A Hockey Chat with Coaches – 3

Tonight I talked about the off-ice sessions I’d organized for both of my new teams — the young AA Mites, and the older AAA Bantams.

I haven’t completely fixed the quality of the audio yet.  However, I do have some ideas that I promise to try shortly.

– Dennis Chighisola

A Hockey Chat with Coaches – 3

As always, just pressing the arrow below will start the audio playing.

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Oh, and since I was rushed to get into the rink this night, I didn’t get the chance to thank you for keeping me company on an otherwise boring ride.  So, thanks! 

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Just a reminder…

The Bonus audio is still available when you purchase

“How to Assemble & Teach A Basic Hockey System”

Does Coaching Win (Hockey) Championships?

This entry comes about from an article sent me by a really great Twitter friend.  In my estimation, the guy is a real “thinker”, which means nearly everything he sends my way causes me to think (sometimes ’til my brain hurts).

The real article was titled “Does Coaching Win Championships?”, which dealt mainly with pro level sports, and then ultimately with it’s featured team and coach in college lacrosse.  I’ve changed the subject heading here, because I’d like to share some thoughts as this all relates to hockey, and especially as I believe it applies to youth hockey.

– Dennis Chighisola

PS:  I urge you to read the original article.  It may not (necessarily) apply to you and me.  However, it is one of the most thought-provoking I’ve read in a long, long time…  Does Coaching Win Championships? By Dean Robinson

Does Coaching Win (Hockey) Championships?

Dean Robinson begins his article suggesting that pro athletes tend to have more influence on a game’s outcome than the coach (think Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James here, maybe a Michael Jordan in years past, the stars who comprised the 1927 New York Yankees, the Islanders and Oilers during different parts of the ’80′s).  This isn’t to say that coaches don’t influence outcomes.  But, as Robinson suggests, their contributions aren’t measurable — or there aren’t any stats we can go to for comparisons.  True enough?  I’d say so.

That established, I’d like to look at amateur hockey.  And, no, there isn’t any way to really measure a given coach’s impact on game results.  Sure, we all have our won/loss records, but it’s more than likely those numbers are hugely impacted by the players we had available for any given game or season.

Okay, so let’s take a look at a graph I’ve had in my head for a lot of years…

In other words, I’m strongly suggesting that the coach of a Mite team has far great influence over his or her team’s record than the coach of a college team.

Oh, before you think I’m suggesting that most Division I college hockey coaches aren’t among the cream of the crop, I want you to know that that’s not what I’m saying at all.  However, I’ll bet most guys at that level will admit that recruiting has the greatest impact on their success.  All the guys and gals at that level know their X’s and O’s, and modern day DI coaches are also pretty adept at handling “people”.  What they need, however, is talent to make their X’s and O’s produce the right results.  And, that level’s most successful coaches have usually been top recruiters.

As an aside here, you might notice that I haven’t drawn any vertical lines to specifically separate the influence coaches hold over Mites, Squirts, Pee Wees, etc.  That’s because I believe there is a gray area from group to group.  Or, said another way, I’m only suggesting that there’s a slight — and hard to specify — difference from level to level.

You might also notice that I haven’t drawn anything as “all or nothing”.  In other words, maybe there will be a few players we can’t dramatically change among the youngest group.  And, for sure, the college level coach will be able to change some of his or her players, if only just a bit.

Now, here’s the premise upon which I base my thinking…

The youngest players are by far the most malleable.  I mean, they are wide-eyed and looking to learn, and their bodies are such that kids in that rough age group can be changed within a matter of weeks, and certainly within a matter of months.  That in mind, a really effective “teaching coach” can work near miracles.  And, I’d say that some of his or her game bench ploys can probably work a whole lot more than they would at higher levels

Sadly to say, humans are less changeable as they mature.  So, while I see this starting to become obvious in older Pee Wees and into Bantams, there’s a good chance that a high school and college coach pretty much gets what he or she gets.  If you get my drift here, I’m suggesting that older teens and players in their young 20′s have come pretty close to the players they’re always going to be.  I’m not saying that they can’t get stronger or better conditioned, for example.  But it is very unlikely that the slow, plodding player is suddenly going to become the top skilled guy on an older team.

Not that any coach at any level should stop trying to improve his or her roster, or individual players.  In fact, that’s where our tinkering with the X’s and O’s and working our players harder at the older levels might help us steal a point or two from teams of better skill.  Returning to my premise, though, all our efforts aren’t likely going to turn a less skilled team into the better skilled one.

Two final points…

Please don’t ever forget what I said in that last paragraph — in that we should never stop trying to help our players improve, and we should never stop trying to gain some sort of advantage over other teams.

What I especially want to emphasize here is the importance of those who oversee development for the youngest teams.  There is no time to relax in that job, because every chance you get with a young group is an opportunity to impact hugely on their future.  And don’t take your role as a “teaching coach” lightly.  Oh, I know there are some folks out there who think, “Ah, my players will get that at the next level.”  Please get that out of your mind, and — while being patient, plan to cram as much as you can into those young brains and little bodies.

Being A Good Hockey Teammate

Ravi, one of our long-time and very active members, suggested I address something here at CoachChic.com.

What brought us to discussing this was the flurry of trades that took place before, during and after the recent NHL Draft.  More specifically, some not-so-nice things came to light in the media, once a guy had been traded.  Interestingly, we never seemed to hear those negatives before the given trade.  Once a guy was shipped out of town, however, it seems all his behavioral issues were fair game.

Some of what we’ve recently heard had to do with the players’ off-ice activities, and some of them intimated that a certain player wasn’t as good a teammate as he could have been.

Ravi and I talked on Facebook about that stuff, until he finally asked me to address it here.  I told him that I’d just recently watched a video done by our good friend, Shaun Goodsell.  And, while this doesn’t deal with late-night carousing issues, it offers the best advice I’ve ever heard when it comes to being a good guy or gal in the lockerroom.

– Dennis Chighisola

Being A Good Hockey Teammate

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I don’t know about you but, that stuff really meant something to me.

I don’t think I’ve ever coached a team — youth to college — whereby players didn’t at least somewhat pay more attention to teammates they knew well, and less to those they didn’t know so well.  That, at least to me, is human nature.  So, I can’t necessarily fault kids for doing what comes comfortably to them.  Of course, what Shaun had to say is an awesome way to look at that, and I’d highly recommend that every coach (and parent) make their young player aware of that viewpoint.  Just imagine what a lockerroom would be like if every player took that approach.

Then, just to give you a hint of something I’m working on — and maybe suggest something other coaches might try…  I’m digging through Google right now to find ideas for “bonding”, or “ice breaking”.  A lot of companies are now doing this, calling in specialists who will run all sorts of games that tend to get folks laughing and working together.  A lot of what we’ll find in that regard involves purely mental tasks.  But, what I’m looking for are games involving small groups, these intended to get participants depending upon one another, and cheering for each other.  After all, that’s what we look for during a game.

Anyway, I hope this gets everyone thinking — about how hockey players can be good teammates.

 

Rope Skipping Benefits for Hockey Players

This might be a topic I don’t need to address with most members.  Still, I don’t like to ever leave any important point unsaid.

Make no mistake:  rope skipping is beneficial to just about every athlete, and it can help a hockey player in a number of extra ways.

– Dennis Chighisola

Rope Skipping Benefits for Hockey Players

I think it best that I show you a very short video before we get into a discussion on the benefits of rope skipping, this to act as sort of a frame of reference…

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You ought to know that my AAA Bantams arrived at that same rink parking lot right after my young Mites left.  And, although I may have presented and run the drills just a tad differently, my older guys did the same rope skipping sequences.

So, basically, both groups began with their individual skipping in place, I had all the kids jog across the parking lot — forward and backwards — as they skipped, they next tried jumping a long rope swung by two teammates, and they ultimately even tried holding their sticks in a hockey posture as they jumped.

Okay, so about that video, and the benefits of rope skipping…

I hope you recognized that those little guys are still growing into their bodies, and they’re only gradually gaining real coordination.  So, I’d like you to appreciate how much the simple act of rope skipping is forcing them to really handle their entire bodies.   If we think about it, just twirling the individual rope calls into play an athlete’s fingers, hands, wrists and arms.  And, once the rope gets moving, he or she has to coordinate the rest of the body with a jump.

One can’t jump at just any old time, so timing is an important part of this exercise.  Actually, timing will be crucial in their game as my kids mature.  If you can picture it, clumsier skaters tend to miss-time a lot of things, while the better skilled ones do almost everything at precisely the right moment.

Of course, there will ultimately be some other benefits to skipping rope, including a little bit of strength and a lot of endurance (the type of conditioning to be determined by the intensity and duration of each bout).

Now, I could have just as easily shown you some clips of my older guys skipping.  However, I believe extremes make better examples.  I mean, the above video shows a group of very young human beings as they struggle with a new physical problem.  And watching them tends to exaggerate each of the challenges they face — as in coordination, timing, etc.

With that, I’d like you to appreciate that there is a learning curve to everything, including athleticism.  So is there a learning curve to hockey specific skills — like skating, puckhandling, passing, receiving, shooting, and all the rest.  And, make no mistake about it:  the better athlete has the chance to be the better hockey player.

Man, I can’t emphasize that point enough.  Much has been written within this website about the so-called “failed experiment”, whereby, during a period in North American hockey history, overall athleticism was neglected in favor of sport-specific training.  That period produced less creative players, players who couldn’t handle their bodies well in 1 on 1 match-ups, and players who were more prone to injury.  (My personal opinion is that that period also opened the door for far more athletic European players to make their marks in the game.)

Of course, I’m a hockey coach, and I’m not about to abandon hockey-specific training.  It’s just that the ideal is to begin with an “athlete”, and then build from there.

Over the years, I’ve also found numerous ways to combine rope skipping with hockey training.  Or, said another way, I like to keep building on my players’ basic rope skipping abilities with all the more difficult challenges.

The latter in mind, consider that we hockey types play on blades that are rounded on the bottom, and a great deal of our mobility on the ice is based on our ability to handle our body-weight over those rounded blades.  Just jumping while in skates enhances our balance, while skipping rope calls into play all the previously described challenges and ultimate benefits.  What also happens with the rope skipping version of jumping is that a player’s landings are almost all unpredictable.  There’s a lot going on as the body twists and deals with the rope in mid-air, so that the landings can be on one foot or the other, or on absolutely every part of a skate’s blade.  Or, as I can joke at time, “It’s a new thrill every time a player lands!” 

There is also much said within this site about a hockey player needing to deal with lots of other problems as he or she handles the puck.  And that’s why I ultimately took long rope jumping to a new level.  I mean, as partners twirl the long rope, my more advanced players must dribble a ball (off-ice) or a puck (on-ice).  Imagine the challenge:  timing the jumps with the dribbles, keeping the stick from tangling in the rope, and then also dealing with all the odd ways one can land.  Ya, I’d call that a challenge, and I’d also suggest it very nearly matches the kinds of challenges a player faces in real game action.

In closing, a few months ago, I gave members of both my teams homework assignments (with the parents of my younger kids asked to help their little ones).  I wanted them to get a head start on skipping (among other things), just so we could have the feeling-out stage out of the way before we met as teams.  Of course, human nature being what it is, some kids did, some didn’t, and it was obvious the other night.  No matter, I think patience is one of THE most important virtues a coach can have.  Anyway, the important thing is that my kids are on their way.  Now all I want is for them to just keep growing — in overall athleticism, and then in hockey-specific skills.

Audio: Goal Setting in Hockey

Free gifts will usually only be available for one month, then they’re gone.  So, since you won’t want to miss a single extra, be sure to check this section at least once per month.  Better yet, click the NEWS FEED button up in the right corner, and never miss a new post again.

FYI… If you’ve just recently joined, you’ve probably already missed some truly valuable gifts.  Have no fear, however…   I promise to occasionally rerun these at times when they’d best suit your needs. Promise!

– Dennis Chighisola

Audio:  Goal Setting in Hockey

You can listen to the audio portion of Shaun Goodsell’s talk by clicking the arrow below…

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You can download that audio recording by right clicking on the following link and the Save As…

Goal Setting in Hockey

Goal Setting in Hockey

The title for this piece might be “Goal Setting in Hockey”.  However, I (and likely Shaun Goodsell) would tell you that the principles contained in the following video would serve one well in any sport, in the classroom, at work, and even in our personal lives.  As a matter of fact, having heard Shaun’s presentation several times already, I came to the realization that his ideas will help me in my coaching, in my business, and in my own personal relationships.

Now, I’d like to think that a huge benefit to this CoachChic.com site is that it contains numerous videos that you can watch over and over again.   Still, you might want to have some paper and a pen available as you watch this one, because some really good stuff is to follow.

– Dennis Chigisola

Goal Setting in Hockey

With The Mental Edge’s Shaun Goodsell

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I think I’ve mentioned several other times how I like to listen to interesting podcasts or audio recordings as I drive to and from the rinks.  And, since Shaun’s presentation lends itself to such, I actually captured the audio portion of that video so that I can listen to it numerous times henceforth.  Ya, if you think about it, there are a lot of good things to be reminded of in there.

I haven’t forgotten you in that regard, though.  In fact, I’ve also made a copy for you, and I’ve placed it over in this month’s *Gift section.  Just go there when you have a minute, and I’ll give you directions on downloading the audio so that you can also listen to it on the go.

Instilling Heart and Desire in a Hockey Player

This topic really isn’t a new one.  Still, the way a former pro player phrased the question (or his statement) sent me right to typing a pretty long, detailed reply.

How it started was that the guy Messaged me through Facebook, suggesting that, “The hockey invention no one has come up with yet would be priceless.”  That new invention, gleaned from his having watched the Bruins win the Stanley Cup this week, was something that would “instill heart and desire in a player…”  He ended with, “Someone could make millions!”

  Okay, if you know this old coach by now, you know that got me going.  And, when I was done answering my friend, I just knew I had to share my thoughts with you.

– Dennis Chighisola

Instilling Heart and Desire in a Hockey Player

Now, believing in myself as I do, I wrote back to say that I see it as relatively easy to accomplish — with a couple of IFs.   Ya, a couple of dawgoned IFs…

My first need would be to get the players rather early, or while still young and mold-able.  (No way could I change the playing personality of a kid who is 10 or 12 or 15 or older.)

Secondly, I’d need the parents to be a help and not a hindrance.  (You don’t think that matters?  Well, last year while I tried to enhance certain skills with a group of Mites, I had three  sets of parents tell me they didn’t like the way I prodded their kids to try harder.   Now, to survive all these years as a coach, I have to be a pretty compassionate guy, and a pretty good teacher.  So the real problem, I’ll suggest, is that the boys’ moms were bothered a whole lot more by my methods than their kids.   My prediction:  all three boys will be out of the game within a few years — or at least out of very competitive levels, IF they’re not allowed to grow with their teammates.)

Okay, so I’m boasting a bit as I write back to the former pro, telling him I know exactly how I like to start infusing a little heart or desire into the young players in my charge.  And, reverting back to a few drills I’ve mentioned previously in these pages, I suggested that I’d do it with some combative-type games…

I always begin with 1 on 1 keepaway.  Hey, how much closer to real game conditions can you get than to ask two youngsters to compete against each other for possession of the puck?

The second game I like to play is very similar to keepaway, except I’ll send two young players into a corner after a dumped puck, and ask the kid who gains the puck to as quickly as possible put a good pass right onto my stick.

As you should appreciate, 1 against 1 games — of any kind — tend to really magnify the participants’ desire for the puck.   Oh, sure, it can boil down to skills, too.  So, I have an answer for that…

Although every player on a roster should be able to ultimately do well against most teammates, I think we both know that the best skilled players will win most of the earliest contests.

This in mind, I’ll suggest that it would be a good idea to purposely arrange match-ups in the early going.  Picture it, for example, that we pit the weakest two players against each other.  Both should feel they have a chance at winning, and both are more likely to give their all than if either was matched again a far more talented player.  At the other end of our roster, I’ll suggest that the two best players probably won’t act lazily if paired in such a game.  Ya, the last thing I want is for a player to either just go through the motions or totally give-up before the drill even starts.

As I intimated earlier, my friend was writing me with some Boston Bruins forwards in mind.   So I suggested to him that such guys — having reached that level of play, had had lots of successes as they climbed the hockey ladder.  In other words, it’s pretty likely they won lots of battles along the way, many of them just like I’ve described above.

I raise that point to suggest that no one learns from failing more than they succeed.

I also felt the need to mention the numbers game that tends to take place in sport.  I mean, for every player we see competing at a high level, there were literally thousands of others he or she passed by.  The reasons athletes drop by the wayside can be pretty varied.  But, my thinking is that a lot of kids drop-out once they feel they can’t compete anymore.  And, once again, we’re talking about the kind of competing that takes place in my little 1 against 1 games.

Now, although I probably should have addressed a couple terms from the outset, I purposely decided to handle them at the end.

Actually, we in sport tend to toss terms around rather loosely, perhaps not exactly using the right words, or not explaining ourselves as well as we should.  Anyway, with that…

I think we all have a sense of what my young friend meant when he cited the importance of “desire”.  In other words, he (and I) feel that it’s extremely important for a player to want the puck — badly, to desperately want a certain valuable position on the ice surface, etc.

All I’ve suggested above is that we can start relatively young players on a path towards believing in themselves when it comes to battling opposition players.  And, to accomplish that, tasks must be do-able, at least in the start.  (If I challenge you to jump the Grand Canyon, you’re going to walk away, and I haven’t done a thing to help your self-confidence.)  Fairly even match-ups like I’ve described above give at least half a roster the chance to be successful, and it’s quite likely even more than half of the kids will win some of those battles.

Along the way, even young players will start to sense that they accomplish more with added effort, and that the occasional extra grunt often spells victory.  At least that’s what we should be hoping as we supervise those little battles.

I’m also going to suggest that even a single season spent doing these types of combative drills can stick with individual players for a very long time.  Little by little, the lessons learned mount-up, as does the confidence.  And, it will take a lot of setbacks in subsequent years to undo the belief a kid has in himself (or herself).

Oh, ya, there’s one more term to address here.  And that’s the matter of “heart”.   Hmmmmmm…

I know my friend at the other end of this discussion had the best of intentions when he used that word.   And, it might even be appropriate to use if we’re discussing professional players (although I even doubt it).  For my money, every youngster who goes out to try his or her hand at the game has heart.   I dare anyone to argue with me on that.

As a matter of fact, I’m guessing most kids also initially take to the ice with a batch of desire, too.

If there’s anything that can go wrong with all this, it’s probably that we adults — we parents and coaches — leave the kids to their own devices, and don’t use methods that enhance their skills and confidence.

The Value of Keepaway Games in Hockey

To begin, I like to use drills that simulate real game conditions.

Secondly, I like to use drills that sorta force players to deal with problems, consequently forcing them to solve those problems on their own.

Thirdly, I’ll quite frequently just toss players into a set of conditions and let them initially sink or swim without any help.  However, once they experience the challenges — as a frame of reference, the advice I’ll then provide tends to mean all the more to them.

– Dennis Chighisola

The Value of Keepaway Games in Hockey

I hope the above sequence makes sense to hockey coaches and parents.  I mean, I don’t think players truly appreciate the value of our advice until they’ve experienced the problems we’d like to help them solve.  Make sense?  If not, I will take some time to re-explain that line of thinking a little later.

For now, let me suggest that a game of keepaway (as shown in the following video) very much simulates conditions players regularly deal with in real game hockey action.  Hey, hockey is all about 1 against 1 and 2 against 1 battles!

In keeping with my second point above, I’ve thrown some of my young students into the drill you’ll see without much of an explanation at all.  In other words, I pretty much just told them, “Go keep the puck away from the other guy for as long as you can!”

With that, see if you can identify some of the things these kids are learning on their own.  I’ll add my own thoughts after you’ve had a chance to watch the video…

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Perhaps not evident in these clips, one of the things I noticed was that the little puckhandlers frequently looked over their shoulders to locate the checker.  Good for them, because this is an extremely important hockey principle.

Similar to the latter point, I think we can see evidence that a puckhandler at times could almost “feel” or “sense” the location of the checker.

I also spotted times when a puckcarrier would realize he had a better chance of keeping the puck if he skated for open ice, or far from his checker.  To be honest, too many kids remain right along the boards, thusly giving the checker an advantage.

Please appreciate that the video shows my kids’ second attempt at this 1 on 1 keepaway game.  So, they are still just feeling their way, and perhaps only gradually arriving at some ideas for handling the challenges at hand.  Still, I noticed several youngsters starting to get the idea of keeping their body between a checker and the puck.  In other words, they’ve already begun learning to “protect the puck”.

Then, while we probably all tend to watch the kid with the puck during these kinds of confrontations, a review of that video might show how a checker is also learning certain basic defensive skills — like pokechecking, angling his man, etc.

Okay, I said in the beginning that I just threw the kids into this drilling without any real advice.  And I’m going to do things that way for another practice or so.  However, that previously noted protecting the puck skill is one I’m going to emphasize pretty shortly.  As for examples of this, notice a kid usually losing the puck as he turns towards the checker, thereby exposing the puck, or putting it within easy reach of that man.  On yet other occasions, a little guy has kept the puck because he cut away from his check — again, protecting it by placing his body between the man and the puck.

By the way, here’s how I’ll usually approach things when I’m ready to help my kids solve a problem…

I’ll gather them after a bout with a given drill, and then begin with something like, “Has anyone here had THIS problem?”  When it comes to that puck protection thing, I’ll explain — and probably demonstrate — how turning into the checker allows that guy to swipe at the puck.  With that, I might even ask the kids to help me find an answer, my hope being that they’ll tell me to cut away from the checker.

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Okay, any thoughts, questions or Comments on all this?
You know I love talking the game with you guys!