Guarding Against Obesity

Two of my all-time favorite Twitter friends are responsible for the following video.

First, Mike Mahony hosts an awesome site called The Muscle Building Fat Burning Video Blog, where he promises to help regular folks (like you and me) cut through all the information overload we might be getting from all the so-called fitness experts out there today.

Secondly, this post features the star of a previous CoachChic.com entry (“A Different Kind of Hockey Warm-ups“), Maryse Senecal.

Actually, the two, both Maryse and Mike, worked together to put this video together, and I’m extremely grateful that they’ve allowed me to show it to my CoachChic.com members.

– Dennis Chighisola

Guarding Against Obesity

Okay, while obesity might not be a problem for many hockey players, we all know that it surely is within the general population — in Maryse’s native Canada, and across the United States.

So, when I had a chance to see the following video over on Mike’s site, I thought it a good idea to share it with my friends here.

In particular, I really like Maryse’s common sense approach to things.  But, you judge for yourself…

If you get the chance, visit Maryse Senecal‘s site over at Myo-Precision for tons more health tips!

And, get to know Michael Mahony on his site, Fitness Expose for lots more fitness tips.

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Hey, do the old coach a favor, and cheer-on our two contributors, huh — especially Maryse, who still thinks she’s everything but awesome in front of a camera!

Have You Claimed Your Hockey Gifts Yet?

Just a reminder to my favorite hockey people, in that two time-sensitive gifts will only be up and available for a short time…

1) April’s free *Gift — the downloadable video aimed at helping young attackers deal with “Breakaways & Shootouts” — was purposely left available a little longer because it appeared rather late.  However, I’ll shortly be replacing that with yet another gift.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I promise the visualization, reading, reacting and problem-solving techniques used in that video absolutely work.  And so does our aim to encourage young puckhandlers to keep their eyes up as they move on the attack.  So, even if you might not use it immediately, I highly recommend that you save that video to disk, just so you have it when the time IS right.

2) If you haven’t yet caught the announcement, I’ve offered a free 7-part video series* about off-season off-ice training to members and non-members alike.  (To explain that, I really want YOU to have that information, because it provides some helpful background to other advice I offer here on the site; at the same time, that series gives me a chance to introduce myself and CoachChic.com to a lot of new folks who might just pass by.)  Trust me, that the information offered in that series is proven, and it’s guaranteed to work.  And, as with all the information I offer here in these pages, it makes for some worthwhile food for thought, even if you’re not going to apply all of it.  (Actually, I don’t want viewers to apply all of it; instead, I highly recommend that players, coaches and parents select just a handful of ideas that seem appropriate to their needs, and then run with those.)

*Oh, then something very related to the latter…  If I had the opportunity to do one thing over again, I’d have gained a lot more information about each individual member — from Day One.  For sure, I’ve come to know some of you due to your frequent Comments (thanks for that!).  At the same time, I know I could better focus my new content or advice differently — or better — if I knew your special interests, your role in hockey, what level you mainly deal with, etc.  So, if you’d be so kind as to complete this, I’ve finally created a SIGN-IN FORM that should answer all of those questions for me.

– Dennis Chighisola

“You Don’t Need Ice!” Video Series

Just in time for the hockey off-season…

A FREE Video Series

“You Don’t Need Ice!”

As always, it’s about the SCIENCES and it’s about getting real RESULTS!

A series of 6 videos aimed at providing players, coaches and parents — from all levels — numerous (and even little known) ideas for jumping ahead of others during the spring and summer months.

This Note from Coach Chic:

I’m going to send you to a sign-up form where I’ll ask a few questions aimed at helping me to get to know you better (hoping you don’t mind).

Thereafter you’ll receive a number of emails — every few days, this so you have plenty of time to digest the videos and other advice.

Hoping you enjoy it,

Dennis Chighisola

Click the puck to sign-up for this awesome special gift!

Setting Up a Move or Deke

Although this post certainly could have gone under the Highlight Reel Skills heading (and Puckhandling), the following footage provides some insight into an equally important part of any effective move.

You see, no move is really going to work unless an attacker first sets-up the defender.

So, thanks to YouTube.com, we’re able to first watch Denis Savard make his patented spinorama move two different times, both at full speed and in slow-mo, and from several different viewing angles.

As you watch, I’d like you to notice that Savard makes a slight motion towards his right before peeling off to his left…

I hope you saw how the backpedaling defensemen either froze or they almost started to turn the wrong way, which gave Savard all the more time and space to spin out and around.

And let me point out one more thing, that being the matter of respect.  For, I’m going to suggest that Denis Savard’s speed moving towards those defenders struck a bit of fear in their hearts, and this gave him all the more time and space to make his play.

Now, the next video shows an equally famous move that should further make my point.  This is the breakaway goal scored by Pavel Datsvuk against Marty Turko…

You probably don’t have to re-run that one again, because you were likely looking for the way Datsvuk set-up that play.

Anyway, what the slick Red Wing forward did was to hold the puck out towards his side — seemingly forever, thusly freezing Turko for the coming shot.  Of course, Datsvuk never did intend to shoot.

Now, the reason I’m trying to make my point so strongly, is because I sense that a lot of young attackers feel as though “the move is everything”.  However, that’s hardly the case.  No, a move isn’t going to work unless the puckcarrier first makes a pretty believable fake in advance of the real move.  And, it doesn’t hurt if a defender really fears the attacker in advance of any move (as in the case of Denis Savard’s skating speed).

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Later Addition to the Original Post:

Thanks to GKelly’s awesome comments, I thought it might be helpful for me to add that goal he speaks about — the 4/21/10 overtime winner matching Satan versus Miller.  So, courtesy of YouTube and the NHL, have a look…

As GK says (and as I’d previously suggested), Satan shows one thing to make the defender (Miller) commit a certain way, then he executes the next move.

Actually, there’s another thing going on here that I’d previously mentioned in a post about dealing with breakaways and shootouts, in that most advanced players nowadays prefer to show the goaltender a shooting posture first.  My take on this is that most smart attackers feel the goaler becomes more vulnerable if he’s made to come out to cut down the shooting angle (but I wouldn’t mind hearing from experienced attackers and goalies about this).

Watching that play again just now, I think Satan also demonstrates yet another mark of a great goal-scorer.  I mean — if you watch the slo-mo replay, you’ll see that he is “cool as a cucumber”, and he holds the puck for what seems like an eternity.  A lot of players rush themselves in these circumstances.  But again, the goal-scorers have ice water in their veins, and they are cooooool.

As always, thanks a ton, GK!

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Your Comments are truly welcomed here (in fact, they really help me)!

Crosby Sets Up Letang

  In the record books, Kris Letang is going to get credit for a huge game-winning goal.  (I mean, eons from now, it’ll just be an entry in the game’s stats:   Pittsburgh goal – K Letang, Assist – S Crosby.)  And, I must admit that Letang’s really quick snapshot was a beauty.  At the same time, I think everyone watching that game would likely credit Sidney Crosby for making that goal possible.

Now, as far as I’m concerned, there are a lot of lessons to be learned from Crosby’s moves.  But, let’s take a look at the play, compliments of YouTube.com and the NHL…

Now, first I’d like to address the physical side of this play.  For, there’s little doubt that unbelievable skating and puckhandling skills went into Crosby’s ultimately getting a teammate open for the shot…

Long time members might recognize the skating skills demonstrated by Crosby as being very much like those that can be developed in my various “Must-do Skating Drills“, and especially in the games of tags I’m always recommending.

And, the general puckhandling skills are just like those I like to see enhanced through my “Incredible Stickhandling” course, and in games of 1 against 1 keepaway.

Then, I’d like you to do me a favor and watch that video one more time.  This time, however, make note of how many times Crosby extends his reach — so as to really protect the puck — with just one hand on the stick.  No way his man can reach in and get to the puck when he’s doing that.

Upon returning, I hope you’ve noticed the way an advanced puckhandler needs to handle the puck with one hand.  (You might later take a browse through another of my posts, this entitled “Troubleshooting the Tight Turn“, to get a lot more insight into this and other related skills.)

If any of my long time students (or Team NEHI players) have watched Crosby’s play, they’re probably chuckling to themselves, saying, “Hey, I can do all that stuff!”  Ya, my guys practice all of those skills — from the games of tag, to the games of keepaway, to learning to protect the puck, and even dribbling around on one knee, two knees, or on their bellies and butts.

And, the above comment — about my kids feeling they can do all those things — brings me to another part of this play that most coaches and parents will surely overlook…

You know, I always had a suspicion that someone like Wayne Gretzky was lucky to emerge from youth hockey to become the player he ultimately was.  (Did I get your attention with that one?).  My reason for saying that is because an awful lot of kids with superior talents get beaten down at the younger levels — they’re called “puck hogs” or whatever, and they’re subjected to all sorts of jealous attacks (mostly from parents of kids with about half the talent).  The fact is (at least to me), those highly skilled players are the models for which all the others should try to emulate.

Youth coaches also usually want every kid to unload the puck when THEY believe the time is right time.  The ironic thing is that Crosby (like lots of other highly skilled players) most likely had it in his mind all the while that he was going to set-up a teammate — in the end, and when the time was really right.  And, to that, I’ll add that we coaches (and the fans in the stands) have to be a little more trusting with the Crosby types (as the Pens’ coach obviously is).

Now, a 2-years ago, I had a very experienced assistant coach whisper to me his concerns that a certain forward on our junior high school team was creating his own plays during powerplay practice.  My reply, “Listen, we have structure in our powerplay for the sake of teaching, and for the sake of our average players.  And we give them plays just so they have a sense of some possibilities.”  I went on to explain that most teams die for a little guy like we were watching.  That youngster’s mind saw the game in a totally different way than most of his teammates, and he saw things that mere mortals never would.  So, I wasn’t about to squash that kind of creativity.  Oh, I’d still help the kid with his decision making, and encourage him to still be a good team player.  But, I wasn’t doing any of that to the point of turning him into a robot.

As a matter of fact, I’ve written elsewhere here that most teams (or at least most coaches) die to have a game-breaker floating around the ice when the chips are really on the line.  And, that’s what a guy like Crosby represents.  He can — and did — fabricate a scoring opportunity when there probably wasn’t otherwise going to be one.

If you sense what I’ve been REALLY getting at, though, it’s that all things are relative at the given levels of hockey, and that those game breaking kinds of players exist in our midst, from Mites to Midgets.  For sure, we have to help them learn to think the game rightly, and we want them to be good team players.  However, I’ll also suggest that we be careful about tampering with whatever it is that makes them different than most of our other players.  After all, robots and mere mortals are easy to come by; game breakers are quite another thing.

Spring Has Sprung for Hockey Players!

FINALLY! THAT VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT IS READY AT THE END OF THIS POST!

– Dennis Chighisola

Spring Has Sprung for Hockey Players!

Ya, spring has sprung – meaning that the regular hockey season is over for most North American amateurs, playoffs are done, and most kids have even completed their tryouts for next year’s teams.  This also, it seems to me, sparks another rather unusual occurrence.

You see, every year since I’ve been working on-line, I’ve noticed that hockey related cyber traffic dies-off a little (or even more than a little).  Oh, I can’t argue with those who feel they need a break after a long, grueling winter season.  At the same time, I have a slightly different take on this.

Actually, my suspicion is that only the “fringe hockey people” drop by the wayside when their hockey season ends.  Sure, the really-into-it ones also alter their activities this time of year, but self-improvement is still always present, if only in the backs of their minds.

Okay, so here are two short videos I did some time ago.  Please take a look…

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If you noticed, I placed a lot of emphasis on skill development, whether it be for younger players or more established ones.  For, considering that there are more than four months from now until next Labor Day (when most teams come together again), that represents enough time for serious players to make HUGE changes in their game.  And, I’ll suggest, the younger a player is, the more he or she can change.

In the case of young players – maybe beginners through Squirts/Atoms, I would emphasize improved skating, puckhandling and shooting skills.  I say this, because any improvement in those skills is going to jump a player beyond a lot of teammates and opponents.

I wouldn’t discount individual hockey skill training for older players.  However, since the (fine motor skills) die is pretty much cast for players beyond puberty, I always recommend that they devote more time to being able to do things faster, harder and longer.  In other words, they might work on speed development, undertake a strength program, and definitely work on their conditioning.

Okay, as for that special announcement…  I said awhile ago (in the “Coming” section), that I’d found a ton of great stuff that had been packed away during the office move I had to make last spring.  And, did I ever find some treasures buried deep in a few boxes.

Some of what I found will be introduced to members over coming weeks and months.  But, one special series of videos is going to go out via emails — to members and non-members alike.  (In the case of those non-members, my hope is that those who pass by here might discover how different CoachChic.com is from most other hockey sites.)

Finally, just to give you a hint of what to expect, those videos will take hockey players, parents and coaches from a glimpse at my long ago studies in the Soviet Union to a number of suggestions you’ll want to consider for your off-season training.  Enough said for now, though.  Just take the link below and you’ll be on your way to receiving them.

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As for that special announcement…  It’s a 7-part video series entitled “You Don’t Need Ice!”, and it’s all about the things dedicated players, coaches and parents might do to pass everyone else during the coming months.  And, my suggestion:  the sooner you receive and implement this valuable information, the more drastic those positive changes can be.

Now, I apologize to members that my sign-up form takes about 5-seconds to complete.  But, as you should know by now, there’s ALWAYS a method to The Old Coach’s madness! 

Please CLICK HERE to begin receiving your (every other day) installments of “You Don’t Need ice!”

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As always, I love your Comments (and they truly help me)!

Jerry Z versus “The Brute”!

Okay, this area of our site is meant to be fun.  When I created it, I envisioned members sharing their “experiences” in the game.  However, I never did picture an entry quite like the following.

– Dennis Chighisola

Jerry Z versus “The Brute”!

Now, most of you know Jerry as a hard working roller hockey player.  However, when I first introduced him — back in July of 2009, I said, “I’ll tell you a lot more about Jerry Z as time goes along.  As you’ll soon discover he’s a great personality, and you’re going to be pretty impressed with what he does for work.”

Well, all these months later, I’ll say that Jerry surely is an interesting guy.

He mainly works as a writer/composer for the video/movie industry. What you ought to really get a kick out of are a couple of Jerry’s sideline interests (beyond roller hockey).

Jerry and his brother Orrin, who’s an animator, host a site called “Its JerryTime!” from which the The Brute has been taken.  It’s an absolute riot, as are all of his videos, which are about his life.  (Actually, I had my own thoughts on how Jerry might deal with the so-called Brute, but…)

Oh, despite the fun he has in this and other videos, he’s no amateur when it comes to producing winners.  In fact, once you’ve seen the movie (popcorn not included), you can check out the reviews and awards “Its JerryTime” has garnered, including an Emmy Award!  Take a peek there, take a browse at Jerry’s site, and especially enjoy “The Brute!”

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