an only slightly (hockey) related study he’d found, this attributed to a biomechanics expert, Steve Collins, at Delft University in the Netherlands.

The primary concern of Collins’ study — in my very general terms — was to discover whether the way one swings his or her arms in a walking motion really matters.  So he tested a number of subjects as they walked — with arms crossed or held down to the side, with arms swinging in the normal fashion, and with the arms swinging opposite to the normal motion.  (You’ll get a chance to see those different motions and the results of his study in just a moment.)

Now, that test had nothing to do with speed, as we running or skating coaches might usually concern ourselves.  But it did have to do with efficiency of movement, or the cost of moving in certain ways.

What Collins discovered was that NOT moving in what we’d consider a normal motion comes at a fair cost in energy expended.

I have to say again, that Collins’ study really doesn’t relate that much to our concerns.  At the same time, it proves something that should make a whole lot of sense to us, in that moving with the arms and legs in-sync is a whole lot more energy-efficient than any other kind of motion.

I raise this issue (and the reason Todd sent me that link is) because a lot of folks who don’t know the science of skating struggle with the suggestion that a skater’s arms should move in a side-to-side motion once he or she is underway.   So, here’s the idea:

In running and walking, the legs are moving back and forth in order to propel us forward; but in skating, the skate blades have to push outward in order for us to achieve forward movement.  And in all cases — be it while running, in Collins’ walking study, or in skating, energy-efficiency can only be attained by having the arms travel in an equal and opposite reaction to the way our legs move.

Finally, have a look at a very short video showing Collins’ study, this provided by Guardian.co.uk…  The secrets of swing.  (News articles sometimes disappear after a period of time, so I can’t be sure how long this video clip will remain available.  So, if a member discovers it gone, would you please call it to my attention?  coachchic@aol.com)

3 on 3 Tournament at Pilgrim Arena

Perhaps like anywhere else, a lot of rinks in the South Shore area of Massachusetts look for creative ways to use ice-time during the off-season months.  Some ideas are probably not all that great, but some surely are.

I think one of those worthwhile undertakings is a weekend long 3 versus 3 tournament held each summer at Pilgrim Arena in Hingham, MA.  (I don’t know why they dubbed that place “Arena”, because it actually houses three ice surfaces, two of regulation size and one that’s considerably smaller.)

FYI…  The guys who run Pilgrim Arena tend to try some of the most unique stuff, even holding summer and fall 4 versus 4 leagues for local high school players.  They seem to have more variety in teaching programs as well (and I sense that small rink gives them the latitude to do a lot more than other local facilities).

The tournament takes place in the middle rink (the smaller one), which sort of forces bigger guys to handle to the puck quickly.  And it’s pretty much all action, with no real stoppages…  As I understand it, member teams supply one guy to quasi-officiate, his job basically including dropping the puck for the one face-off that starts the game, then ruling on goals and penalties.  Oh, ya, there’s a pretty stiff punishment for a penalty, in that the fouled player is awarded a penalty shot.  The play keeps going after a goal, with the scored-upon-goalie quickly dishing the puck to a teammate to start a rush back up-ice.

Teams are composed of 9-skaters and one goaltender.  And most of the participants in this league are either current or former college players or pros.

Anyway, my grandson has played in this event the past two summers, and that’s why I was at the rink yesterday, and why I happened to grab a little video footage.  Hey, besides saving a few clips of Anthony for posterity, I also thought my friends here at CoachChic.com would get a kick out of seeing this kind of format…

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Improving Your Wrist Shot Mechanics

For an awful lot of years, I’ve felt that a puck and opponents can distract from a player’s concentration as he or she is drilling.  (Wait until you see the positional drill I invented years ago!)

This segment, however, is all about a player’s wrist (or sweep) shot mechanics, and it gives me the chance to show you how removing a puck from a drill helps my players focus purely on a movement.

As a brief aside here, I’ve mentioned elsewhere about how I frequently invent new drills.  The following is a great example, but it actually stems from a way I found to improve a player’s slap shot mechanics.  That method of training is going to be the subject of my August ‘09 free downloadable gift — a video which allows a player to watch some great slow-motion examples of the slap shot, visualize the movement, and even follow along with some really good shooters.  So don’t miss that freebie; almost any level player should find it extremely helpful.

Now, please click on this Wrist Shot Mechanics link and follow along with me…

What my players are doing is alternating 10 sweeps at an imaginary puck with 10 actual wrist shots.  (The reason you hear pucks hitting the boards throughout the video is because my kids are all working at their own pace, with some shooting and some preparing to do so.)

During the practice phase — done without a puck — I ask each player to concentrate on proper mechanics.  So hopefully a player is rocking back to grab the imaginary puck, then shifting his weight — backward to forward — as he pulls through hard and finishes with a point of his stick-blade towards his target.

Hopefully too, a player comes close to applying those same mechanics as he next uses a puck.

As you might notice, my kids are at various stages of development in this area.  As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”  Nor is a perfect wrist shot.  So, it’s the constant going back and forth — from the practice phase to the real shooting phase — that will ultimately result in a pretty good shot.

By the way…  After this segment of practice, my guys shifted around and began doing just the same to improve their backhand shots.  The mechanics are just about the same, and we practice these in the same sequence — with 10 simulations to 10 actual shots — for about 4 or 5 times through.