Visualization Tips for Hockey

Most long-time members should know my strong belief in “visualization” or “mental imagery”.  In fact, while most hockey folks put the majority of their eggs into their on-ice skills basket, Shaun Goodsell and I are forever urging our CoachChic.com friends to pay just as much attention to enhancing their mental skills.

I think long-time members will also recall my love for several social media sites.  Yes, Twitter and Facebook are where I’ve met some of the best and brightest advisers one could ever find, and those sites are where a lot of my current day friends reside.

Such is the case with a new on-line friend, Dr. JoAnn Dahlkoetter.  She’s a Sports Psychology Expert, and I’ll tell you a little more about her once you’ve had the chance to see her special video.

– Dennis Chighisola

Visualization-Performance Coaching Tips for Sports

Okay, after many years of espousing the virtues of mental imagery, I finally came across someone who explains pretty well the techniques we might use when planning our own visualization sessions.  So, have a look and listen to what Dr JoAnn has to offer…

Now, since I’m guessing mostly adults will watch that video, I’m wondering if any of you got the feeling those methods would work in areas beyond sport, or beyond hockey.  I mean, how about in our work?  Actually, how about in our personal lifestyles?

Yup, that’s powerful stuff, and I’ll suggest it will work anywhere IF we follow The Good Doctor’s advice!

Okay, Dr JoAnn can be found all around the Internet.  However, besides looking into some of her other YouTube videos, here are some other ways you might follow her awesome advice…

Dr. JoAnn Dahlkoetter
Sports Psychology Expert

PerformingEdgeCoach.com

Twitter
Facebook

Our good friend Ravi made an unbelievable contribution in a Comment (below), providing us all a link to a video showing Mike Cammalleri using visualization in his own way.  That video was so good (as was the narration by Don Cherry) that I thought I’d embed it right here within this post just to make it easier for members to see.  Thanks again, Ravi!

– Dennis Chighisola

By the way, folks…  The “Bobby” Don Cherry is talking about in that video is none other than the great Bobby Orr.  So, Cherry is saying that Orr used similar visualization methods, but he’d practice his in the lockerroom long before games.  Wow!

Simplified Floorball Rules

I just ran across this collection of floorball rules.  I have a feeling they are an over-simplified version, and that they’ve been doctored by various authors across the Internet.  That pretty much explains why I’m not sure who to attribute these to (although it does say down below that they were “prepared by the Ontario Floorball/Inihockey Federation”).

Anyway, I think they’ll prove helpful for all of us who are new to this seemingly great sport, and they just might give us a place to start if we’re considering organizing a team or a league of our own.

– Dennis Chighisola

Simplified Floorball Rules

Prepared by the Ontario Floorball/Unihockey Federation

1. Games can be played with three to five players and a goalie on the court for each team. The goalie may be substituted for an additional player if desired. For an official game, five players and a goalie for each team is required.

2. No catching ball or hands on ball, except for goalie, infraction results in a 2 min penalty.

3. No foot passes to another player, infraction results in a possession change, but players may kick the ball once onto their own stick.

4. No jumping (one foot must be on the ground when receiving the ball), infraction results in a free hit.

5. Players may not go down on two knees to make plays or block shots. Only the goalie may play from their knees, infraction results in a 2 min penalty.

6. Ball must be received on a stick below knee level, infraction results in a possession change. If contact is made with the ball above the knee, infraction results in a 2 min penalty.

7. Sticks must stay below waist level when shooting with a similar follow through allowed. Stick above waist on a shot will result in a 2 min penalty.

8. No stick checking, lifting, or slashing. A minor infraction results in a possession change, an infraction in a scoring position or repeated infraction results in a 2 min penalty.

9. No holding of stick, players, or shirt or general interference, infraction will result in a 2 min penalty.

10. No playing your stick between another player’s legs. Results in a possession change.

11. No body contact with the exception of incidental shoulder contact, infractions will result in a 2 min penalty.

12. No playing the ball with the head – infraction results in a 2 min penalty.

13. Face-offs: Face offs will be used to start the game at the beginning of each period and to re-start after each goal or if the ball is damaged. For a face-off, stick blade must be on the ground and perpendicular to centerline, feet parallel to centerline ball and the middle of the two players’ sticks. Players cannot reverse their grip or hold the stick below the face-off line. Play starts with a whistle blow.

14. Possession changes: Occurs in the situations cited above. Ball is played as a direct free shot similar to a soccer free kick, where the offending players must be 3 meters away and the ball must be shot or played to another player upon the officials whistle blow with a solid hit – not a sweeping motion.

15. Substitutions may occur at anytime.

16. Repeated infractions result in a 2 min penalty.

***

Floorball Rule Clarifications

To help us all better understand floorball, I am going to ask a number of current coaches (or otherwise experienced people) to clarify each of the 16 points shown above.  So, keep checking back, as these should be added every day or so.

Great Hockey Conditioning Ideas – Part 5

At the end of the last post in this section — in Part 4, I mentioned that I was thinking about giving my guys a little break from a routine that they’ve been doing for quite awhile.  Oh, I’ve made plenty of subtle changes as we’ve gone along, just to help avoid boredom, and to cover all the bases when it comes to hockey conditioning.  However, what I really planned to do very soon was something kind of off the wall, or something that represented a MAJOR difference in what we’d been doing.

I also said previously that I’d likely pull something out of my hat when it was needed, this a reference to how I can get pretty creative when I need to.

Well, I decided to make those changes sooner than later, and last night ended-up being the night!

– Dennis Chighisola

Great Hockey Conditioning Ideas – Part 5

Now, what I’d really like my hockey friends to know is that I had two major aims as I headed into last night’s training session in The MOTION Lab…

First, there was that mental break I intimated above.  I mean, it was time that my guys came to the Lab to do something totally different, or something a lot different from what they expected.

Secondly, I wanted to shock my players’ systems more than a little.  You see, one’s body tends to get used to a certain kind of training over time.  And, while that’s good — as in the body adapting to get stronger, more efficient, whatever, the body also adapts such that the same-old, same-old kind of training has less and less effect.  So again, my second aim was to give my guys the kind of physical workout that was really a lot different than they’d been doing for quite some time.

A major difference in last night’s (off the wall?) training was going to be the pace.  In other words, rather than doing very intense “simulated shift training” — for 20- or 30- or 60-seconds, I thought I’d have my players go at a rather moderate pace for a very long stretch — as in about 40-minutes.

If there was any consistency to what we’d do, it would be to keep focusing on the legs and core muscles.

So, with all that said, take a look at some video I shot last night, and then I’ll mention a few more things right after…

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Well, what do you think?  Is that routine quite different from the ones I’ve been showing you for the past few months?  And, do you think — going nearly non-stop for 40-ish minutes — really DID tax the guys’ legs and midsection?  Ha!

A funny thing, though…  One of the dads who watched a session last night commented that, “You’re going kind of easy on them, aren’t you?”  Oh, man, I’m guessing those kids were pretty sore puppies this morning as they attempted to climb out of bed! 

Just as a recap…

The first drill you saw showed the guys skipping with a fairly heavy weighted jump rope.  That was near the end of our warm-ups, which included skipping a light rope, and doing some exercises that simulated the skating movement.

Next, you saw them doing a REALLY tough core exercise I call “Stepping Stones”, whereby each player balances on two objects (bricks in this case), and they move forward by balancing on one “stone” while bending and placing the other one slightly ahead.  The boys did this exercise for about 20-minutes straight (think about that).  However, I kept variety in there — and added some new challenges — by having them carry a stick or a weight, and sometimes exchange the variously sized weights as they moved.  And, as I always do when the kids question my next directive, I just advised them to, “Deal with it!”  Ya, a lot of what my kids do involves solving problems.

More balance and midsection work was the aim of that stickhandling drill atop the two crossed sticks (or described in another video as part of my “Chopped Stix“).

The remainder of our Lab time had the players rotating through stations that included those (for a lack of better name) “air pillows” and the mini-trampoline.  Here, too, the challenge was changed from time to time — over 15-minutes time, with several variations shown in the video.

Then, of course, we did a little cooldown followed by some static stretching.

Again, if you take another look at that video, you’ll see the kids’ legs and torso really being worked.  At the same time, I didn’t allow an exceptional amount of stress.  In other words, I didn’t have them jumping and pounding (except on the very forgiving mini-tramp), but instead I had them do tons of balancing — and really wrestling — over one leg at a time.

You should know that I constantly looked for ways to break the monotony of a given drill.  For example, while I knew we would be going for a very long time on those Stepping Stones, I kept distracting the guys by adding some weird new challenge.  And, while the focus of the last few drills was to have my players balance on the air pillows and hop on the mini-tramp, I kept their mind partly off the pain they must have been feeling at the time by having them dribble a ball.

Now, as for the future…  Two nights after the above described workout, we will go to our usual Thursday night in-line training session.  As you saw in a previous video, we’ve usually done some sprint and agility work there, plus a shorter but usually more intense version of what we did in The MOTION Lab.  However, I can tell you right now that I’m going to change things quite a bit for tomorrow night.  Oh, I’m not sure what we’ll do just yet, but something off the wall is sure to come to me… 

The Speed of Learning

Man, does Old Coach Chic have something to offer in THIS department!

I can’t put my finger on the time I realized the importance of what Shaun Goodsell is about to share with you, but my guess is that it was about 10-years ago.  (You could make that 25- to 30-years ago if you count my reading back then how the old Soviet coach, Anatoli Tarasov, would have his team practice amid recordings of loud fan noise, just to prepare his guys for playing in North American rinks.)

Anyway, the following is awesome advice, and I’ll have a little more to add right after…

– Dennis Chighisola

The Speed of Learning

Athletes invest enormous amounts of time in practice.  Go to a football field, a hockey rink, a baseball diamond and you will most likely see coaches and athletes preparing for an upcoming contest. Many report that practice seems insignificant and boring leading some to quit and many to disengage, believing that the cost is simply not worth the perceived benefit.  The question is, what are the vital principles of meaningful and effective practice that enhance the development of the athlete? It just so happens that researchers have uncovered some targeted principles that have been proven to enhance preparation as well as game-time performance.  This article is intended to highlight one of them.

More and more, researchers are learning that optimal brain functioning enhances the speed of learning and development. Researchers have discovered that those athletes, as well as others, that practice consistently with intensity — defined by practicing their skills at the edge of their ability level, making more mistakes, and leading to greater frustration — develop 300% faster than those that go through meaningless and countless comfortable repetitions.  Daniel Coyle in his excellent book “Talent Code” refers to this as “Deep Practice”. The brain releases an important chemical called Myelin within this style of practice. This chemical speeds up the brain’s capacity to build connections and therefore learning is enhanced and sped up. What this means is that our development is often dictated more by our ability to learn from our mistakes in a pressure-oriented environment than by simply executing a skill or task without any pressure.

With time constraints becoming a significant challenge, and more and more required in the classroom from our student athletes, this groundbreaking information gives hope that, with creativity and purpose, athletes do not need to invest hours and hours of comfortable practice to improve.  In fact, this type of practice may do more to un-prepare the athlete than actually help them prepare for the pressure-laden contest they are likely to encounter.

I want to end this article by saying that those athletes that can learn to handle frustration and see the learning inherent within mistakes often learn at a more rapid rate then those that are derailed by disappointment and frustration. Often some “mind skills” training might be needed to engage in this highly intense type of practice.  Next time you go to practice, remember, making mistakes is crucial to your growth.  So fail huge!

The Mental Edge is committed to training kids through these types of experiences. To begin your life training process give us a call today 763-439-5246.

Hockey Specific Core Strength

I know I’ve mentioned (and shown) these two exercises long ago.  However, I wanted to address them in a slightly different context, this time as part of a hockey player’s core strength development.

– Dennis Chighisola

Hockey Specific Core Strength

As a preface to the following video, I’d like to explain a little bit about my aims in the two upcoming drills…

First, a player seldom gets the chance to stand prettily to take a shot in a game.  No, more often he or she has to pull the trigger in some sort of off-balance posture or while being mauled by a rival player.  So, any time I can, I take away some sort of advantage as I have my kids practice their shooting.  For example, I might make them shoot while balanced on only one leg, while seated, or while down on one or both knees.

Secondly, I also find that a lot of defensemen send rather weak or slow passes up-ice, especially when they’re in an unbalanced position or when they’re moving backwards.  (Trying to pass the puck while skating backwards IS rather difficult, or it’s rather difficult to get good force behind the puck.)  So, like the example for gaining shooting strength, I have my “D” frequently make hard passes from unusual postures.

Now, before going more into this, I’d like you to see two short video clips…

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I guess we could call those movements “drills”.  Still, I happen to be looking at these as “exercises”, not unlike an athlete moving a bar loaded with plates.

I mean, did you hear me prodding my guys to really sling the puck or the tire with as much force as possible?  Just picture either movement, if you will, or how it feels to really fire the puck or the tire.  For, if you do, I think you’ll appreciate just how much each action wrenches the player’s midsection or core area.

Great Hockey Conditioning Ideas – Part 4

As promised, I’m going to show you more in this area of off-ice conditioning.  And I especially want to show how so many of the earliest exercises can be adapted to suit numerous and varied situations.  So, here goes…

– Dennis Chighisola

Great Hockey Conditioning Ideas – Part 4

If I haven’t mentioned this previously, my High School Prep guys are now doing off-ice conditioning twice per week — or ever since we switched from our summer schedule to our fall one (right after the American Labor Day).  In my mind the spring and summer is about slowly improving skills and slowly rounding into shape, while the fall is a time for really gearing-up.

For sure, I’ve wanted to keep some consistency from session to session.  At the same time, boredom is always a huge danger if we keep doing the same-old, same-old stuff.

You’ve previously seen a video (“A Great Hockey Conditioning Routine“) showing a basic idea of how we undertake shift simulations in The MOTION Lab.  Oh, I change that routine a little every week or so — rotating different exercises in and out, as well as altering the length of time my guys do each one.  Still, there is some consistency there.

With that, I arranged our weekly schedule so that my players had a night off before I brought them to our local roller hockey rink.  (In effect, they had close to 48-hours of rest time before having to go hard again.)

Now, as I said above, there had to be some consistency from one off-ice training session to the other.  So, I’ve constantly used a handful of the same Lab exercises — or a slight variation — 2-nights later at the roller rink.  Still, I also said I wanted to avoid boredom, and this prompted me to add new wrinkles to the in-line floor routine.

More recently, what I’ve done is have the players go for a longer time and through a string of exercises — one right after the other, to come even closer to the challenges of a typical on-ice shift.  Like in The MOTION Lab, we’ve gone for 20- or 30-seconds most nights.  However, more recently I’ve extended that time to a number of 1-minute simulated shifts.

The following video shows a group of 4-players rotating through four different stations.  So, what you’ll see is a player repeatedly tumbling so many times, another doing straddle hops up onto a low bench, another doing a variation of Turkish up-downs, and another player hopping laterally over a high bench. And as you’ll see, the guys rotate to the next station after completing the prescribed reps at one.  I’ve then added more stress to this circuit, telling my guys that they have to sprint to the rink’s near blue line when they’ve completed all four stations.  In other words, the winner was the one who crossed that line first.

Okay, I’d like you to see that video so that I might add some other comments right after…

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First, I think you have to love those players for the way they’re pushing themselves.  I mean that; they are really pushing themselves, and I’ve had to say little to motivate them.

As always, I wanted to stay with the one:two work:rest ratio.  So, I had an assistant coach (shown in the video as a red blur by the net) timing the each simulated shift.  And, once he knew how long the kids had worked, he gave them twice that time to rest.

You ought to know that I was guessing a bit when I set the number of repetitions per exercise, hoping that the completion of all four stations — plus the sprint for the blue line — would come fairly close to 1-minute.  And, as luck would have it, we were right around that each time the kids performed their routine.

In fact, while each shift fluctuated within a few seconds of a minute, my players actually cut their time by a little on the very last shift.  And that is telling me that they are rounding into unbelievable shape.

As sort of a PS here…  I am thinking that my guys are about ready for a little break in all this, just to further short-circuit any chances of boredom.  I’m not exactly sure what I’ll pull out of my hat yet.  But, I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I arrive at something. 

– Dennis Chighisola

VICTORIA MUSSELS LAUNCH FLOORBALL CLUB

Over coming weeks and months, I sense we’re going to hear a lot of stories about how new North America-based floorball clubs are being formed.  That ought to be a really good thing, because I also sense that a lot of us readers (me included) are going to want some ideas, some advice, and some inspiration.

Thankfully, Craig Shaw has been a very active member here at CoachChic.com, adding numerous great Comments and even authoring a previous article for us.

With that, I knew that Craig was experimenting with the idea of getting a floorball program going in his area, so I asked him if he might let us know how things have gone so far.

– Dennis Chighisola

THE VICTORIA MUSSELS FLOORBALL CLUB IS LAUNCHED
By Craig Shaw

During the past year, the idea of floorball has been gradually making its way into my consciousness.

As hockey-mad young boys growing up on the balmy west coast of Canada, playing ice hockey outside was usually not an option for my friends and me.  Our parents thought that we were crazy, but we yearned for the cold, dry winters found in places like Saskatchewan.  Indoor ice was in short supply. As necessity is the mother of invention, we found other ways to play hockey any way we could: street hockey, field hockey, floor hockey, ball hockey (orange ball in a rink without the ice), basement hockey, attic mini-hockey, table hockey, kitchen hockey and roller hockey (back in 1979, there were four of us who skated for hours on our rollerblades … ordered them from a Hockey News ad … people had never seen such things)!  Some of my fondest memories of hockey are not ice hockey, but the wide-open, fast-paced games that we played that had their roots in ice hockey.  If we had floorball, I’m sure it would have been our favourite variation of our national winter game.

Flash forward thirty years: my five-year-old son is not only hockey-mad, but he is sports-mad.  During the past year, I have coached him in ice hockey, t-ball, field hockey, lacrosse and soccer.  As you can imagine, I talk to a lot of parents.  Many of these parents are hesitant to enroll their children in hockey for the usual reasons: cost, early mornings, crazy parents and injuries.  But their children adore hockey and hockey is a big part of Canadian culture….  Enter floorball.

While surfing the net looking for field hockey drills, I happened across floorball.  A local sports store owner mentioned it to me several months earlier, but I did not think much of it.  After researching floorball on Wikipedia and watching videos on the net, I became a bit of a convert without ever actually holding a floorball stick!

I decided to invite similarly sports-mad five and six-year-olds to a local gym once a week for 20 weeks to play floorball.  I had no trouble finding interested families.  Of the eleven players, six have played organized ice hockey and the others have played organized sport of one type or another.  We booked the gym, ordered the sticks and balls and named the team “The Victoria Mussels.”  Being a fan of Long Term Athlete Development, I modeled the practice sessions very similarly to the American Development Model  (www.admkids.com).  There would be no goalies as the players would shoot on mini-nets.  There would be no formal games, but plenty of informal three-on-three competitions without keeping score.  These 10-15 minute games would be inserted in between 10-15 minute skill sessions.   There are no uniforms, but I did invest in some pinnies.  The players were all asked to wear the protective glasses worn by squash players.

We have had four sessions now and the kids and parents love it!  It is fun, safe and accessible.  Even the less-athletic players love it.  The word is spreading and other players are asking to join.

I believe that the light weight of the stick and ball promotes fine motor control and ‘softer hands’ for ice hockey.  I have been playing a lot of floorball in our kitchen with our son and feel that my ice hockey puckhandling has never been better.  I played one afternoon with some university players, a few being experienced floorball players from Europe.  Not only was it a great workout and a lot of fun, but the speed at which the ball travelled from stick to stick promoted very quick decision-making and hand-eye coordination.

As someone who has been obsessed with ice hockey for three decades, I didn’t expect to find a new, arguably better, version of the game I love.  I suspect there will be many hot, sweaty nights running around after a little white high-end wiffle ball in the future!

By the way…  If you noticed Craig using a few scientific terms, it’s because his background is in the sciences — ya, he REALLY knows his stuff when it comes to motor learning and such.  It should also be helpful for you to know that he played ice hockey to a fairly high level, so it’s likely he knows which athletic traits best transfer from floorball to ice hockey.

Do you have a story about how floorball is being organized in your area?  I know we’d all love to hear it.

Knowing What To Do Next

By Dennis Chighisola

I suppose the new USA Hockey ADM program first got me thinking about this topic.  Then again, I guess I have been forced to ponder it a lot of times through my 40-ish years in coaching.

Up front, I want to let you know that I’m currently working in a local version of the ADM, and I can say that I believe I’m seeing some results with the kids in that program.  So, while I might poke a needle at a part of the concept, I am not bashing the overall idea of the program, or the way things are currently going here locally.

My cause to “ponder it (the title topic) a lot of times” over previous years had to do with requests from other coaches to suggest what they ought to be doing with their kids, and that mainly had to do with giving those coaches exact detailed lesson plans for each nightly practice.

Also, as I’ll try to describe in the end, the challenges I’m going to outline from here onward have a lot to do with the way I’ve designed CoachChic.com’s unique format.

So, hmmmmmm…  What’s my problem with all this?  Well, there is always a problem in “knowing what to do next”.  For that very reason, USA Hockey will likely only get to accomplish a percentage of what they’d really like from their new ADM program.   For, you see, it would be impossible for ANYONE — including yours truly — to design a lesson plan in advance that will totally help a far away coach with his or her players.

Okay, as an example of what I’m getting at, let’s consider my current High School Prep team…  You probably know from my recent posts that I’ve had this group since last early June, and that my entire reason for being with them is to help each kid make his own respective high school team.  Of course, I had a plan in place to bring them from June to the end of November.  However, can that plan really be carved in stone?  Not on your life.  Over those many months, individuals and the group will have slight setbacks.  At the same time, they’re going to get the hang of some skills, some tactics and some conditioning exercises that really please me.  What I’m getting at, obviously, is my need to constantly adjust things according to what I’m seeing at any given moment.

I’m sure you also know that I’m coaching a young AAA Mite Major team (that also happens to be part of the local ADM).  Unlike the HS Prep team, though, the entire Mite program, their opponents, and even my own players are new to me.  So, I’ve altered my planning a bit, only designing that little guys’ team according to some shorter term goals.

I’ve also just started my kzillionth year of running a Learn-to-skate/Learn-to-play program.  And, while I have done it for that long, I can tell you that the nature of each new group is slightly different from the year before and the year before.  In other words, while I might enter the first few sessions with an idea of what I want to accomplish with each group, I can’t just stick to some old lesson plans I designed 20- or 30-years ago.

So, when it comes to answering the above question — about What To Do Next, I’m going to state firmly:  that’s where the REAL coaching/teaching comes into play.

No, there’s no formula for any of this.  Instead, as I suggested above in reference to my HS Prep guys, readings have to be taken nearly every time we meet.  And I’m talking about nearly every aspect of the guys’ games.

Going back to some younger kids right now (because the examples might be easier to explain)…  The youngsters in my Learn-to-play clinic should be able to get around fairly well as we take to the ice next Sunday morning, with a number of them even being able to travel backwards, and perhaps do some sort of stop.  So I’ll run several VERY basic skill drills with them, and I’ll be making mental notes on exactly where they are at that time — on things like their forward striding, their cross-overs, their stopping abilities, and their backward skating.  And from those readings I’ll design my next week’s lesson plan.

Here’s the kicker, though…  I can be absolutely sure that this group will do extremely well in given areas, while they will struggle with a few others.   So it’s my job to 1) accelerate the teaching where needed, 2) go slower in certain areas, and 3) even take a step backwards to some remedial drills for a few other skills.

And I’m going to suggest that that exact process has to take place every single time we meet as a group.  In fact, that exact process is taking place with my high school guys, it’s happening with my AAA Mites, and it’s happening with a group of kids I’m currently teaching in a weekly skills class.

Now, although most members are right now thinking they totally understand what I’ve said to this point, I’m wondering if they (you) realize the dangers in not doing it this way.

For example, can you just imagine how many players will be lost if a set lesson plan was put in place long ago, and then adhered to for the rest of the coming winter?  My guess is that about one third of a given group would progress, while quite a few kids would be totally lost — 1) because we didn’t take the occasional backward step when they needed it, or 2) because we didn’t accelerate things when that was appropriate.

A couple of what I think are cute asides…

I’ve had a few parents very nicely express some concerns with their kids’ games or their skills.

One of my assistant coaches has been around the game for awhile, and he’s occasionally expressing some worries about our kids making certain kinds of mistakes.

Another experienced assistant is wishing I’d accelerate an area of the game where his son is concerned.

And in just about every one of those conversations, the parent or coach was dead-on.  I mean, they were right in what they were seeing; it’s just that they were usually wrong as to when it might be appropriate to address their concerns.

I hate going off-track on you again, but here’s another aside, this one an example to make my point even further…

I’m working on puckhandling skills within the ADM program, and as each differently skilled group rotates to my station, I’m teaching that group according to all I’ve described above — from reading where they are at a given time, etc.

=>  There are a ton of young parents watching each clinic, and I’m often thinking to myself that a few of the former hockey playing dads are probably wondering why I’m having kids stickhandle without ever mentioning their need to keep the eyes up.

Ha.  My simple answer to that (if I could hang a banner over center-ice) would be, “Everything in its own time and place.”  In other words, the stickhandling challenges I’m giving those kids right now are overwhelming enough, so I don’t want to complicate matters by tossing an extra challenge their way.  (Down the road, I actually have an easy way to teach eyes up stickhandling.)

Okay, so let’s go back to a few of my opening statements…

I suggested that there’s at least the probability that any given ADM program might only achieve a percentage of its full potential.  And the key words in that last sentence are “any given ADM program”.  In other words, my pretty educated feeling is that each program is going to come closer or further from its true potential according to how well teaching adjustments can be made (ideally on a night-to-night basis).  Let me repeat what I said earlier, though, in that kids ARE going to benefit from the ADM; my worry is just that some will benefit more or less.

Then, let me tell you that the guy or gal who authors a booklet containing perfect lesson plans for an entire season is going to become a millionaire.  Of course, if you’re thinking about purchasing something like that, think again.  As you should realize by now, it’s virtually impossible to create such a thing.

Oh, well…  I actually have created something like the above — that really does work.  And it’s going to be released here someday in the future, when I’ve had a lot of extra time to get it exactly right.

In the meantime, let’s talk about the CoachChic.com format for a few secs…

Most of what you’ll find within the current 400 or so postings are the result of my needing to problem-solve.  In many instances I may have given you an exact way to deal with a given challenge, but I’m just as apt to have given members a few observations I’ve made, thereby allowing you to make some of your own (better founded) decisions.  Yet another thing I’ve done in hopes of benefiting you is to divide a wealth of information into fairly easy to negotiate categories.   Hopefully then, you can quickly find skating help, puckhandling help, help for goalies, important principles having to do with the offensive side of our game, and so forth.

Finally, if there’s one thing I’d like you to come away with here, it’s that there is currently no silver bullet, and no one-size-fits-all.  No, I truly believe the best coaching/teaching is done on a day-to-day or night-to-night basis, and it’s predicated on really “Knowing What To Do Next”.

A VERY Different Approach to Hockey Goaltending

A lot of local customers through the years have dubbed me “The Nutty Professor”.    Hey, I can buy that, and I take it as a compliment, knowing full well that their intent is to suggest that I dare to think outside the proverbial box.

To be perfectly honest with you, I am forever looking for an edge for the players in my charge, be it a big or small one.  So, I quite often see things others don’t.

– Dennis Chighisola

A VERY Different Approach to Hockey Goaltending

Now, a recent theme here the past few days has been the fastest growing sport in the world, floorball.  And, while much has already been said about the benefits that sport’s skills bring to ice hockey for skaters, no one has yet to suggest that floorball practice and playing might also greatly enhance an ice hockey goalie’s game.

So, I’d like you to take a look at the following video and let me know what you think.  Keep an open mind, if you will, much like The Nutty Professor might.  And then let me know what you think in a Comment — either with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.  Again, though, keep that open mind…

Having seen that, might you envision how a goalie’s hands would be quickened, how his or her angles would be reinforced, how the leg movements would be sped-up, and even how much gut wrenching there would be (for enhanced core strength)?

Oh, I am not saying that a goaler should abandon on-ice work; what I am suggesting is that the combination of both kinds of practices could make a netminder really, really awesome!

An Open Letter to Hockey Canada (Floorball)

Today, October 1, 2010, brings a new and exciting category to CoachChic.com.

I’d like to think that I’ve pioneered a number of truly helpful alternative hockey training methods over my 40-years in our game, beginning way back in the 1970s with some unique hockey skills training sessions, later showing all those in (at least) the New England area new concepts in Soviet style off-ice training, and still later promoting the benefits of in-line workouts.

So, sensing I know something hot and hugely beneficial when I see it, today gives me great pleasure to begin spreading the word about floorball.  And, no one could help me do that better than my good friend, Greg Beaudin.

– Dennis Chighisola

An Open Letter to the North American Hockey Community

By Greg Beaudin

Introduction

Five Years ago, I learned about Floorball from Hockey Legend Borje Salming.  At that time, I picked up a Floorball stick and felt the future of Hockey in my hands.

Some observations:
When introducing Floorball to new people, as I have done so many times, a common first reaction is to dismiss aspects of the game; The Stick is too short, The Ball is too light, The goalies have no stick?, But where is the ice? I would say a typical Canadian reaction to learning about Floorball is to pick it apart.  Maybe that’s why we are the best Hockey Nation in the World, I don’t know, we are sensitive about our brand of hockey, and so we should be.

The key points get blurted out, affordability, accessibility, easy to play, a sport for everyone, the soccer of Hockeys, all you need is a stick and ball, it’s fast, fun, and safe, no hacking and whacking, adaptable, global, an Olympic provisional sport, professional leagues in Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, The Russian Olympic Hockey team used Floorball to get ready for Vancouver, NHL stars like the Sedins, Sellanne, Gaborik, the Hossa brothers all played Floorball growing up and many still play in the Summers…blah, blah, blah….the points come out, in staccato like fashion, and the words become just that — words.

And then, we take a shot… and it rips top shelf with a flick of the wrist.  Then we stickhandle and feel, and tap, bounce and twirl, adjust, and shoot, and attempt to corral the ball, at first mostly getting air.  For Canadians, this is not the Floor Hockey stick of the past, the one we all grew up with, it’s something new, fresh, cool, hip, ergonomic, familiar yet distant — It’s a Floorball stick, a “euro thing” that permeates through the hockey communities of Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, The Czech Republic and beyond.

…there is something about a Floorball stick, a certain magic to it.

Canada does have a national federation that belongs to the International Floorball Federation, it’s called Floorball Canada.  There are Provincial organizations, leagues, Hockey Academies, Hockey Schools, Elementary Schools, Secondary Schools, Indepedent Schools, Universities, Private Clubs, Corporate sport groups.  There is a National Championship, and a few big tournaments that take place every year.

Canada is becoming a Floorball nation, and it’s happening, virtually under the radar, with no funding, no corporate support, and very little media recognition.  We need to talk about this, we must discuss why Floorball is succeeding wherever it goes, and why our Hockey Canada Skills Academy talent, AAA girls and boys, across the country, are honing their skills in school gyms and local rec centers with Floorball.

Recently, I conducted two week long Floorball Camps where parents would approach me afterwards and say that they preferred Floorball to Hockey, citing violence, the cost, and the early morning practices.  The smiles, the sweat, the drills, the games, the growth that their kids displayed just validated to them that there could be an alternative to Hockey, that is technically Hockey without the skates and the smelly bags.

Many Parents feel mixed emotions about floorball because they played Hockey growing up and it shaped them as people like nothing else could, and although they want their own kids to learn about Team, Hard work, Dedication to Sport, Canadian culture and all of the wonderful things that Hockey brought them, they see so much madness connected to the game now.  They crave the simpler times of Hockey, where it just happened without all of the big expense and the big fuss…and enter Floorball.   Floorball is going to provide tens of thousands of Canadians an opportunity to “feel” Hockey and the sensations of scoring a big time goal and making a poetic pass.

No matter how much doubt and scrutiny you throw at the stick and the sport of Floorball, as it relates to Hockey, it counters back with an explanation, a smart take, a scientific observation, and a model of proof from blossoming Hockey communities like Gothenburg, Helsinki or Zurich.

For here is a version of indoor hockey that requires minimal equipment- a stick and a ball.  It is played as a team game, it is very high tempo, high scoring, high energy, physical but safe, it’s easy to learn yet develops amazing skills.

Floorball should be in every school in Canada.  Floorball is currently being utilized as an off-ice training system for Hockey Canada Skills Academies, coast to coast.  Do your homework people, You will see!  Floorball has arrived in Canada but needs a helping hand, as Floorball is a Sport for Everyone.

I remember reading the summary from the last Hockey Summit in 1999, and am happy to see the 11 recommendations come forward in a real way to develop Hockey players and enrich the Hockey experience.

I have personally witnessed thousands of smiles of bewilderment, as Young Canadians, New Canadians, Old Canadians, Disabled Canadians, pick up a Floorball stick for the first time.  At first play, the ball is bouncing everywhere and you can see the power shift from the hockey players to the newbies. from the hack and whackers to the runners and the thinkers….it’s a mind shift that provides agility and skill to the Hockey player that already has the strength and force, and it’s empowering to an athlete who has never skated, and now can “snipe” one from 30 feet at 90km+/hr.

Floorball is an exhilarating game.  It speaks to everyone.  It enhances skills in a Young Hockey player and it brings skilled players into Hockey.

Canada has the infrastructure, the will and the desire to breed Hockey talent like no other nation.  You will see Floorball as a solution at every school, rec center, sport club, minor hockey program, skills development center, high-performance academy, Olympic training program, and corporate fitness programs.     Floorball is an important component of the Player Development matrix. It is also a potential gateway sport to assist many Hockey enthusiasts who are a bit hesitant to enter the world of Hockey participation.  I have had many discussions with families that are using Floorball to hedge their bets that their children will one day wish to play Ice Hockey.  So, by developing Hockey Smarts and Skills through Floorball, a young player can join-in on Ice Hockey years down the road, if the interest and/or passion is brimming.

Yes, Floorball is a global sport and it is used by Professsional Hockey players to maintain fitness and enhance skills.  At the Top level, Floorball is vying for a permanent spot in the Summer Olympics.  Universities dole out scholarships, and there is even opportunity for elite players to advance to Professional levels.  However, this is not why I write this letter to you…

This letter is a call to action, it’s to initiate discussion about Floorball and other types of off-ice Hockey.  As a nation, it’s like we are still skiing on wooden skis, when other countries have switched over to high tech parabolic ones or playing Tennis with “Bjorn Borg woodies” whilst there are oversized carbon graphite ones.

Author Profile:

Greg Beaudin is the founder of Modern Hockey, a forward thinking Hockey company with deep roots in Ice Hockey and Floorball.  Modern Hockey has worked with dozens of Hockey Canada Skills Academies to develop their Floorball cross-training programs.  Greg is the son of the “Original Jet” Norm Beaudin, and grew up in a household where Finnish, Swedish and Swiss Hockey was always highly respected.  Like the Oilers of the ‘eighties, Greg’s hockey philosophies were also shaped by the formidable International elements of the Winnipeg Jets of the seventies.  It is this base knowledge that brings Modern Hockey to Floorball and why the push is on to grow Floorball in Canada.

To visit Greg’s site:  ModernHockey.com

Oh, and just in case you’re wondering if floorball could help some of your hockey play (and your overall athleticism), take a look…