We are all sportsmen.

Yes, some of us are hockey people, some of us are into baseball.  But, we should all first see ourselves as sportsmen.  And, oh…  If we could all be sportsmen in the mold of an Amando Galarraga.

– Dennis Chighisola

The Perfect Game

By Brady Greco
Performance Coach
The Mental Edge

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One of the finest displays of perspective in all sports was witnessed this past month by Detroit Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga.  Galarraga had retired 26 of 26 opposing batters without allowing a hit, walk, or hit batsmen.  All he needed was one more out to become only the 21st pitcher ever in Major League history to throw a “perfect game”.  This feat is one of the toughest to accomplish by any athlete in any sport.  It is what Little Leaguer’s stay up at night dreaming about in their beds.

As the 27th batter dug-in to face Galarraga, 30,000 screaming fans were waiting to witness history.  What was to follow in the moments after will be forever remembered as one of sports most all time “botched” calls by an umpire, official, or referee.  The batter hit into a routine grounder in which Galarraga had to cover first-base.  The first baseman flipped Armando Galarraga the ball for the last out of the game, etching in history his “perfect game”.  Unfortunately umpire Jim Joyce saw the play differently and called the batter safe at first, ultimately blowing Galarraga’s “perfect game”.  After one look at the replay, it was evident the runner at first base was out and Joyce had made the wrong call on the field.  Since baseball does not have the luxury of having instant replay, the call on the field stood.

In an instance like this, with so much emotion attached to the situation, anyone in their right mind would have RIPPED umpire Jim Joyce a “new one”!  Nevertheless, Armando Galarraga composed himself and brushed the call off with a “you gotta be kidding me” smirk, and went back to the mound to complete the game.  After the game, a petition was delivered to Bud Selig (commissioner of MLB) to over-rule Joyce’s ‘bogus’ call and to award Galarraga with a “perfect game”.  However, Selig would stand by the call Joyce made on the field that night and did not acknowledge the “perfect game” thrown by Galarraga.

The following game, Galarraga (who was not pitching that day) made it a point to hand deliver the team’s line-up card to Jim Joyce who was umping behind the plate.  Galarraga wanted to make sure that Joyce was okay and to let Joyce know he had no negative feelings towards him.

When Galarraga was questioned about the blown call Joyce made, he simply responded with, “I know myself that I threw a perfect game, and that’s all that matters.”  This type of perspective is what athletes striving to make it to the next level must learn.  Galarraga understands that baseball is bigger than he is.  He understands that humans make mistakes.  He understands that he is lucky and honored to be able to play the sport he loves on a daily basis.  He knows that if he dwelled on the situation, he would end up mentally beating himself up.  Above all else, Armando Galarraga realizes that life is full of wonderful things and baseball is just a fraction of what the entire world has to offer.

The character, integrity, and sportsmanship displayed by Armando Galarraga was much greater to witness than watching ANY other pitcher throw a “perfect game”.

Brady

Like this?  When you’re ready to live life with this kind of perspective, simply email us to get started.

That said, let me introduce you to one of the very brightest in Twitterland, Dr Mollie Marti.  And, proving she’s a woman who really knows how to take a bite out of life, let me share just some of her extensive experiences:

Mollie is a performance psychologist and founder of BestLifeDesign.com, a life design resource that provides tools, advice, and inspiration in all areas of life design, including health, fitness, relationships, finances, career, spirituality, and success.  Mollie is a successful entrepreneur and coach with a prestigious list of clients, including Olympians and business superstars. She is widely published in academic journals, and also shares her work in numerous peak performance and success books.  As a psychologist, lawyer and trained mediator, Dr. Mollie has years of experience in conflict resolution, negotiation, facilitation, group dynamics, team building and alignment, motivation, performance effectiveness, communication strategies, strategic planning and change management.  With her unique ability to combine the science of success with the art of living well, Mollie is a popular trainer and speaker. She is a frequent resource for local and national media, including Self, Newsweek, Parents Magazine, and the Montel Williams show. She lives with her husband, 3 children, and large family of pets on an apple orchard in scenic northeast Iowa.

Now, besides getting to know her well over the past year or so, I subscribe to her newsletter and – whenever I need a lift or a bit of motivation, I’ll put on my headphones and listen to one of Mollie’s audio recordings.

Does an old hockey coach need that kind of help?  How about a parent?  An athlete?  My answer to all of those is, “You bet!”  As a matter of fact, Here’s an endorsement by another pretty high level coach:

“As a head coach, I am always trying to get the most out of myself, my staff and my team. Mollie has provided tremendous expertise and tools to help each member of our team improve. From goal setting to communication to decision making, she has made a great difference. She has helped our team truly understand that individual success and team success are one in the same. Mollie is our X Factor.”

– Lisa Bluder, Head Coach
University of Iowa Women’s Basketball
2010 Big 10 Coach of the Year

With all that, the following arrived in my inbox today, and I immediately knew I had to share it with my favorite hockey people.  Again, I find Dr Marti’s writings helpful to me, and I suspect the following piece will be appreciated by other coaches, other business types and older players.  Enjoy!

– Dennis Chighisola

Self-Discipline: Paying Yourself Forward!
by Dr. Mollie Marti

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it.
Establish your priorities and go to work.”

– H. L. Hunt

For many, the word “discipline” sounds like punishment. Who would guess that such a word, when applied to one’s self, actually creates unlimited rewards and freedom?

Self-discipline is the regulation one’s Self.  It is a way of investing in your future – and it is a key factor in helping you achieve all you want in life.

Once upon a time, Americans were all about self-discipline. George Washington made it a personal challenge to rise before the sun did. Benjamin Franklin said, “The person who has self-discipline is very powerful.” Countless colonists read and followed the precepts published in Poor Richard’s Almanac, which was loaded with advice related to the value of self-discipline and which Franklin published every year between 1732 and 1758 (now that’s self-discipline!).  Immigrants who came to and strengthened the fabric of this great country were highly self-disciplined, persevering through immense trials and tribulations.

So what happened since? Maybe things got a little too easy for us and we settled into choosing comfort over discipline. The good news is that I am seeing resurgence in a desire to better oneself and positively impact our world. Now more than ever people want to serve others and leave a strong legacy, and they realize that they need self-discipline to do this.

Self-discipline is a habit anyone can acquire with a little practice. Go easy on yourself as you’re building this success skill.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Self discipline can be best summed up in a single word: UNTIL. You simply do whatever “it” is until it is done.
2. You can BEHAVE your way to success. The key is to focus on one area of improvement at a time.  Pick one target behavior, like getting up one-half hour earlier than you do now to go for a walk or write that book you say you’ll write “some day.” Then do it every day until it becomes second nature – a habit.
3. If you happen to be human, you will mess up. Build this into your expectations. Don’t buy into all-or-nothing thinking, which leads to throwing in the towel. Forgive yourself and start over. Go back to item 1 and begin again.
4. Break down your goals. If you set a single goal of completing a marathon and you only fit in one-half hour of walking each day, you will quickly get discouraged. If you set an initial goal of walking for one-half hour each day, mixed with running for one minute every 10 minutes, you can steadily work up to this level and quickly see results. Stop going for the home run and start working your way around the bases.
5. Stay vigilant. When you find yourself beginning to succeed, you also may find yourself saying, “I wonder if I really need to…”  If so, STOP. Recommit.  Affirm your new habit with emotion. Say it aloud!  “Exercising each day makes me feel great. Off I go!”

Most importantly, don’t quit. You and your dreams are worth fighting for. Keep going and you’ll quickly find that the temporary pain of self-discipline will be more than offset by the pride and pleasure of achieving your long-term goals!

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Now, if that isn’t something every one of us can use.  As a matter of fact, the timing of Dr Marti’s message couldn’t be better for us hockey types.  I mean, I have been suggesting over recent weeks that our off-season is a time when we can catch or pass others.  And Mollie makes two points that will truly help towards that end…

First, focus on a small part of your game and work to bring that to a high level.

Secondly, stick with it.  As a matter of fact, I suggest that a player not even worry about results at first.  Just keep plodding away — with discipline, and see what happens near summer’s end.  I promise you’ll see results.

Finally, as soon as you get a chance, visit Dr Mollie Marti’s website at http://www.BestLifeDesign.com, and get on her newsletter list.  Like me, you’ll be glad you did.

– Dennis Chighisola

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As always, we REALLY enjoy your Comments!

The Truth About Choking

Is all choking created equally? When an athlete is not able to find the internal resources under pressure to be their best, is it always for the same reason? Many would say it is, because they choked, lacked confidence, or they were mentally lacking focus. The problem with all these labels is that they are over used clichés that lack the clarity that could potentially lead to a breakthrough for the athlete or one looking to improve his or her performance.

I recently came across an article by Malcolm Gladwell, an expert thought leader in the world of psychology, describing what often happens under pressure that leads athletes to “fall apart”, choke and panic. He started by talking about how, in the beginning, athletes are extremely deliberate and thoughtful about learning skills.  Most invest a tremendous amount of time and energy to acquire mastery in relevant skills.  The beginning is marked by a focus on deliberate and repetitive practice.

The learning that occurs during this phase is known as “Explicit ” learning. As this learning takes root, another type of learning occurs that allows the athlete to spend less mental energy in detailed deliberate thought. This learning becomes more unconscious and there is more focus placed on the finer points of the task, such as touch and timing. This is known as “Implicit ” learning. Athletes often perform their best when implicit learning has taken root and they are relying on instinct, creativity and flow to guide their performance.

Interestingly enough, as pressure begins to mount, some athletes become more inwardly thoughtful and consequently become more focused on what they were thinking when they were first learning the game. This results in a more deliberate internal focus that appears to turn a creative approach into a self-focused, fear-of-failure approach.  The noticeable change is a more fearful, tentative, and robotic approach which mirrors that of a beginner.

Contrast this with when an athlete starts to panic. Panic is a heightened state of anxiety that often leaves the athlete with no awareness of quality thought at all, resulting in missing some of the most basic aspects of the game. Some of these are so troubling because the athlete may have done them repetitively in the past.  So, on one hand as someone “OVER-THINKS” during a performance, they regress back to when they were a beginner, because of increased, internally focused thinking. When an athlete is panicked,  he or she lacks any connection to thought all together. Many athletes deal with the challenges associated with both conditions.

The skills needed to overcome these challenges are different, and simply telling them to focus, work harder, or be more confident not only does not help but, in some cases, actually make the challenge worse.

If you are dealing with either of these two challenges, let us help you overcome them.  Simply email us to get started!

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)!

I get asked about the above a lot – I mean, how I perceive the role of a hockey playing centerman, a winger or a defenseman.  Oh, as most CoachChic.com members probably know, I’m hardly ever at a loss for words (or for an answer to any hockey related question).  But, defining those terms presents a real challenge.  And, here’s why…

Until one gets into the real X’s and O’s of our game, he or she might believe that there is some generic way of playing.  In other words, every centerman – Mites to Pros – is asked to do the same things, both offensive and defensively.  And every winger and blueliner also plays close to the same game at every level.  Aaaaah, far from it…  In fact, teams that are well coached might even require players at similar positions to play very different roles.  (In other words, you know your local NHL team has a star forward who is probably given plenty of latitude to “do his thing”.  At the same time, there’s probably a “checking line” forward at the same position who has to perform an extremely different role.)

As an aside here, I recall having one member of the Esposito-Hodge-Cashman line (from Boston Bruins fame) visit my hockey school eons ago.  And, during a discussion session with all our campers, the guy told about how the trio began sharing the load according to what they each did best.  In other words, one guy was extremely good at digging in the corners, another was an awesome playmaker, and another could shoot like crazy.  So, they figured, why have guys worrying too much about their weaknesses, when playing mostly according to their strengths would make them very hard to contend with.

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I tell this story because I noticed a lot of youth teams in those years following suit – or at least trying to, despite the kind of talent they possessed.

Really, I don’t have a problem with a coach teaching very young kids something like I describe in “Implementing a Simple Forecheck – the L”.  As you’ll discover in the video, it’s a little like the way that old Bruin described his line’s distributing of the workload.  There is one exception, however, in that most amateur teams ask their players to share the load a little more evenly.  In other words – and like in my video, roles are filled according to which player can get the job done the quickest.  (Said yet another way, I’m not going to designate my left winger to go into the left offensive corner all the time; after all, sometimes he might be the furthest player from that area, and we just can’t wait for him.)

Now, I don’t mean to send you all over this website chasing different videos.  However, if the above video gave you a sense that THAT forecheck is the only one, take a look at a drastically different scheme I recommend to coaches of older teams…  For, “The 2-1-2 Forecheck” deploys players in totally different ways, and it has totally different objectives from the “L”.

Actually, there are countless forechecking systems, among them ones you’ve probably heard mentioned during NHL game telecasts – like, the “leftwing lock” and the “neutral zone trap”.  I might also mention that every coach on the planet tends to make subtle adjustments to whatever system he or she employs, so that something like Coach Smith’s “2-1-2 Forecheck” works a little (or a lot) differently than the one used by Old Coach Chic.

Then, just so those at the younger levels know, most fairly good high schools and then just about all junior, college and pro teams can use a different system for each game/opponent, or even several different forechecks within a given game.  (Down the road, I’m going to ultimately share a concept with the coaches of older teams, whereby adjustments are even made within each shift, so that decisions are made – according to certain criteria – as to which forecheck should be used.)

Okay, so I’ve mainly talked about forechecking here.  However, teams can also cover enemy rushes in different ways, and they can also assign players differently in their own end of the ice when their opponents control the puck there.  (Actually, if you want to know more about these different playing options, I invite you to go through a series of videos on the subject of team defense, beginning with “Checking – The Real Definition”.)

Now, there’s another reason I told that earlier story about the old Boston Bruins.  Because, for the longest time, it seems that Boston area youth teams also followed suit by slotting kids with certain skills into certain forward positions.  Ya, there always needed to be a sniper (or shooter) on one side, a mucker (or digger) on the other side, and then a fancy, play-making guy in the middle.

In most instances, I think a lot of higher level coaches now look at player roles quite differently.  I, for one, prefer to have a pretty strong guy playing the middle, mainly because he so often joins our defensemen to battle enemy attackers down low in our end.  (In other words, I usually look at my centermen as our third “D” out there.)  And, if you have some speed, I’m most likely going to get your wheels out into the wide open spaces (and make you a winger).

As another aside…  I perceive my purposes with a team mainly aimed at getting them to the next level.  So, I’m looking at a junior high kid and trying to figure how a high school coach will see him.  And, I’m looking at my best high school players and attempting to plot a way for them to continue playing into juniors or college.  Sometimes that requires a position change a kid’s previous coaches didn’t think about.  Again, though, that’s my (actually OUR) job.

Oh, before leaving the forward positions, let me also mention one other thing…  How fair do you think it is to ask a given player to work deep in his (or her) own zone – like helping the “D”, and then require him (or her) to be one of the first players down-ice to pressure the puck in an offensive corner?  Not very, huh?  I appreciate that problem in advance, and sort of expect that my centerman at least might frequently be one of the last guys into the offensive zone.  That’s also why my forechecking systems have forwards filling roles according to how quickly they can do each given job.

Funny that I should build some of this piece around the old “Big, Bad Bruins”.  For, when it comes to talking about defensemen, I think everyone will agree that Bobby Orr totally revolutionized that position.

I can’t argue with the (long-standing?) concept of pairing an offensive-minded defender with a defensive-minder one.  Do note that “minded” part, though.  I mean, some guys (or gals) just have something ticking inside of them that makes them love to lug the puck up-ice, while some tend to be a lot more conservative by nature.  So, pairing two players who might cover for each other seems a pretty smart thing to do.

That said, however, please don’t ever think ANY blueliner can play our game without REALLY good offensive skills.  I’m not necessarily talking about scoring potential here, or shooting ability, although both would be a plus.  What I am getting at is the need for ANY defenseman to be able to handle the puck under pressure – with his or her eyes up, and to be able to avoid enemy checkers, hit open teammates with good passes, or carry the puck up-ice when necessary.

As an aside to the thing about a defenseman’s offensive capabilities…  On a few occasions, I’ve needed to deal with a roster emergency by playing a forward at “D”.  And, much to my surprise, the forward often played as well as (or maybe even better than) some of our experienced defensemen.  Hmmmmm…

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I think one reason is the fact that a lot of young “D” are raised according to some really old (barbaric?) training methods.

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For example, did you know that the Czechs long ago did a study to discover just how often a defenseman skates backwards during a game?  And, while I can’t remember all the stats from that study, I can tell you that the “D” don’t skate backwards all that often.  Truth.  What I will suggest is that a defender mostly skates backwards at critical times.  So, while their lives aren’t spent back-pedaling, they may live or die on being able to handle 1 against 1 attacks pretty well.

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And this brings me back to the idea of a forward oftentimes being able to do very well in a defenseman’s role.  My thinking?  It’s because his puck-toting abilities are often far better than the defense-only-trained kids, and he is forever getting us (or the puck) out of trouble and out of our end of the ice.

Speaking of playing various numerical rushes…  There are and aren’t some generic ways to defend against them.  I say there are, because some time-tested methods suggest handling 1 on 1’s , 2 on 2’s or 3 on 3’s in certain ways.  However, there are really differing opinions on how to cover rushes like 2 on 1’s or 3 on 2’s – due to a coach’s preference, or maybe because an experienced player has a preference.  (I’ve even talked to an NHL defenseman who suggested that certain star opponents would cause him – and teammates – to play a given rush differently than normal.)

One final aside…  If you compared the two forechecks I’ve shown in the videos, you’ve likely noticed that I ask my defensemen to perform drastically different roles from one system to the other.  In the case of my older kids playing the 2-1-2, I’ve intentionally given them that system and encouraged them to pinch a lot.  Again, I’m thinking of the future for these kids, and I know it’s going to be easier for a future coach to rein-in an aggressive “D” as opposed to getting an inhibited kid to open-up and suddenly become aggressive.

Okay, so you stopped by this page for some answers, and all I’ve likely done is dump more questions into your lap.  Sorry ‘bout that.  If you’re a player or parent, what you should have discovered from the above is that the role of a given positional player is pretty much dictated by his or her coach.  Then, if you’re a coach, let me share a few more ideas…

- Within these pages you might see some articles and videos about my ‘09-‘10 Mighty Mites.  These kids had never played prior to coming together last fall, so I have NOT given them any type of “system”.  What I have noticed, however, is that these kids have oftentimes solved problems on their own.  I mean, I’ve watched them learn to spread-out, and I’ve noticed a bunch of the kids gaining their own sense of where the puck might be going next.  (It really has been a learning experience for this old coach to see those things come about.)  On rare occasions, I’ve suggested something to the kids, but we’ve never had the opportunity to practice team-type stuff.  (My kids only practice within the skills session known as my Learn-to-play clinic.)

- I am just completing tryouts for my Bandits AAA Mite Major team, and I’m still wrestling about what I’ll do in the way of a system for them next season.  For sure, I owe them some structure to play within.  So, while I have plenty of time to think further on this, here’s what I’m considering right now…  I will probably make it a requirement that parents and players study that series of “checking” videos together.  I can’t see a better of way for them to all gain a really firm grasp of the game’s basic defensive principles.  From there, I am wrestling between the “L” and the “2-1-2”.  And, I just might have to give you a further update once I’ve decided.

- My NEHI junior high school kids played two different systems this past winter.  The “2-1-2” is sort of a staple for my teams, mainly because most of their high school coaches will use some variation of that.  The other forecheck was an extremely conservative one (my own version of a 1-4) that actually shut-down some really powerful teams.  The only reason I used that, by the way, was so the kids could discover other forechecks exist, and so they also get the chance to think the game a little bit differently.  (A lot of what I call “pond skaters” are going to be going to the same tryouts my kids will, and those pond skaters usually can’t skate and think at the same time.)

- My High School Prep squad likewise used the “2-1-2” (for the reason stated above), and they also used a more conservative “1-2-2”.

- Then, for laughs, I ought to tell you that my last college teams played a system I borrowed from the old Soviets.  The rough idea of that system actually has been — over the past few years — the rage in international play, and dubbed the “Torpedo”.  I don’t have the space to go into that at this time.  But, if we return to the original theme for this article, you can imagine how “un-generic” playing roles must have been if I had only two forwards – a #1-man and a #2-man, two halfbacks, and then a middle (or “stopper”) “D”. 

Ya, let me say it again…  There really is no generic way to play our game.

When you get into the first paragraph of the following article, you’re likely to wonder why I’ve chosen to post it at this time, rather than on New Year’s Day.  Well, as you’re also likely to discover, Justin Johnson’s piece is timeless, in that his suggestions would serve us well at absolutely any time of the year.

That said, I think that NOW is a very critical time in a hockey player’s year.  As many of us CoachChic.com writers suggested last spring, this is a time for reflection, or for taking an account of how we did this past season.  And so is it a time to plan ahead — so that we might improve upon some of our shortcomings, and to build further upon our strengths.

– Dennis Chighisola

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Justin Johnson, Performance Coach

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Pulling Away From the Pack

As many athletes return to school from break and we stare down another year, I wanted to lay down a challenge to all and any youth athletes and non athletes reading this, especially, those contemplating New Year’s resolutions. Whatever your area of activity, be it in school, friends, family, church, or in athletics: Separate Yourself. Be special, dare to be different, lead the pack, go big or go home.  However you would like to say it or phrase it, I ask you to be bold enough to do it.

Few athletes exemplified this mindset more than baseball’s Babe Ruth; he swung for the fences whether it was on the field, at the dinner table or in his life off the field. “I swing big, with everything I’ve got,” Ruth said. “I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.” As a result, for many years Ruth held the record for most home runs and for most strikeouts. He saw strikeouts as part of the deal. He actually said, “Every strikeout brings me closer to my next home run.”

By this time you may be asking yourself how can I, little average old me, do such a thing? Here is how you get started. Find one activity you do regularly in your life. School, sports, church and friends are all good venues. Then give more effort, care, time and energy to that activity. Use your time in that activity to do it better and longer than others around you. The result, over time, is that you build a sense of pride and fulfillment within yourself. This feeling will only propel your drive to continue to separate yourself.

There is one other way you will know you have begun to separate yourself. Others will question you and urge you to stop! They may even make fun of you or criticize your increased efforts. This is exactly what you want! You see, there are far too many of us stuck in the center of it all. Risking little, gaining little, and losing little.  Yet this is not the way we were meant to live. Others will feel threatened by your new found feeling of fulfillment and your new status separate from the center, and they will do what they can to urge you back to the pack. Don’t let them! Dare to be special, dare to be great and continue your efforts to do so regardless of what others say.

If you are looking to make some changes this new year, or even capitalize on some momentum built in ’09, then make sure you are willing to be special. Don’t be afraid to separate yourself to go after what you want. I assure you, you deserve it and you won’t regret it.

If you would like help in taking the first step, or when others begin to urge you back to the pack, please call us…we’d love to help you with your success 763-439-5246!

Justin

Justin@MentalEdgeNow.com

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Members might find this interesting…  I’ve written a hockey advice column for “Hockey/USA” magazine for close to 20-years.  And, over that span, I’ve changed the focus of my articles about four or five times.  However, for about a 5-years, the title of that column was “Dare To Be Different!”  Ya, as Justin might say, I was suggesting to my readers that they should separate themselves from the rest of the pack!

I have no doubts that member hockey players and coaches know right now what is needed for them to jump far beyond all their competition next fall.  Following Justin’s advice RIGHT NOW is one sure fire way to get what you want.  There’s a long time between now and the start of next season, you know, and all those months offer you plenty of time to make huge changes in your game.  In so doing, remember one of my favorite lines, in that, “By the inch it’s a synch!”

– Dennis Chighisola

Just a short time ago I critiqued another spectacular (minor league) pro goal in a little more detail.  So, I highly recommend that you take a look at what I titled “Good Offense or Bad Defense?”. I think you’ll find it interesting, and a very good introduction to the things I plan to address here.

As for that Pratrice Bergeron match-up with Chris Pronger, let me begin by stating that both of these guys are among the best in the world.  But, that’s going to be part of my point, in that even the very best slip-up.  (My guess is that some digging would probably uncover another video showing Pronger taking advantage of Bergeron.  Ya, to me, it just tends to work that way.)

That said, let’s get to the video (thanks to YouTube, the National Hockey League and NESN)…

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Now, I’ve said it often here – that great puckhandlers – or real “danglers” — can sometimes mesmerize good defenders.  And, Bergeron versus Pronger – at least in this instance – surely makes that point.  I think it’s pretty obvious that Pronger commits a cardinal sin as a defensive player, as Bergeron (somehow) causes him to look down at the puck.

So, here’s more of what I want to convey at this time…  I’ve known and worked with a lot of pro defensemen through the years, and I can tell you that guys who reach the status of a Chris Pronger are overly aware of their need to focus on their man’s body (their chest, their jersey logo, whatever).  And I can tell you that those guys also constantly work on their 1 on 1’s in practice.  I mean, it’s THAT important for them to make that play correctly in their games, mainly because it’s a huge part of what solid “D” do.

All that said, why is it that I so often get that eyes-glazing-over look as I talk to young defenders about their 1 against 1 skills?  Oh, I have a good hunch here…  It seems to me that young blueliners – as well as young forwards – sincerely believe they can turn it on and turn it off in a game.  Or, despite the fact they’re looking down or lunging at pucks in practice, I think many young players believe they can just change their ways once a game starts.

That’s not true, of course.  There’s little time to think in the heat of battle, so most of what players do happens instinctively.  Or, using the latest coaching terminology, they need to “read” a given play and then instantly “react” in the correct way.

Knowing my stuff when it comes to motor learning and such, I’ll suggest that a player usually reacts in a way that corresponds to whatever he or she has done the most in the past.  In other words, if the defender has been lazy in some practices – and works sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly, there’s a pretty good chance his or her game play will reflect that.

Returning to Pronger again, let me say that he could play for me — any day.  And I’m guessing most pro GMs feel the same.  Yet, with all Pronger knows, and with all the thousands of times he’s likely practiced the right way to handle an oncoming attacker, we have him caught on video getting pretty much undressed by Bergeron.  Ya, as I said earlier, even an experienced defender can sometimes be mesmerized by a dangler.

And this all brings me to the real reason I’ve written this piece…  My hope is that hockey coaches and parents will show this post to any young defensemen (and even forwards) they have the chance to influence.  Actually, I’m going to do the same for my Team NEHI guys.  Hey, we have to figure that if a guy as good as Pronger can get burned, well…

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Do you have any feelings on the above?  I love your comments, ya know!

There’s usually a history to just about everything I do.  So, here’s the background to the video I’ll show you in just a little while…

A few years ago, a mom who was regularly bringing her two sons to The MOTION Lab happened to mention the fact that one son was having real difficulties on breakaways.  Being well aware of the way I tease shooters who put pucks into a goaltender’s belly, she joked that, “He hits the goalie every time!”

That little guy was a skilled player (even though only 7-years old), so I knew talent wasn’t the issue.  I then promised the mom that I’d think on the problem for awhile, and I’d see if I could arrive at a solution.

– Dennis Chighisola

Scoring on Breakaways or Shootouts

Now, one problem on such a play can be that the skater looks down at the puck too much, thereby preventing him or her from really seeing the options ahead.

The next problem — even if the player does look up while approaching the net, is that he or she might not know what to do if the goaltender acts in one way or another.  And, that “one way or another” thing usually refers to his or her either coming far out of the net to cut-down the shooter’s angle, or backing-up (possibly because he or she isn’t confident about leaving the safety of the net).

As an aside here…  I’ve worked plenty with goal-scorers and goalers from beginners to pros, and I can tell you that some of what I just said changes drastically at the college and professional levels.  There’s a cat and mouse game going on between elite attackers and goaltenders, with the goalies oftentimes even showing an opening and then quickly taking it away as the attacker readies to shoot.

Things are usually quite different at the younger levels.  I mean, just as I said in my video on “Creating the Early Goal-scorer“, the littlest goalies have all they can do to move around in their bulky gear.  And, as that difficulty wanes with age, players up through high school might even fear leaving the safety of their net, or they just might not move very well.

Okay, so I promised that mom from the Lab that I’d arrive at an answer for her son.  And, that I did…

What I did was create a DVD that could be plunked in one of our Lab players for my students to watch.  Actually, that was our first step — having them just watch the video so that they could get a firm grasp of the decision process required in “reading” young goaltenders.  As the following video will explain, a goalie coming far out of his or her net (shown on the left) likely doesn’t show much visible net to shoot at.  On the other hand, a goaler who has backed-up into his or her net (shown to the right) is going to show a lot of open spots to shoot for.  So, the decision is pretty simple:   if the goalie comes-out, the attacker should make a fake to one side and then tuck the puck in on the other side; if the goalie backs far in, the attacker should pick an open corner and nail it with a shot.

Of course, leave it to me to make a drill even more challenging or more realistic.  And, to do this, I had my kids spread-out in an area in front of the DVD player to dribble small balls as they watched the video.  Ya, just picture that, as they dribbled — needing to keep their eyes up — and make the right calls, to either shoot or deke.

Okay, so now you ought to watch that video to get a sense of what it’s about.  I’ll have a few more comments at the bottom.

Now, although there are physical skills involved here (especially if the viewer is dribbling a ball or puck), the above video is really intended as a mental exercise.  In other words, a skater has the opportunity to practice his or her “reads” of a goaltender countless times on his or her own.  And that’s what I’m suggesting, feeling that the player’s ability to ultimately react correctly in these situations will improve with each viewing (or each practice).

I pray that there’s a safe space in front of your computer where a player could do as my students do in The MOTION Lab, dribbling a ball and keeping the eyes up while reading each situation.

Oh, one other thing…  Although a very young player was the inspiration for the above video, I would highly recommend it for those at least up through Pee Wees, as well as for adult players.

Finally, I have a special treat for CoachChic.com members…  The downloadable version of this video is going to be kept available to you in the *Gifts section for the month of March, 2010.  In that way you might save it, burn it to a CD (whatever), and use it on numerous computers long after it’s removed from this site.  (This entry will always remain here, and the downloadable version may be made available periodically in the future.)  Oh, and I’ve added yet another bonus tip over in the members’ section, this about how an attacker should hold the puck on his or her way in towards the net.

Good luck!

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I would REALLY like your feedback on this post, especially after you’ve had a chance to try the video program.

Just as all sportsmen (and sportswomen) take a little break from their normal routines each time the Olympic Games roll around, I’ve sorta done that here at CoachChic.com.  Ya, I may have held-off on some of the usual types of posts and videos, just because I felt it was appropriate to catch what we could from the Olympic action while the time was right.

Due to the many and varied TV offerings, and due to our very differing schedules, I’m guessing we all watched very different sports (beyond ice hockey, I mean).  Sometimes – even when we’re not really into a given sport, there’s a personal story or something else intriguing enough to cause us to follow an event we know little about.

And it’s that last part – about us getting into the lives and training methods of non-hockey athletes that I was at least partially alluding to in the first installment of “Use the Olympics as a Learning Experience”, as well as during the follow-up I did on Apolo Ohno, entitled “Games! Games! More Games!”. I know I learned a lot from watching whatever speed skating event I could.  And I’m hoping my friends here also gathered a lot from the videos I posted about Ohno and an aerial skier named Ryan St. Onge.  Ya, the average hockey player, parent and coach isn’t ordinarily exposed to such insight as was contained in those videos, so that’s why I wanted to warn you ahead of time, to be on the lookout for those up close and personal type segments.

Okay, most of my recent posts had to do with slightly related sports.  So, before holding our own closing ceremonies here, I thought I’d take just a little time to talk some serious hockey.

– Dennis Chighisola

Use the Olympics as a Learning Experience

In all honesty, there are probably only a couple of places where we can gather solid advice about playing the game smartly.

Of course, I’ll suggest that CoachChic.com is the best place of all! 

Another avenue might have you a searching through a kzillion websites to find whatever you feel you need.

Then, although it’s catch as catch can, TV telecasts can actually help us gather insight into the way hockey is thought at its highest levels.  What I’m really getting at are those little tidbits of advice offered by analysts or color commentators.  And, the more that’s at stake, the more you’ll tend to hear some really good stuff.

For sure, most of the Olympic hockey broadcasts featured games with a lot on the line.  So, even an old war horse like yours truly paid close attention to what the analysts were saying.

Just thinking back to some of those games now, I’m finding it interesting the way – or the timing of — such insight comes about.

I mean, prior to each game we learned what the two teams had to do in order to be successful, and we sometimes were made privy to what the commentators felt were the strengths and weaknesses of each team.  That, I thought, was great information – not only for fans – but for us coaches.  For, you can be sure that whatever was shared with us came from good sources – such as the coaches or other higher-ups from each team.  Some of what we heard mirrors the way serious coaches have to approach important games, taking into account their opponent’s stronger and weaker players, as well as their overall strengths, weaknesses and playing style.

Perhaps at given breaks during a game, the analysts also provided us thoughts about the adjustments the two combatants were going to have to make.  And, I’ll suggest that their comments weren’t very much unlike what was going on in the minds of the two opposing coaches and their surrounding brain trusts.  Periodic adjustments ARE important to our game, you know, and this has to do with personnel changes, and well as tactical and strategic adaptations.

Aaaaaah, late in a game – and particularly late in a very tight game – is when we frequently hear some of the really good stuff.  In such situations every little thing matters, and every little execution or non-execution can spell the difference in the game’s outcome.

Lastly, a game’s recap can sometimes be telling.

Okay, so how about some of the things were heard said over the past week?

• I know that very much was made about corner play during the late stages of the Gold Medal Game.  In other words, the very experienced minds of the analysts evidently viewed the winning or losing of those little, isolated battles as critical to either team’s ultimate success.
• On numerous occasions over the past week I heard comments about how critical play would be in the areas surrounding each blue line.  Ha, that’s also a biggie to me, and it’s actually one of my “Rules for Winners” (these now on the CoachChic.com drawing board and planned for released later this month).  Partly, this is a territorial thing, in that it truly matters if a team is able to attain the attacking zone, or able to chip the puck out of their own defensive end.  As critical – at least in my eyes – is the danger of making a mistake with the puck as one carries over either blue line.  For sure, a turn-over high in your own zone can be a killer.  However, I’ve seen just as much damage done when an attacker loses the puck while trying to enter the rival’s zone.
• That latter point is also tied to something else we heard often, as in each team’s need to prevent odd-man rushes – like 2 on 1’s, 3 on 2’s or even breakaways.
• If you can recall, much was made about play in the all-important slot area.  Ya, against great goaltending, a team isn’t likely to score unless they have bodies and sticks moving in front of the net.  Moreover, I recall an awful lot of goals being scored on rebounds, which means that at least some offensive players were driving hard to the net and looking to pounce on the loose pucks.  And, of course, there was as much made of the need for defending teams to get adequate coverage in front of their net.
• Speaking of goaltenders…  A commentator at least hinted that the Canadian netminder might have been slightly off his game during the Gold Medal match.  So, his suggestion was for the US Team to put as many shots on-goal as possible.  Personally, this one irks me at times – with my own teams, especially when my guys fiddle too much and try to make perfect plays against a goalie who is obviously struggling.

Okay, so I mentioned early-on that all this stuff was great fodder for a coach.  In reality, however, it’s just as valuable for a player and a hockey parent to absorb, appreciate and understand these kinds of things.  You’ll hear me mention it often within these pages, that highlight reel skills will usually get a player noticed, while hockey smarts is what usually get a player’s name called when the chips are on the line.  Oh, and while all of the above had to do with the Olympics, I’ll suggest that your local NHL telecasts can contain just as much valuable information; we just have to realize the opportunity is there, and then listen carefully for the good stuff.

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As always, I’m dying to know what you think, or if you heard anything good that I may have missed!

Not that I needed any incentive to tackle this topic but, legendary Boston University hockey coach, Jack Parker, expressed my feelings (exactly) in a recent interview with The Boston Globe.

The real question posed to Parker had to do with the recent decline in the number of Massachusetts guys found on Division I college rosters, as well as on recent Team USA squads.  In other words, the Globe writer was asking Coach Parker what he thought might be the cause of this.

Oh, I’m not going to give you the answer to that one so quickly, instead coming in by the back door as I sometimes do here.

– Dennis Chighisola

Games! Games! More Games!

If you haven’t yet had a chance to see the YouTube video I posted recently on how Apolo Ohno prepared for Vancouver’s Olympic Games, I highly recommend it to you.  Besides being appropriate to the following topic, TIME’s Sean Gregory did an awesome job putting that piece together.

If you’re in a hurry, though, Eric Johnson — of KOMO Seattle – also does an excellent job in another YouTube video, this one following Ohno through a typical daily workout in Olympic training (with different exercises than shown in the other video).  Have a look, if you would, because it’s going to set the tone for the rest of this piece…

Next, we get the chance to follow TIMEs’s Sean Gregory again, this time as he follows World Champion aerial skier Ryan St. Onge…

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Now, if you want to know what Jack Parker suggested as a reason Massachusetts based hockey has slipped, it’s that kids today play too many games.  Oh, I can attest to that, also adding my own two cents worth, in that, I think kids today spend too many hours in a car on their ways to far away games!

Not to sound too sarcastic here but, I sense that some hockey parents would have Ohno skating and racing for 8-hours per day.  And they’d probably prescribe a full day of ski jumping for St. Onge.  Ya, competition – at least to some – is what makes an athlete better!

Ha, and NOT!

As Ohno’s coach mentioned, he didn’t show us everything the great skater does in his daily training routine.  Yet, did you make note of how much time was devoted to off-ice training?  And, let me remind you of what we saw in the earlier video on Ohno, in that he did an off-ice drill my guys do in The MOTION Lab, he spent some time on the ice, and then finished with a grueling stair routine.

I hope you also noticed that a lot of the off-ice work Ohno does is FAR more strenuous than anything he could possibly do on the ice.  That’s just one of the benefits of getting away from the ice, and it’s part of the theory I express in my long ago video post on “Some Food for Hockey Thought”.

Of course, you also got to see both athletes work on technique (with that previous post showing Ohno doing those “turnbuckle” exercises).  And that can be yet another huge benefit to working away from the ice.  In fact, it’s oftentimes easier to work on proper muscle memory in a very controlled environment.  For, on the flip side, a game or other kind of competition frequently causes (or allows) an athlete to resort to and practice all the wrong techniques.  (To me, games are where kids try to look good in front of family and friends, and for some it’s where they just barely survive.)

Technique work in mind, let me re-raise a point my dad made many years ago as a baseball coach, this in answer to why he preferred to practice his teams, rather than have them scrimmage…  As dad would put it, “I can hit an infielder 40 or 50 grounders in just a couple of minutes, while there’s no guarantee he’ll get a single ball hit to him in a game!”

True enough.  And, when it comes to a player polishing his fielding, nothing works better than repetition.  In other words…  Move, scoop the ball and throw…  Move, scoop the ball and throw…  Move…

A Chance to Perfect Our 1 on 1's

Of course, the same can be said about out sport, hockey.  And, just think about the skills we could enhance with proper repetition.  God, I can think of a ton of ‘em — including deflecting the puck, passing it, receiving it, shooting it, saucer passing, one-touch passing, shooting off the pass, handling a man in the slot, tying a man up along the boards, defending in various numerical situations, or attacking in those same situations.  And, while players could attempt to learn and then get better at each of those skills, an abundance of practice would make it possible for him or her to truly master just about any skills he or she is willing to work long and hard at.

So, let me echo my dad’s words once again, in that a player just can’t get that kind of practice (or repetition) in a game.

Then, let me echo Jack Parker’s sentiments, in that young players today play too many games.

Of course, between the lines what Parker is obviously saying is that current day kids don’t practice enough.

As an aside here…  Most scientific folks who study such things (as well as most high level coaches) will tell you that the era of specialization was an absolute failure.

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My take on this?  While players of that time may have become fairly proficient at game-like skills — my mainly practicing their sport year-round, there was (and still is?) something drastically lacking in their athletic abilities.

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Worse yet, some studies I’ve come across suggest that one-dimensional players tend to be more prone to injury.

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And, in case it hasn’t struck some readers yet, gaining more athletically qualities very likely calls for less hockey game-time and a lot more off-ice activities.

Now, you’ve likely heard before the prescribed ratio of practices to games.  Obviously, it’s not a scientific equation but, you’ll still hear most of those concerned with development suggesting either 2 or 3 practices for every game played.  (Over the past decade or so, my Team NEHI players have practiced three times per week to one game.)

Puckhandling in The MOTION Lab

Before closing, let’s revisit that thing about off-ice training…

To my way of thinking the only argument parents or coaches might arrive at is that it’s difficult to get extra practice time.  But, I’m here to suggest that some form (or forms) of off-ice training is the answer.

You might find it interesting that The MOTION Lab can accommodate almost every drill you saw Apolo Ohno do in those two videos.  No, we don’t have all the weights or a large trampoline like St Onge used, purely because we don’t have the space.  However, my kids do perform just about every exercise you saw.

I only raise this point, though, to suggest that a lot of improved physical development can be accomplished by an individual in a relatively small basement or garage.  And, when the weather cooperates, in-lining and outdoor skill work can be limitless.

Practing Dumps

For anyone who is responsible for a team, here’s yet another idea…  If you visit the post about my MP Drill Format, you’ll get a glimpse of how I’ve used different venues to teach and refine positional play to teams — from beginners through college players (and you’ll also discover that even NHL coaches have borrowed that drill idea).  With that, I’ll suggest that a no-cost local school gym, tennis court or parking lot could be the answer to extra practice time for my fellow coaches.

Finally, this site is absolutely loaded when it comes to off-ice practice ideas.  In the end, though — like Ohno and St Onge, it really comes down to one’s want to go for the gold.

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Please give me your feedback, huh?  I’d love to hear how you feel about all this!

Ever since my Soviet studies long ago, I’ve kept an eagle-eye out for unique training methods, particularly those done by international competitors.  There’s usually a ton of science behind the training methods used by those athletes.  And, with that, nothing satisfies my thirst for new ideas as much as the Olympic TV broadcasts.

– Dennis Chighisola

Use the Olympics as a Learning Experience

Now, the video below features the Russian National Team prepping for their 2008 World Cup appearance.  But, you get a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about — I mean, the way we can learn just from getting a glimpse here and there of what a team of that caliber might be doing to ready for world class competition…

Ya, for sure, the pros also apply all the science known to man in the training of their athletes – be it in hockey, baseball, football, basketball and numerous other sports.  And I’m sometimes lucky enough to be privy to their methods.  However, the Olympics (and some World Cup broadcasts) tend to prove awesome for fans (as well as to yours truly).

What I’m really getting at are those up-close-and-personal kinds of segments whereby the television crew shows clips of an athlete training at home or behind the scenes.

And, I’m not just talking about the times they focus on ice hockey players.  In most instances, there are a lot of things done by athletes in other sports that we can learn from, and a lot of training techniques are used in most sports, including ice hockey.

By the way…  CoachChic.com members are probably going to get a kick out of seeing Olympic athletes doing some of the things I’ve shown in From The MOTION Lab or in video clips on my teams’ off-ice practices.  And, my Team NEHI players are probably going to say numerous times over the next week or so, “Hey, we do that all the time!”

Anyway, keep your eyes open for those close-ups of all the athletes, and perhaps watch them through the different kind of perspective you should have gained as a member here.  Also, since my coaching schedule is going to prevent me from watching a lot of telecasts this year, I’d love to learn from your observations.

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Use the Comment box to fill me in on what you see, huh?

One of my favorite CoachChic.com members, Craig Shaw, recently added a few great Comments under the “Troubleshooting the Tight Turn (or Boston Turn)” article. In the latest one, he asked me to “do a YouTube search for a Victoria Salmon Kings goal,” suggesting it will “knock your socks off”.

As it turned out, my grandson had sent me a link to that play about a week ago, but it was worth it for me to see it once again (and maybe again and again).

As I watched the video one last time, however, it struck me that, while it was loaded with some unbelievable offensive moves by the Salmon Kings, there had to be a kzillion defensive mistakes made by their opponents. (Ya, if I was coaching the other team, I’d have likely suffered 32 heart attacks on the one goal!) So, I thought a study of this video might just best be undertaken under Thinking the Game – Defensively.

– Dennis Chighisola

Good Offense or Bad Defense?

Remember that I’m a hockey coach, so I see things a little differently than the typical fan. Oh, when wearing my skills coaching cap, I love the kind of puckhandling and passing demonstrated in the following video. Still, I’ve also been a team coach for most of my adult life, and over the past decade I’ve been readying my Team NEHI players to do well at the higher levels of our game. So, that means I work on both highlight reel skills AND smart playing principles (many of them having to do with the defensive side of hockey).

That said, take a look at the following video. For sure, you’ll be entertained (and it might even knock your socks off).

Now, after you’ve marveled at the offensive skills demonstrated in that video, try to go back and watch it at least once from a defensive perspective.

As an aside… I have the technical ability to work within videos like those offered on YouTube.com – to copy them, break down the plays, and run them in slo-mo, stop-action, whatever. But, I don’t believe it would be either legal or ethical to show that here. So, you might need to go back and forth between this page and the above video to follow along with me. Sorry ‘bout that. (But, hey, I’m just thankful the likes of YouTube, TSN and the NHL make these kinds of videos available to us.)

Hopefully you’ve now watched that video from a defensive perspective, and I’m also hoping it’s opened your eyes to what a coach might see (and agonize over).

As another aside… When we’re working on the defensive side of our game, I am forever telling my players that good puckhandlers can be absolutely mesmerizing. Actually, the great offensive players just die for moments when they can get defensive opponents to do some of the things I’ll note below.

So, the following is MY defensive breakdown of this play:

• If I might let any defender off the hook in this mess, it would be the first guy. He initially had good inside positioning on the first puckcarrier, but he just got physically out-muscled. (I tend to be a lot more understanding when it comes to physical mistakes versus mental ones. But, that’s just me.)
• From there onward, everything goes downhill — fast… The second defender makes an attempt to take the puckcarrier’s body (or cross-check him?), but he lunges far outside his center of gravity and has almost no strength as he makes contact. Missing the hit, he looks down at the puck from then on. My guess: The mesmerization has begun (as evidenced by the second defender being beaten several times after the attempted body-check).
• The third defender may have started okay, as he tries a pokecheck. However, it becomes obvious that he had his eyes down and was looking at the puck when the second attacker beats him – badly — with a deke or two.
• If you freeze the video right after the pokecheck, you should see a scene that includes four dark jerseys and only two white shirts. Darn, but the checkers should have had the advantage here. Ya, they should have. What I tell my players to do in this situation is to grab a man and totally negate him. That would have worked here, but that’s not how the defensive team played it. And that’s why the original puckcarrier is wide open for a return pass.
• Now, the one-touch pass from the first white player to the eventual goal-scorer helps to make another point I try to impress upon my players… If you watch things leading-up to the goal, you might sense (as I do) that the defender in front of the net is stuck because of what his teammates have done (or not done) to that point. In other words, if his mates had grabbed and eliminated an attacker (or two), he could stay at home to just pay attention to his own man (that guy near the goal-mouth). However, he is stuck in what I see as a 2 on 1 here, with a puckcarrier moving towards the net and a man behind him open at the backdoor. Ugh.

I will say this again: that really good puckhandlers can entice a defender into doing things he doesn’t want to do. And, in certain cases – as in this one, the whole thing can snowball and throw a bunch of players into total disarray. (Actually, I’ll tell my players that, “If you don’t do YOUR job, the guys around you are going to have a hard time doing there’s!”)

Then, one last point… Realize that we’ve been watching pros here. (I interviewed three different times for ECHL head coach/GM jobs, I’ve coached many guys who have attained that level, and I can tell you that all the guys in that video are REAL players.) Moreover, I guarantee you can find NHL players making the same mistakes as I’ve outlined above (just find a highlight reel video on-line, and then look at it from a defensive viewpoint). All things are relative in our game, you know. So, an attacker who has reached the NHL can, at least sometimes, tantalize an equally gifted defender to look down at the puck and look stupid. And, if that’s true – that the best players in the world can make such mistakes, appreciate that younger players need even more help with their defensive discipline and technique.

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I would REALLY like your Comments on this one!

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Shaun Goodsell, MA

President and CEO of Mental Edge

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Imagination

imag·i·na·tion  i-ˌma-jə-ˈnā-shən  1 : the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality 2 a : creative ability b : ability to confront and deal with a problem c : the thinking or active mind  3 : a creation of the mind

What has happened to the imagination of our youth athletes? Many hit a roadblock and it not only seems to stop them in their tracks…it appears to stifle and paralyze them for a long time.

Recently, I was talking with a young player that has been experiencing some personal challenges with his team. He is performing at a high level and enjoying some of his greatest success. When I asked him if he was having fun he replied, “Not really”. I immediately felt sad for this young person. I thought to myself, “What skill would help him overcome his lack of enjoyment and allow him to experience fulfillment and accomplishment for the all hard work he’s put into his sport?”

At this point it occurred to me that he would need to utilize his power of choice to craft and create new meanings from the events that were getting him down. He was stuck in his current negative and pessimistic meanings, which lead him to despair, to live in a constant state of disappointment and a lack of personal power. How does one do this?

This is done through imagination. Imagination is the ability to creatively bring into being something that has yet to be formed.  Every change that one makes occurs because of the ability to gain a vision for a different reality. When we can imagine a different response and meaning to events that, in the past, have resulted in unempowered responses we reacquire control of the quality of our lives. The inability to be imaginative costs many their sense of well-being, quality relationships, improved performance, and most significantly a sense of personal power.

Becoming imaginative and creative grants us incredible power to shape and create the quality of life we want regardless of the events that might be taking place around us. In becoming imaginative we become people of possibility rather then pessimism.  This is not to say there are not events that are difficult and realities that should not be dealt with.  But many people underestimate the capacity they have to utilize their imagination to navigate and manage the journey of sport and life.

If you would like help sparking your imagination, give us a call today 763-439-5246!

Until next time, here’s to your possibilities!

Shaun

Shaun@MentalEdgeNow.com

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This note from Coach Chic…  Although Shaun and his staff do an unbelievable job of talking to our playing members, I’d like to suggest that coaches like me also need to heed their advice.  Hey, with the long hours we put in, and with the challenges we so often face (alone?), we coaches surely do need the kind of positive advice offered above.

Then, since I am into such stuff, I’d like to paraphrase an appropriate saying (that I’ve heard attributed to a number of great thinkers), in that..

“No great idea ever materializes unless it is first conceived in the mind.”

Contributor: Stirling Wright – Virginia & Maryland, USA

Drill Category: Skating, Passing, Pass Receiving, Attacking and Goaltending

Please first see the basic set-up of this drill as described under the free Drills section.  For, from that basic format, some really awesome offensive and defensive variations are possible.  (Click here for: “Russian Circle Passing“.)

Stirling has added quite a few great variations to the basic drilling.  So, I’ll let him take it away from here…

– Dennis Chighisola

Russian Circle Passing – Variations #3

Drill Description:

Comments:

The set up is the same as the basic drill, but the first player starts with a puck and is skating backwards. As he gets to the red line, passes the puck back to the line he came from, and continues backwards until the apex of the circle, where he opens up his stick to get a pass from the other line.  He quickly transitions to forward, now attacking the net.

Benefits:  Players become more aware of the transition space in the neutral zone, and able to transition the puck forward twice in the same drill.

Running the drill:

- In the basic set-up, skaters are lined-up along the boards and behind a blue line on both sides of the ice.

- The drill begins with one player skating backwards (with a puck) around the center face-off circle.  Nearing the red line, he passes the puck back to the original line.

- Continuing on, he pivots from backwards to forwards near the bottom of the circle, and then receives a pass from the other line.

- That player then continues to attack the far goal.

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Click image below to see a short video of this drill in action.

PS:  If you set your video player to “Loop”, the drill will play over and over again.

Russian Circle Passing – Variations #4

Contributor: Stirling Wright – Virginia & Maryland, USA

Drill Category: Skating, Passing, Pass Receiving, Attacking, defending and Goaltending

Drill Description:

Comments:

This next variation is the same as #3, except that the second person in line becomes a defenseman for a 1 on 1.

I’ve altered Stirling’s variation a bit here, placing a line of defensemen next to each line.  In this way, “D” get to handle each rush.  (To be honest, I also did this so that the video would be a little clearer.)

– Dennis Chighisola

Benefits:  All the previous skills are honed, along with the addition of players getting to work their 1 against 1 skills.

Running the drill:

- In the basic set-up, skaters are lined-up along the boards and behind a blue line on both sides of the ice.

- The drill begins with one player skating backwards (with a puck) around the center face-off circle.  Nearing the red line, he passes the puck back to the original line.

- The first skater continues on to take a pass (as in the earlier drill), while the second player in the original line (or the red defenseman in my sketch) jumps out to defend against the first skater.

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Click image below to see a short video of variation #4 in action.

Russian Circle Passing – Variation #5

Contributor: Stirling Wright — – Virginia & Maryland, USA

Drill Category: Skating, Passing, Pass Receiving, Attacking, and a faster pace on the Goaltenders

Drill Description:

Comments:

From the same set up as all the rest, but this time the second person in line takes the pass from the first player and immediately heads straight in on goal for a scoring chance. This keeps the pace up and both goalies staying very busy. (Remember to allow time for goalies to recover, but keep in mind that speed drills are not just for skaters.)

Benefits:  All the previous skills are honed.

Running the drill:

- In the basic set-up, skaters are lined-up along the boards and behind a blue line on both sides of the ice.

- The drill begins with one player skating backwards (with a puck) around the center face-off circle.  Nearing the red line, he passes the puck back to the original line.

- The first skater continues on to take a pass (as in the earlier drill), while the second player in the original line quickly attacks the net..

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Click image below to see a short video of variation #5 in action.

Variation #6 coming soon!

Please first see the basic set-up of this drill as described under the free Drills section.  For, from that basic format, some really awesome offensive and defensive variations are possible.  (Click here for: “Russian Circle Passing“.)

– Dennis Chighisola

Russian Circle Passing Variations – Basic Set-up

- From the basic set-up, I will occasionally have the last attacker stop at the net and then attempt to screen, deflect or pounce on the rebound on the next attacker’s shot.

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- Also from the basic set-up, I like to send two players at a time from each line, thusly having them attack 2 versus the netminder.  At times, I’ll ask the attackers to weave — or criss-cross — on their way to the net.

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- When I’m looking to mix a little conditioning into this drill (as well as work on our attack triangle pattern), I’ll send three attackers from each line.  Man, do the guys run out of gas quickly, since there’s little time to rest as groups of threes return to line.

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Russian Circle Passing Variations – Set-up with “D”

The next phase of this drill requires positioning forwards and defensemen as shown in the accompanying sketch.  From this layout, numerous different match-ups can be practiced.

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- Clicking on the image to the left will show how 1 on 1′s work from this set-up.  As the sketch shows, defensemen are stationed at the opposite side red line as they await playing an oncoming attacker.  I tend to like this way of practicing such match-ups, mainly because each play is preceded by a pass to the attacking forward, which forces him or her to catch and control the puck in anticipation of confronting a defender.

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- From this set-up, all the various numerical rush situations can be practiced — from 1 on 1′s to 2 on 1′s to 2 on 2′s to 3 on 2′s to 3 on 3′s.  All the coach needs to do is send the appropriate number of players from a given line.

And, as suggested in the initial drill description, it’s important for the coach to frequently change the direction in which players circle (either towards their left or towards their right).

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Might you have any further ideas for making this drill format even more useful?  I’d love to hear from members — either in the Comments box below, or from your following the directions provided for drill submissions (found in the free Drills area).

Although I had my share of notoriety and recognition as a young football player, I’ll tell you — right up front — that I wasn’t all that hot.  However, I did have great hands (from my baseball background), and I could run like a deer (from honest to goodness great genes)! 

That said, I always was kind of a “thinker”, even as a kid, and even as a football player.  Oh, by the way, I also had one of the region’s best high school football coaches — far ahead of his time, I think he was, and he later went on to coach a string of championship semi-pro teams before settling in as a game film rater for the New England Patriots.

Anyway, the reason I mention all this is so that I can introduce the topic at hand.  For, one day during a defensive segment of a team practice, my old high school head coach described that “angle of pursuit” thing to his players.

You don’t have to totally understand this, because I’ll explain it better and show you later how this relates to our game.  But for now, what my coach was suggesting had to do with defenders needing to watch a ball carrier’s route — or anticipate where that route would take him, and then meet him at some point along that route.  Again, I’ll explain that far better in a minute.  However, just so you know, I was playing The Thinker again that day, inwardly shaking my head, and wondering to myself, “Does anyone really have to be told this?”  Oh, well…

– Dennis Chighisola

The Angle of Pursuit

Now, the answer to my question actually came by way of a video I watched just a few years ago, this from the Centre for Hockey Excellence in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  For, in that video, former Canadian National Team coach, Dave King, took quite a bit of time explaining that very concept, and almost in the same way my old high school football coach had.

Okay, so here’s the gist of it, as it relates to our game…  If you click on the adjacent photo, you’ll see one player dump a puck that is destined to go around the boards and arrive near the opposite corner.  What you’ll also see is a skater from the other team chasing the puck in the wrong manner.  Go ahead, and watch that short video before you read on.

Confounding me, but giving validity to Dave King and my old football coach, I’ve come to realize that some athletes actually do follow behind in the pursuit of a puck or opposition player.

That out of the way, I’m sure my late-coach would appreciate the animation I’ve just created to show a little smarter way to pursue that same puck.  So, please click on the (left) photo to watch that video.

Now, it has been a long time since I viewed that piece by Dave King.  But, I recall him suggesting that we (hockey) coaches can run drills to show the merits of pursuing the puck rightly.  So, my next video shows two players taking different routes as they race for the loose puck (click on the photo below to view that).

You’re probably wondering what caused me to raise this “angle of pursuit” issue tonight.  Well, as I’ve been standing back and watching my young Mighty Mites team, attempting to drink-in as much as I can — about their specific needs, and about the way they learn.  And, I’ve been fascinated by a number of things…

- In one instance I watched a little 4-year old race back out of our offensive zone for a puck that had been tossed out to neutral ice.  The little tyke was skating right towards where I stood on the bench that afternoon, so I had a great view of what was to happen.  For, as he began to approach the puck, I saw him turn his head about halfway, this so he could see if anyone was nearby.  He next snatched the puck and made his exit in the direction opposite from the nearest rival.  Unbelievable or what?  The truth is, I actually run drills to ingrain that looking-over-their-shoulder thing in my older players, and most of them take quite awhile to make it a regular part of their game.  ???

- On a number of occasions I’ve seen members of that Mighty Mite team gain the puck along the side boards in their offensive end, and somehow realize they weren’t on the greatest shooting angle.  With that, they kept moving towards mid-ice with the puck, finally sending it on-goal once they reached a better angle.  And again, I felt this to be really good thinking for little guys who had only played a handful of games.

- Then, that old angle of pursuit thing…  I shot the following video really only as an example of how the game action looks in that instructional league.  I’m not sure you can pick-up anything special in this brief clip, but I’m going to suggest that some kids are moving laterally at times, just to keep themselves in the path of a rival puckcarrier, or — as if they knew enough to anticipate it — right in the path of a possible pass up-ice.  Go ahead; click on the photo (below), just so you can see some of their game action (my kids are in black, with our opponents in dark blue).

Now, I’ve written this entry for a number of reasons…

• First, if you never had cause to think about or teach the correct angle of pursuit, perhaps I’ve armed you with some valuable knowledge.
• Secondly, I hope the observations I’m sharing about my youngest team members awakens you (as it has me) to the fact that all of our players are growing organisms.  And, as such, we coaches and parents have the awesome responsibility of guiding them in that growth.
• Then, from what I learned on that long ago football practice field, it’s important to appreciate that some players do certain things instinctively (or seemingly so), while those same things evidently don’t come naturally to others.  And, while it might be easier to coach the gifted ones, I believe the true measure of a “teaching coach” is in our ability to help the players who really need it.  (Come to think of it, it’s only since I’ve grown older that I realized my old high school football coach dealt with us in that way.  So, God bless, Coach, and thanks so much.)

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You know how much I appreciate your feedback.  So, please do add your Comments here!

For sure, breakaways are among hockey’s most exciting plays.  That being the case, I’m really surprised at how often I notice these — and related skills — being taught wrongly.  Anyway, hear me out, huh?  I think what is to follow should make sense.

– Dennis Chighisola

Proper Breakaway Skills

Every time I approach this subject with my students or players, I begin by having them envision us holding footraces out in the rink’s parking lot.  That picture planted in their minds, I’ll then ask which runner they’d like to be — the one with his hands in his pocket, or the one allowed to use his hands as he runs.

Of course, it doesn’t take but a few seconds for everyone to agree, that anyone can run faster if he’s able to pump his hands and arms while sprinting.

The reason I raise this point is because I frequently see coaches teaching their kids to hold a puck on their sticks as they race down the ice on a practice breakaway.  The adjacent photo shows what I mean…  The sample player holds his stick in one hand with the puck kept right on his stick-blade, which means that he can really only pump one hand.  If you click on the photo you’ll see a slow-mo video of that youngster in action.  Oh, by the way, I sense that he’s initially doing things the way he’s been taught elsewhere; but, he ultimately starts doing things a little differently when I yell to him.

Again, did you notice that he could initially only pump his left arm, but then he eventually shifted to my way of doing things (I guess you can tell at which point I yelled, huh)?

Now, the next photo pretty much shows what I recommend…  First, I want my players to achieve maximum speed by having both hands free to pump — almost as if they don’t even have a puck (’cause they don’t).  Secondly, my guys don’t really need to control the puck on their way down the ice.  In fact, I’ll suggest to them that, “You and (most likely) a chaser are going to have a footrace to a point just inside the offensive zone, and all you have to do is beat him there and have the puck!”  In other words, there’s absolutely no reason to stickhandle or make dekes on the way down ice; all one needs to do is go straight and have the puck in the end.

And that brings me to the suggestion that a player tap the puck far ahead, and then use both arms to speed towards the puck.  Actually, I’ve studied numerous of my top students — high school players to pros, and I’ve found that the best of them only need to touch the puck three times from about the top of a defensive face-off circle to about the middle of the offensive zone.  In other words, they tap the puck straight towards the net, fly up to it, tap it straight ahead again, fly up to it, and then grab the puck in readiness to attack the goal.  Nothing fancy in between, but everything just aimed at being speedy on a straight line.  Okay, so click on the photo up above to get a sense of what I’ve been saying (and decide for yourself if this isn’t the fastest way to get down-ice).

This next player is a pretty good one, and he’s awfully quick down the ice.  He had a problem on the rush I video-taped, however, which gives me a chance to show you something that often goes wrong on these plays…

Once you (click on the photo to the right and) watch the video, notice that near the end of his rush — after he’s done pretty nicely, this youngster finds the puck almost in his feet.  Purposely, I’ve really slowed the video at the end, just so you can see that my guy is nearly upright.  And, you know he can’t be going at full speed in that posture.  So, the lesson to be learned from this?  A player needs to gain a certain “feel” for tapping that puck ahead — not so far that he can’t get to it, but not so short that it’s going to break his stride.  Again, about three touches of the puck seems to do it, in order to cover the distance I’ve described.

Next, let’s deal with grabbing the puck and attacking the goal…

The photo to the left shows my guy just after he’s picked-up the puck about mid-zone.  Now, I can appreciate both sides of the argument — for carrying the puck the rest of the way out in front of the body or off to the forehand side.  For a lot of years I’d taught the latter, but more recently I think a player can hide his or her intentions better with the puck held out-front.  Again, though, both arguments make some sense, and I think the best answer is that the attacker have an idea of what he or she wants to do in the end.

My final bit of advice is to suggest that a player NOT move his or her body left and right in order to make the goaltender move.  Sure, a player can make head and shoulder fakes, but I don’t advise skating side to side.  For, I believe that the stick (with puck in-tow) can travel faster and farther, and the goaler has to respect that as much as if the attacker moved his body (after all, netminders line-up on the puck, and nothing else).  In other words, if the attacker is able to move the goaltender towards one side with just a wide deke, he or she should be able to move the puck quicker across to the other side than the goalie can react back.

Finally, while I’ve covered a lot here, the one thing I want to emphasize is that long dash towards the far end NOT being slowed by much handling of the puck.  Tap it ahead, fly, tap it ahead, fly…

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Have any questions or arguments with what might be some controversial territory?  You know I really appreciate your Comments!

Like a lot of adult members, I wear many hats.

For sure, I’m thinking hockey nearly 24/7; that’s what I love, and that’s what I love to immerse myself in.  At the same time, I’m a businessman.  And, whether I like it or not, I can’t keep doing what I really love to do unless I keep succeeding in that area, too.  Then, if there’s something that really keeps me on my toes, it’s the fact that so many hockey people rely on The Old Coach for guidance.

All that said, you might appreciate my need to devour books, manuals, videos and audio programs of all types.  Ya, even when I’m working on a hockey project, there’s a good chance I have a recording of some kind running in the background.  (Multi-tasking is my middle name.)

Of course, the New England Hockey Institute library is something most hockey folks would die for.  I mean, it’s just loaded with all sorts of training manuals and videos I’ve gathered over 40-ish years.  (Actually, a member has recently requested I share with others a list of my favorite hockey books and videos, and I’ve promised to do that here pretty shortly.)

What might surprise you, however, is that I’ve delved as much into the life stories of greats from outside hockey, or even from outside the sports world.  For, there’s something to be said for understanding the likes of famous statesmen, military leaders or businessmen (and women).  In fact, if they’re leaders in just about any field, I want to know how they think and how they function.

And there’s also something to be said for getting a daily spiritual boost — from my well worn Bible, as well as from a myriad of motivational speakers.  Yup, nothing picks me up and gets me going quicker than some good, honest positive talk.

And this all brings me to the subject at hand…  About a year ago I began following a pretty interesting guy on Twitter.  Billy Cox is his name, and his bio describes him as “…one of the most dynamic and entertaining authors and speakers in the world.”  And, as Billy says, his “Goal is to Energize People to Action and Inspire Positive Change!”

Anyway, today I needed a little energizing and inspiration, so I looked-up Mr Cox.  And, once I got into his presentation, I realized how much his words could help a good many of my CoachChic.com friends.  So, borrowed here from YouTube.com is what I think is an awesome video…

– Dennis Chighisola

Reacting to Adversity

( Billy Cox’s video title is “PERFORM BETTER“)

As a final preface to this video, I’m going to suggest that every one of us gets down at one time or another — I mean, it happens to everyone, from business people to parents to coaches to athletes.  And, as I so often share with my grandson, “I think the measure of any great person (or player) is seen in the way he or she reacts in tough times, or in times of adversity.”  (More to say on this at the very end!)

Okay, here’s that Billy Cox video.  And, while he’s obviously talking to a room full of business people here, this speech just as easily could have been staged in your team’s lockerroom or mine….

(If you visit YouTube.com, you’ll find a number of other similarly themed Billy Cox videos.)

Okay, so how do those Three P’s relate to our game of hockey?  Well, here’s my humble opinion:

1. Preparedness – Practice!  Practice!  Practice!  You know, I’m an incessant long-range planner, and I’m always asking those in my charge to look ahead.  Right now, for instance, you likely know about an important tryout that’s coming-up.  Or, there’s something you’d like to achieve by this season’s end.  In either case, you should have a feel for what needs to be done, and you also know exactly how much time you have to accomplish that.  From there, it’s a matter of attacking the long-range goal in small increments.  Ya, just lop those intermediate steps off, or…  Practice!  Practice!  Practice!
2. Persistence – I’ll tell you a funny story…  By the time I was an older teen, I’d failed at countless strength programs.  Ugh.  Then, one day, like out of the blue, I told myself that I was going to stick with a program just to see if all that I’d read really worked.  In other words, I’d read that after about 90-days I was guaranteed results.  So…  Hmmmm…  So, I stuck with that program — six days per week, and I never missed a session no matter what.  I also did all the other things rightly — this time, including sticking to a special diet.  So, what happened?  One night — not even 90-days into that lifting program, another teen spotted me with my shirt off in the gym lockerroom, and he asked me, “What do you do to get such a big chest?”  (Huh?  Is he talking to me?)  Shortly after, while out riding with a bunch of friends, the two guys on either side of me started complaining that my shoulders were taking up the whole back seat!  Ya, I’d realized by then that I’d gotten big — huge, in fact.  So, how did my earlier attempts at strength building differ from the one that worked?  It surely wasn’t the difference in the routines.  No, the reason my earlier tries failed was because I looked for quick gains, and I was too easily discouraged when they didn’t come.  And, the reason the last one worked was because I gave it an honest to goodness chance.  Man was I persistent — and faithful, to the max.
3. Playing the numbers – I like Cox’s stories about Ruth, Edison and Colonel Sanders, each suggesting that those men couldn’t be totally discouraged by setbacks.  So, another quick story…  I attended a special lecture one time when I was in college, this on the art of job hunting.  The guest speaker, a famous author on the subject, made one point clear enough that I still remember it to this day, suggesting to the audience that, a certain number of turn-downs should be expected before we’d likely hear that first, “Yes!”  In the end, he rationalized (and I paraphrase), “Why not get all those turn-downs out of the way so you can hurry to the answer you’re really looking for?”    Just think about that one for a sec…  After all, that’s the way Edison and The Colonel handled such matters!

So, in closing…  If you’re not currently getting the results you want, prepare yourself even better for future tries, be persistent, and play the numbers (as in getting all the setbacks out of the way so you can get on to the good stuff)!

Oh, and speaking of learning about how some of the great minds think, here’s an appropriate quote from General George Patton:

“I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”

Finally — and since there’s the likelihood we’ll all feel a little discouraged from time to time, why not save this page among your favorites?  I know I’m going to be revisiting that video often.

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If you liked this — or even if you didn’t, I’d love to hear your feedback or Comments!

Man, where has this article — or this line of thinking — been all my coaching life?

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Now, I’m going to bite my tongue (for as long as I can stand it), and let you read this unbelievable piece by Mental Edge’s Shaun Goodsell.  Thereafter, you know I’m going to have LOTS to say!

– Dennis Chighisola

Shaun Goodsell, MA

President and CEO of Mental Edge

Blinded by Winning

As the winter sports kick-off I am preparing for the many questions I will field as teams and individual athletes seek to chase their ideal success.  Athletes, coaches and parents will invest enormous resources of time, energy and money to climb that ladder of whatever they are chasing that defines success. Some will determine success by wins and losses; others will use a post-season appearance or a championship and still others will dig deep to frame success in ways that cannot be defined in visible ways. However each team or individual defines success, there is no doubt there will be ups and downs along the way.  The small successes and disappointments experienced on the journey are significant in dictating the overall success at the end of the season.

Recently, I have been looking for a mental paradigm that can help people look at their season in a way that helps to prepare them and their teams to play better at the end of the season than at the beginning. Here is the challenge as I see it:

For years I have been hearing that each time a team or player sets out to perform they should be their best. Coaches talk about bringing your best game day in and day out. Parents go watch in the hopes of seeing a quality performance and a win. There is no doubt that watching a winning performance is fun and exciting. However, winning can at times blind us to what makes us vulnerable as an athlete and as a team. It is as though chasing the Win becomes the goal instead of seeking to use the contest as a learning opportunity to reveal to us what requires work to make us most invincible at the end of the season. Wins, although important, often blind teams and individuals to vital points of development that if not fixed sabotage teams and individuals from the ultimate goal they may be chasing. What might be true is that a well timed loss or short term disappointment may be more critical leading to success of the team because of the focus it creates on what makes a individual and team vulnerable later on in the season.

We need to value the learning that can occur through points of defeat and disappointment. To do this requires us to lessen our focus on winning and increase our emphasis on learning. Every athlete and team should ask themselves after a win or loss, “What did we learn about ourselves and our team?” Subsequently, “What do we need to do in order to get better in that aspect of the game?” Becoming seduced by the short-term success of a win can alter our ability to learn crucial lessons about ourselves that can be bridges to long-term success. Every moment needs to be seen as part of a bigger picture. Doing this allows learning to be a viable goal each time we perform.

This season consider learning from disappointments and team losses and resolve to use them to improve yourself and your team. You will find that you will elevate your game with this mindset when in the past you had become frustrated and disappointed and missed those vital points of learning that kept you stuck.

At Mental Edge we desire to challenge people to experience breakthrough in their lives by establishing new thinking skills and thought patterns leading to a renewed energy for their lives and what is possible. If you are ready to make breakthrough changes in your life, please call Dawn to take the first step at 763.439.5246!

Until next time, here’s to your possibilities!

Shaun

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Okay, let me begin by saying that a “young Coach Chic” would have taken the “W” over anything else.  Thank God I changed my ways by the time I started working with my second generation of players!

Now, let me tell you a few things that should help validate Shaun’s comparison of wins versus losses (or learning experiences:

1. I started using video-tape back in 1979.  And, back in those days, I had a great dad who followed my high school hockey teams, and he was also really into video.  So, we arranged that he’d tape all the games he could attend, while I spent countless hours studying those tapes.  A funny thing happened very early-on, however.  I discovered that games in which we won big were of almost no value to me.  I mean, it seemed as if only tough opponents really exposed our weaknesses or showed me the things I had to do to help my kids back at practice.
2. By now, members know my penchant for note-taking.  In fact, there’s an entire category here that allows me to share some of the things I record.  Anyway, much like what I discovered from the study of videos, I’ve come to realize that my notepad is nearly blank after an easy win, and it is crammed full whenever we suffer a setback.  Ya, again, it takes a stronger opponent to expose the things we really need to work on.
3. Next, I need to say that a combination of things have helped me become a better coach…  Number One — and what I see as a main part of Shaun’s article — is that This Old Coach has had to be open to learning.  Secondly, and as you should have gathered from the first two points, I’ve needed to face some tougher opponents each season in order to learn or to grow.  (In actuality, I don’t think I’ve have ever arrived at some of my training inventions or training manuals unless I first found I was failing at something.  Ya, think about that one, if you would.)
4. Lastly, I know my players are better today than they were on opening night, mainly because of the very “mindset” Shaun describes.  Thankfully, I have managed to convince my players and (most of) their parents (as well as myself) that “Development comes first.”  If you think about it, “winning at all costs” usually requires shortcuts, or shortchanging players.  You know what I mean:  a coach only skates certain kids in a tight game, he or she arranges lines or defense pairs solely for the sake of winning, or a coach pays more attention to the best players during the practices because they’re the ones who spell “W-I-N-S” for him or her.  On the other hand, I can’t tell you what a relief it is to put development first…  With that, I probably pay a hair more attention to the kids who need to catch-up with the rest of our roster; our practices are mainly dictated by what the kids need for the long-term; I spread my talent evenly over all the lines so that kids are learning from each other; and — until the last minute or so of a close game, I just keep rolling my lines with no regard for the “W”.  (FYI…  I do one thing each week that might seem like it’s for the sake of winning, in that we do have a set powerplay unit for each game.  However, that’s actually used as a reward for practice attendance!)

Finally, as for my comment about “where has this article been all my life?”  Well, I’ve lost a few hockey families through years, mostly due to the fact that I couldn’t convince them that long-term gains were far more important than stats, championships or trophies.  And, while I wish I had Shaun’s article to help sway them back then, I plan on using it to save some future folks in need.

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Double-dare you to argue this one in our Comments area! 

As much as I work on it (and harp on it during games), my older (even high school-aged) players still end-up waltzing with a partner or two in the bench doorway as they change on the fly. I mean, the kids coming off the ice think that’s as important as the fresher kids coming on, so they often get stuck and entangled, and they quite often delay us in getting fresh legs onto the ice.

Now, I’m thinking that the mob-scene-at-the-door thing is a learned trait, and one that’s been ingrained over an older kid’s decade or so of playing the game (without my kind of discipline). So, when it came time for me to organize my new Mighty Mite team (of first-time players), I thought I’d start them rightly…

– Dennis Chighisola

Buzzer Hockey Line Changes

Actually, the above didn’t strike me until I heard the buzzer that ended the first shift of our very first Mighty Mite game. On the spot, though, it hit me that I could start my little guys off on the right foot by getting them into a really good habit.

This was my thinking…

For changes on the fly, I like my older guys to come and hug the boards in front of our bench until the replacement skaters have hit the ice. That’s all that’s required for a legal change like this – for my guys to be “at the bench”. And, with them against the boards and away from the doorway, fresh guys can jump quickly into the play.

Of course, there’s no changing on the fly in buzzer hockey (instead there are timed 2-minutes shifts in my little guys’ league). But, these kids DO have to switch roles – one 5-player unit leaving the ice with another 5-players coming on to replace them. So, I decided to get my kids in the habit of doing as is shown in the accompanying photo – with the kids coming off the ice lining-up in front of our bench until replacements have entered the ice.

If you click on that photo (above) you’ll see a brief video of our player exchange. And, while I sense this action isn’t quite automatic to them yet, I suspect that within a few more weeks it will be. Again, I’m talking about habit here, and I’m hoping this small group of players will ultimately have this ingrained in them. Better yet, perhaps I’ll suggest that the organization these kids are headed to in future years might help reinforce this in their next few age groups (maybe through Mites and into Squirts).

Any thoughts on the above?  Your Comments really help me!

Dennis Chighisola here, with what I feel is one of the most important posts I’ll ever make within these pages.

To begin, despite my inclination to frequently think outside the proverbial box, I’d like members to know that I don’t make hockey related decisions without a lot of serious thought. In fact, over my forty-ish years in coaching, I’ve mostly relied upon a set of standards I’ve come to call…

The Nature of Our Game

“Hmmmmmm,” you say. “The nature of our game?”

Well, I’m sure you’ll agree that playing ice hockey is very unlike trying your hand at the likes of chess, sumo wrestling, or cricket. And, although we might share some similarities with other games — like basketball, soccer, and the other skating sports, there are probably far more differences.

Yes, every game has its very own nature. Factors like unique rules, a special playing surface and the specific aims for each game make this so.

That said, I’ve always felt that the ability to analyze a given game or sport — to understand the true challenges and demands on its participants — is critical to preparation. For, with this we can go to work on developing the proper traits needed to excel in that specific sport.

Now, I feel the need to add this side note, since I’m famous for borrowing lots of training ideas from other sports. I mean, I incorporate sprint training in my teams’ off-ice practices, I use lots of football-type agility drills and ideas for explosiveness, and the list of training methods I’ve obtained from other sports goes on and on. As I said in the opening, though, I don’t take such decisions lightly. No, I’m more often than not asking myself the simple (or sometimes not so simple) question, “Does this really relate to the challenges my players face out there in the game action?”

If you think about it, training time is extremely limited — especially for amateur players. So, to go off on tangents that have little to do with our game isn’t such a good idea. Moreover, to incorporate training methods that don’t fit with the nature of our game just might hinder a player.

Now, I probably could write a book on this topic. However, to give you the gist of that nature thing, let me at least briefly touch upon the determining factors I noted earlier.

To begin, consider the surface we play on…  The rink is surrounded by boards and glass, these aiding a player in trapping an opponent or banking the puck around or over defenders. And, while basketball players might be able to scale a ball the length of their playing surface, our rink’s lines and related rules influence quite a different approach.

Actually, those rink lines deserve more consideration here, in that hockey teams use them for the development of strategies and tactics. I mean — a lot like military tacticians, teams work hard to defend each line as their opponents attempt to attack, while attacking teams work just as hard to gain each zone on their way up-ice. (Thus we also have forechecking schemes, breakouts, defensive zone coverage, etc.)

While we’re on the subject of our playing surface, consider this… Supposing our game was played on a rink measuring about 20′ by 60′, but still included 5-skaters and a goalie per side. How much fast skating and stickhandling would take place? Not much, huh? In fact, we’d probably recruit sumo-sized guys, and develop plays that look more like rugby scrums. On the other hand, what if we played on a rink the size of a football field? Ha, there would hardly be any physical contact, and the star players would likely be fast skaters and great puck-movers. Of course, our game is played on a surface somewhere between those two extremes, suggesting that the most desirable players should probably be both quick and strong.

Also appreciate the fact that soccer, basketball, lacrosse, field hockey and our game are considered so-called “transition sports”. In other words — and in contrast to games like baseball and football, the ball or puck is constantly up for grabs. And, this kind of continuous action puts a premium on players who can quickly switch roles, from offense to defense to offense to defense, and so on.

Even something like a roster size influences the nature of our game. For, given a certain number of players, coaches deploy them in waves, with traditional set-ups (for the sake of discussion) using three forward lines and two to three pairs of defensemen. Oh, some might take this lightly. However, that kind of player rotation is where the prescribed work-to-rest ratio comes from — as in a player typically practicing so he or she can efficiently work for x-seconds, and rest for twice that time. (In other words, a unit goes out for a brief shift, then rests while two other units do their thing.)

Now, I’ll bet I wrote and lectured on the following at least 30-years ago, although it’s been only recently that I’ve seen it documented in some scientific studies. What I’m getting at is that the typical on-ice shift is really a series of alternating bursts and coasts. In fact, some of the studies I’ve read lately state that the better players cruise with both skates on the ice for a great deal of they’re time out there. Of course, how well one coasts is not the measure of a hockey player. However, that coasting phase is important, allowing him or her to briefly rest in anticipation of going all-out. And, make no mistake about it: the most consequential plays — either offensively or defensively — are carried out in a matter of seconds, during those brief spurts.

The latter two paragraphs should give us fairly good guidelines for conditioning a hockey player… Yes, he or she should be aerobically (long distance) fit. But, I’ll suggest, not to the point of robbing the anaerobic (explosiveness, quickness) system. Remember: It’s the brief, all-out confrontations that usually spell a player’s — and a team’s — success.

Of course, our sport includes its fair share of collisions and incidental contact (whether we’re playing in a body-checking league or not). So, besides the areas of strength development that aid in skills like skating and shooting, the nature of our game suggests that a player be very stable on the skates, as well as be able to safely deliver or withstand heavy hits.

That said — about the need for strength in our sport, I’ll suggest that there’s a tricky balance required — between the want for strength, speed, agility and smooth, efficient movements. Just being strong doesn’t make one an effective player, nor does just being fast, just being pretty, just being…

Even our decisions about hockey equipment should be influenced by the nature of our game. For, as I just suggested, a solid player needs to possess a number of different physical qualities. And it’s important that the gear helps. Quite obviously, the first consideration is that it should protect the player. However, equipment has to also be light enough to aid quickness, as well as allow for smooth movements.

Then, while I’m hoping all the above noted physical traits make sense to you, a study of our game wouldn’t be complete without considering the mental aspects. For, an ice hockey player surely does have to be able to think and skate at the same time. And, if our game is a “read and react” sport, it’s important for a player to instinctively know what to do in each unique confrontation. Moreover, smart players can follow a game plan, and they have awareness when it comes to the game-clock and the score. And, while some might feel otherwise, I happen to believe thinking skills CAN be taught — IF players are helped early enough. (Actually, I’ve developed several drill formats to help enhance this area in my players.)

Then, just briefly let me suggest that training for other important game skills — like puckhandling, passing, receiving and shooting — should also pass that nature of our game test. And, here are two of my observations… First, all of those skills have to be accomplished in combination with other skills (or amid lots of problem solving). Secondly, the best players are able to execute all of those skills in unbalanced postures (with defenders draped all over them, whatever).

Finally, the above is a combination of science, personal observation and experiences; so take it for what it’s worth. Still, I think it should be helpful that players, parents and coaches have some frame of reference when it comes to the daunting number of choices we have to make. So, hey, maybe this is one of those pieces you’ll want to clip and save!

Be a friend:  Your worthwhile Comment helps Coach Chic!

What is Consistency?

By Brady Greco, Performance Coach — The Mental Edge

A common performance concept that is rarely taught but always referred to by coaches is playing a more consistent game.  You hear coaches all the time say, “play with more consistency day in and day out.”  There is no problem if a coach makes this statement and communicates to the team about what needs to take place in order to become more consistent.  However, the majority of coaches fail to explain in detail what consistency even entails, making it impossible for a player to understand how to become more consistent in their play.

Consistency can be described in the sport’s world as a level of quality play over an extended period of time.  Every competitive athlete has experienced a game where they performed very well. In turn, every athlete has encountered what it feels like to perform poorly, making the concept of consistency very tricky.  Here is a checklist of five keys to focus on as an athlete that will help maintain consistency throughout your personal journey as an athlete:

1. Awareness: Reflect on your performance and determine what areas you did well in and what areas you need to improve upon.
2. Good Habits: Practice good habits throughout the athletic season.  This means staying disciplined and remembering to do the ‘little’ things both on and off the athletic field or arena.
3. Pre-game Routine: For an athlete to become mentally prepared for a game/practice, they must take the proper procedures.  This means an athlete must find a comfortable and effective personal routine they go through on days of games/practice.  Establishing a good pre-game routine will enable an athlete to be prepared mentally which will create a better chance of optimal performance.  Don’t be afraid to ‘mess around’ with your routine if you feel something is not working.
4. Imagery: Imagine yourself accomplishing the task at hand.  Picture yourself already playing the game and making the right plays in every situation.
5. Positive Self-Talk: Don’t be afraid to talk to yourself.  Tell yourself ‘I am the best, I am the best’.  This will create encouraging thoughts to flow through your mind to remain positive.

At the Mental Edge, we can teach you mental toughness skills like these to empower you on your journey as an athlete.  Simply call Dawn to start at 763-439-5246.

Brady

Contributor: Dennis Chighisola — Whitman, MA USA

Drill Category: Team Defense, Backchecking

Drill Description:

Comments: I’ve only used 3 pairs of players per drill because it’s easier to keep an eye on and inspect the efforts of a few at a time.  Also, all positional players — both forwards and defensemen — take part in both offensive and defensive roles.

• Backcheckers:  Lie facing away from attackers so that no plans can be made ahead of time on which defender will cover which attacker.
• Attackers:  Begin the drill by lying face down; on command, circle the back obstacle in order to make it more difficult for the backcheckers to sort whom they’ll cover.  (With younger players, or to initially teach the drill concepts, I might not have the attackers circle an obstacle, but instead have them go on the attack on the command.)
• Coach:  Holds a puck at side boards and ultimately (maybe after about 3- to 5-seconds) feeds to an open attacker.

Objective of the Drill:

The attackers attempt to get open for passes (from the coach and then from open teammates) to attack the net, while all defenders attempt to cover their men so tightly that passes can’t be made to them.

As an extra benefit, the attackers tend to work extra hard to get themselves open for passes or scoring opportunities.

Running the drill:
Usually the drill lasts about 10-seconds, or until the coach is satisfied that the backcheckers completed their tasks (or didn’t).

Click image below to see a short video.

One of my NEHI HS Prep assistant coaches called me the other day with something he’d noticed in some of our closer games.  (Actually, anything that goes wrong tends to only become noticeable when we lose or when a game is close.  Seldom can anything be learned from a lopsided win.)

Both of the points made by Mike H were taken seriously, and they’re both worth talking to our players about (over and over and over again).  So, I’ve done just that this week — going over the following, in anticipation of a really tough game this coming weekend.

– Dennis Chighisola

Preventing Odd-man Rushes

Rightly so, Mike feels our next opponents are really quick at transitioning onto the attack.  And both of his observations had to do with our once-in-awhile tendency to allow quick odd-man rushes towards our goal:

• There have been times when our defensemen have headed to their bench before they’ve made sure the puck was buried fairly deep in our opponents’ end.  And that’s an absolute must.  What happens a lot of times is that a D gets it into his head that he’s going to get off the ice at the first opportunity.  With that, he sorta guesses that the time is right, even when it’s not.  Sometimes a teammate’s dump-in initially looks good, the defenseman starts off the ice, and then the puck doesn’t find its way deep into the zone.  At yet other times a defenseman wrongly thinks a teammate is going to carry the puck safely and deep, and he never follows the puck long enough to ensure that actually happens.  In either case, a turn-over in neutral-ice — or high in the oppositions’ zone — provides those opponents the chance for a quick counterattack and a man-advantage rush.

• Actually, Mike’s second point involves the comments I just made about puckhandlers erring in neutral-ice or at the oppositions’ blue line.  But, let me deal with this in two parts…

1. As I point-out in my video on “Dumping the Puck” (I really suggest you watch this), he absolutely must get the puck all the way through traffic and deep into an offensive corner.
2. As importantly, puckhandlers must make wise decisions as they carry through neutral-ice.  Headmanning the puck is always the first option, and carrying further would be the second.  As a player carriers, however, he should only do so if resistance is light.  A player should never try to carry when out-manned by the defenders.  No, the wise thing to do then is to dump the puck.

Be a friend:  Your worthwhile Comment helps Coach Chic!

Understand that scientific declarations aren’t easily arrived at.  I mean, in order to state something to be scientifically so requires extensive testing under some pretty strict rules.  I have to start this piece in such a manner just so members appreciate that the following hasn’t been tested or proved in any way.

That said, I did think you might find the following very, very interesting.

– Dennis Chighisola

To begin, a friend happened to mention recently that he’d at one time heard or read about something a young Wayne Gretzky did.  And my friend further suggested that this may have enhanced The Great One’s ability to (supposedly?) better anticipate puck movement during game action.  Of course this intrigued me, and it sent me scurrying towards an Internet quest for more information.  Hey, I’d like to know everything a young Gretzky, Orr, Ovechkin or Howe did as a youngster, figuring there have to be some intriguing keys to their future success buried away there.

As an aside…  I hate some of the expressions used by a lot of sportscasters, no matter the sport we’re talking about.  In this case, the one about “seeing the ice” really doesn’t say much.  In other words, the wordsmiths toss such phrases at us, and they leave it up to the listener to fill-in his or her own meaning.  Still, what we have to guess these guys or gals are talking about — in reference to seeing the ice well — is a player’s ability to anticipate coming conditions, or to sorta picture in advance what is likely to happen.  That said, most superstars in most sports are given credit for that rare ability, and probably most of us would feel that’s a huge part of what separates them from mere mortals.

Well, I have my own take on that “seeing the ice well” issue, and I once had a friend and former NHL-er confirm at least some of my suspicions…  At the time I was readying to write one of my magazine columns on this subject.  And as a premise, I was about to declare that Gretzky could “see the ice” better than most other players because his basic skills were so advanced in comparison to others.  Oh, I took more time to explain it to my friend, a former LA King, but it only took him a second to think about his experiences with The Great One and reply, “Bingo!”

Now, please hear me out on something…

I’d like you to recall back to the very first time you drove an automobile.  Can you remember?  Your hands were probably gripping that wheel so hard!  Everything about the moment was likely pretty tense, and you probably went through a checklist in your head (like a pilot readying for take-off): “My seat needs adjusting…  the mirror needs fixing…  the…”  Again, you should appreciate what I’m getting at here, about everything being pretty tense and consequential.

Next, fast-forward to having years of experience behind the wheel…  Lord knows the things a long-time driver does while motoring down the highway — from changing radio stations to reading a GPS to checking his or her hair in the mirror to talking on a cell phone to (God forbid) texting or shaving or apply makeup.

What I’m suggesting here is that days and days and then years and years cause the everyday operation of that vehicle to become almost automatic, or the movements are almost as involuntary as breathing and blinking.  What else could it be that helps us swerve or brake in just the right way, except that we mastered our driving skills far beyond the beginner?

And that’s what I was suggesting about Gretzky in my magazine column…  He no longer has to think about his footwork or puck control as he moves down the ice; those movements are as automatic to him as his breathing and blinking.

Yet another aside…  Don’t get me wrong; every NHL player is able to skate without thinking, puckhandle with his eyes up, etc.  But what I’m really getting at is that these things are relative.  In other words, the guys we see as superstars have their basic skills sooooooo on automatic that they can deal with matters others don’t get the chance to even see.

Along this same line of thinking, I recall long ago a great young quarterback entering about his third NFL season and saying something to the effect that, “The game has really slowed-down for me!”  Yes, another one of those expressions that leave us guessing as to what’s really meant.  But in this case, I know the guy was talking about the fact that he’d learned to read pass rushes so much better than when he first entered the league.  If you can envision it, his first season was probably spent in absolute panic with all those 300-pound linemen coming his way, and with his receivers running patterns that were yet not so familiar (probably not unlike our first driving experiences).  Over time, however, he learned to recognize most of the keys — or what to really look for, which made it all the easier for him to pick the opposition defense apart.

Okay, so now for the story that inspired this post…  What my friend had related to me had to do with Walter Gretzky evidently having his very young son follow the flow of televised games in a certain way, perhaps aimed at Wayne honing those “seeing the ice” kinda skills.  What I discovered instead — in an on-line article from *The Arizona Republic by David Vest — was that the whole thing was actually Wayne’s idea.  Evidently a 7-year old Wayne would sit in front of the TV and trace the movement of the puck throughout a televised hockey game.  In fact, Vest quotes the senior Gretzky during a 2005 interview, “I remember saying: ‘What are you doing, Wayne?” Wayne’s reply to Walter was, “Look, Dad, see all these dark spots? That’s where the puck is most of the time.”

As Walter described it, Wayne drew a rink — complete with lines and nets and such, and then kept his pen or pencil on the sheet of paper throughout the game action, continuously following the movement of the puck.  Hmmmmmm…  My guess is that Wayne was a real thinker even at a very young age.

Still, my relatively educated guess is that the actual results of Wayne’s early studies aren’t all that useful, if even valid.  But, that would be another very long discussion.

For now, however, I’d like to suggest that the young Gretzky may have benefited quite a lot just from those frequent exercises.  I mean, how often have we wished our own young players would “really get into the game” or “really study the high level guys”?  So, here was Wayne, only 7-years old, following the actions of his boyhood idols (among them maybe all-time greats like Gordie Howe, Frank Mahavolich and Jean Béliveau?).  If you get what I’m suggesting here, it’s that Wayne — even as he was following the puck — couldn’t help but mentally record all the things going on with and around the puck.

As a final aside here…  I hope my long-time CoachChic.com friends don’t become bored by my occasional references to Anthony Chic.  It’s just helpful to me, oftentimes, if I can personalize a given experience or observation.  The reason I feel the need to once again tell a Tony C story is because my grandson has for the past few years been a YouTube.com fanatic.  I don’t think he’s missed a “Greatest Goals” video over that span, and I can’t tell you how many times he’s called me to watch over his shoulder to inspect a frame-by-frame breakdown of some incredible move by one of today’s great scorers.  Is there learning going on during such an exercise?  I’m betting there definitely is.  In fact, I’m betting the physical moves he’s watching are actually being internalized by Anthony, and I’m also betting he can almost sense how it feels to perform each of those moves.

So again, I’m not sure Gretzky’s arrival at certain puck movement patterns was all that beneficial to his later playing success.  But, I bet he was taking-in a ton of peripheral information, and he was quite likely internalizing the moves of his boyhood idols.

All that said, I might try such an experiment if I was once again the dad of a young player.  And, I might even find a way to have one of my teams try this.  What I’d likely do with today’s resources is prepare a large rink as a master, and then run-off some copies to keep on hand for my player/s.  Whatever you or I do with this idea, though, we can’t allow our kids’ work with those rinks seem like a drudgery.  The last thing we want is to tie the watching of a hockey game with any sort of negative thoughts.  I don’t immediately have an answer to that, but I do know I have a lot of bright and creative friends here at CoachChic.com.  So, I’m hoping lots of you might offer your thoughts or suggestions down below.

* Gretzky’s father recalls origin of hockey genius (by David Vest The Arizona Republic Oct. 17, 2005 12:00 AM)

Did you know your Comments really help me?  So, please get involved.  Just use the box below to offer your thoughts, questions or suggestions.  And thanks — a bunch!

Why is this “the best slot coverage drill I know”?  It’s because it deals with what I believe are the two most important aspects of a defenseman’s work in that critical area.  As a side benefit, forwards get the chance to work on their toughness and other offensive skills in that area.

– Dennis Chighisola

Although I’m going to introduce this drill in two phases, you’ll later see how it combines those phases into a drill that forces defensemen to adapt to our game’s constantly changing conditions.

The Drill Set-up

Create lines as shown, with forwards split between the outside two lines, and the defensemen lining-up in the middle.  Here the forwards on the right have pucks, but the drill can — actually it should — be run from both sides.  Also, as the forwards complete their roles coming from one line, they should then move to the other line.

Phase One

The drill begins with a forward moving into the offensive zone and circling behind the net with a puck.  This player has only one duty in this drill:  to make a pass.  Thereafter he must exit the play after making a pass (we don’t want to confuse things by making this a 2 on 1 for the defender).

As the drill begins, the forward from the other line drives to the net, while the first defenseman backchecks that man to the net.

As the player with the pucks emerges from behind the net, his first option would be to pass to his teammate who has moved to the slot.  Only the defender’s success at covering his man will prevent a pass to him.  (Click the sketch to the right to see a video of Phase One.)

Phase Two

This drill moves to Phase Two if a pass can’t be made to the forward in the slot.

In Phase Two, the player with the puck then passes to the second defenseman in line.

As the puck moves to the point, the role of our slot-area defenseman changes drastically.  No longer should he be as concerned with the pass, since the new problem is that his goaltender is now in danger of losing sight of the puck and facing a possible deflected shot.  (If you click-on the sketch to the right, it will show the full drill, as it flows from Phase One to Phase Two.)

Putting the Two Phases Together

Really, the drill runs as shown in the second video…  As you saw, the puckcarrier quickly moved through his pattern and the defenseman is forced to deal with the problems as they occur:  covering for a pass with the puck down low, and then quickly driving his man outward and controlling his stick if the puck moves to the point.

As I said in the beginning, what makes this such an awesome drill is the fact that the defensemen ultimately learn to deal differently with the different threats.  I happen to use this drill fairly often in my practices, and it has served me well for over a decade (maybe twice that long).  It’s that good, at least to me, and I urge every coach (of players probably older than 10-years) to give it a try.

– Dennis Chighisola

If you either agree or disagree — about this being one of the best drills ever, please let me know what you think in the Comment area below.  And thanks so much!

Okay, I have to start with a huge smile here, because I’ve just finished what I’ll call — for the lack of a better name — a “tryout” for a new 5- and 6-year old team coming from my winter Learn-to-skate/Learn-to-play program.  Ya, they were an adorable lot, with a 4-year old even being one of our better little guys.  Anyway, for the sake of those who might be forming a similar kind of team right now, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts here, as well as some of the “drills” we started with today…

– Dennis Chighisola

Now, it shouldn’t surprise you at all that almost all of what I’ll share here can already be found elsewhere within the CoachChic.com site.  The reason is that I really DO practice what I preach.  I mean, if I’ve said, “This is how we should teach _______,” it’s because that’s what I’ve found over 40-ish years will really work.  And I don’t care if it has to do with beginners or elite level players; that’s how I’d do it.

As far as “my babies” go, I told a few of their parents beforehand that it wouldn’t take more than a few minutes to get a sense of whether a youngster belongs on that team.  In a way — and not much different from older kids, most of us can usually spot a hockey player as he or she comes out the door.  There’s just something about the way he or she carries himself or herself.

Of course, it might take a drill or two more to gain a sense of whether a very young one is ready to take a few instructions.  Understand that I was only going to start planting the seeds in this first gathering.  In a way, I wanted to get a head start on some things I’ll want the kids to ultimately learn.  But I also knew that those kinds of drills would actually give me an idea of whether the kids — at their young ages — could focus and understand some verbal instructions and brief demonstrations.

Now, here’s what guided me in my drill selection…

• The younger players are, the more malleable they are, and the more a really good “teacher” can influence them.
• Defensive play may be a factor in the kids’ success down the road.  Sure, there might eventually be a time when youngsters can start appreciating a forechecking scheme, different kinds of coverages, etc.
• But, right now the only thing that will really capture these little guys’ attention and enthusiasm — and probably the only thing they can really understand — is offense, as in scoring goals.

That in mind, I grabbed a number of ideas from my “Creating the Early Goal-scorer” video (and you might also scan “ The Idea(s) Behind Those Goal-scoring Gadgets“).

Of course, my current youngsters are true beginners at the game, which makes them slightly less experienced than the players I was really aiming to help in that video.  So, while I did try a few of the ideas demonstrated there, I had to use another important teaching technique I’ve mentioned a few times elsewhere.  I mean, what I had to do was create some even easier to do lead-up progressions to start easing my new kids towards the more difficult skills.

Remember:  Really young ones aren’t into too much structure or discipline.  So I started things by just tossing pucks out onto the ice and encouraging the kids to just have some fun.

Also remember:  Since these ARE really young ones, it’s not right for me to immediately talk to them like older players.  So, I quite often during this session called them into a little group by announcing, “Okay, kids, let’s have a really important meeting here.”  And, getting them on their knees and focused (for about the 20-seconds their attention spans will allow), I’d frequently start with some kind of question — maybe about the row of pylons we were going to attack, or about the “simulated goaltender” sitting in the net-crease.

I also loosely applied the Whole: Part Method of structuring drills…  For example, each little guy got to attack the make believe goalie in one drill, we had 2-player races towards that goalie — this to encourage more speed in their attack, we practiced going in and out of pylons (which I referred to as “the bad guys”), and at one point we played a simple game of keepaway with a puck.  At the end of the morning session, I put a couple of the earlier practiced “parts” together by having them — one boy at a time — weave in and out of the pylons at a decent speed, and end by scoring on that simulated netminder.

Oh, and you know my penchant for taking notes…  So, at one point during that session I made a note to myself to bring some weights to use for strengthening their stick grips, passes and shots.  (What I plan on doing can be found in the “Passing Basics in Hockey“ video, in the section on “Discovering Stick-strength”.)

Finally, at one point during our session — while the kids were playing keepaway, I mentioned something important to two dads who were out on the ice helping…  Both dads had themselves played to pretty high levels, so I thought it a good idea to share the distinctions I see.  Or, as I said while we watched the keepaway going on, “That’s really what THEIR game is all about, you know.”  And I went on to suggest that it’s not about the leftwing lock, defensive zone coverage or a powerplay.  No, THEIR game is about getting the puck and keeping it away from their opponents.  It’s about weaving in and out of those “bad guys”, and it’s about beating a little goalie who is usually no more agile than the plastic one we’ll use at our practices.  And, as I’ve also said at numerous times in these pages, our jobs — as parents and coaches — is to help our youngsters be successful at THEIR level.

Now, before ending I have to say that there’s yet another reason I was smiling — or even chuckling — as I reflected on this morning’s tryout session.  As I noted above, these “babies” are as malleable as players can be, and they can be changed rather quickly under the guidance of a really good teaching coach.  And while I have a strong belief in my own abilities, I also know I can almost triple our teaching efforts by helping my assistants to be nearly as effective.  Oh, my reason for chuckling?  It’s because I can only imagine what our games are going to be like when every single young member on our team is able to stickhandle through their opponents and cooly tuck the puck into their opponents’ nets.  Oh, boy…  I suspect we’re going to be creating some hockey monsters this coming winter!

If you like this article, or if you have any questions about it, please do Coach Chic a favor and add a Comment below.  Thanks!

I know this is going to be a rather touchy subject.  Yet, I want you to hear-out a couple of extremely qualified guys.

In the following audio presentation, Lisa Cohn interviews Dr Patrick Cohn and noted baseball coach, Tommy Weber, on that very topic — about the possibility that parents should back-off when it comes to their youngster’s hockey training.

Again, I’d like you to hear Coach Weber’s side of this argument, then I’d like to add a few of my own comments a little later.

– Dennis Chighisola

Why Sports Parents Should Back-off

with Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D. and Tommy Weber

Click the arrow below to play:

Okay, so you should have gotten a pretty good sense of how one very experienced sport coach and a noted sport psychologist feel on this subject.  And, I’d have to agree with all that’s been said in that interview.   At the same time, we hockey folks have a slightly greater challenge than families in most other sports…

For one thing, ice hockey rinks are usually built in pretty remote locations.  So, it isn’t like our youngsters can just hang their gear over the handlebars of a bike and head-off to practice on their own.  In other words, parents must help transport their kids and all that heavy gear, and it just makes sense that they’re going to hang around for the hour or so of practice time.

And, while it’s not necessarily an excuse for hanging around for practices, hockey families do invest an awful lot more money in their youngsters’ practice time than those in most other sports.

I might add my own reason for staying for a practice, in that I’ve always really enjoyed watching my guys have fun — as they played or as they practiced.  (Actually, that’s one of the things I miss so much today, since my son has long retired and my grandson now practices far away at college.)

Okay, so I’ve given my hockey brethren plenty of reasons to ATTEND their youngsters’ practices.  However, I don’t think it’s the attending practices that Dr Cohn and Coach Weber are really getting at.

No, as a matter of fact, I think it’s more a matter of us parents needing to give our kids — and their coaches — some space that’s really at issue.

I actually addressed that subject in an earlier video (in “Up The Boards, Johnny!“) with a message I really want my friends here to appreciate.  I mean, it is not possible for your son or daughter to serve more than one master at a time.

Please think about that one again…  Nothing but confusion comes from a youngster needing to please both the coach and his or her parents (not to mention teammates).  In fact, I firmly believe a lot of the fun can be taken out of the playing experience if a youngster is forced to please too many.

Then, a personal note…  On rides home from games, my young guy would almost always ask me, “Well, what did you think?”  I simply answered that with several questions of my own, as in “I don’t know; what do you think?” or “What did your coach have to say?”.  You have to understand — and I wanted my guy to also understand — that it didn’t really matter what I thought.  Hey, only one guy (or gal) gets to name the next group of players to go over the boards and onto the ice, and that’s the coach.

– Dennis Chighisola

Click here for more great audios like this one!

Youth Sports Psychology by Peak Performance Sports

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This special note from Coach Chic…

If your son, daughter or team is at the stage where they need to learn hockey’s basic rules and positioning, this is the video for them.  No, it’s not for grown-ups, as I’ll soon explain.  But it’s been written and produced in a way that seems to really work for 5- to 7-years old.  And, as you’ll see, it’s awesome for helping very young kids learn about off-sides, icing and where to line-up for face-offs.

Now, I’ve coached all levels of our game — up through high school and college, and I even had several minor league pro interviews.  I’ve also helped a number of students reach the NHL or other elite levels.

That said, perhaps one of the things I’m best at is in knowing where I am at a given time.  I mean, I don’t treat high school guys like kindergardeners, and I don’t talk over the heads of my littlest students.  No, in fact, I go into what I jokingly refer to as my “Mr Rogers impression” when I teach my Learn-to-skate and Learn-to-play clinics.

And that’s what I felt the need to do as I prepared to write the script for the following video.  As I said already, I wasn’t writing it for you, the parent or coach.  (Actually — and I’m chuckling at myself a bit here, because I felt pretty stupid doing some of the audio.  But, I knew “baby talk” and a lot of bells and whistles were necessary if I was to keep the attention of little ones.

If you’ll notice, this video was created a number of years ago (it still has my old CoachChic.com introduction).  Actually, I produced it as a gift to a number of students I had in a summer hockey school back then, sort of as a supplement — or home study program — for the things we were working on on the ice.

Frankly, I held my breath as I waited for feedback from my camp parents.  But, every single follow-up comment was unbelievably positive.  In fact, a number of parents told me that their kids practically wore-out the CD I’d given them.  And, some told me their youngsters knew the video by heart.

Okay, so why don’t I let you take a peek at it right now.  Then, once you’ve had a chance to view it, I’ll add a number of further comments and some advice down below (there seems to be something slightly off with the timing of audio and video when face-offs are covered — it’s hardly noticeable; but I promise to fix that as soon as possible)…

Okay, is it silly?  Yes.   But, does it work?  Absolutely — because it’s just what a young player needs!  And, as I suggested in the video, countless viewings are going to prove a whole lot more effective than just a few.

As I also suggest, a parent can enhance the learning experience by asking questions of the youngster, perhaps testing him or her in a fun way (and even using a little tool I’ll make available here pretty shortly).

For both parents and coaches, I think you ought to also consider that kids aren’t ever going to truly understand their playing positions without first knowing their left from their right sides.  So, I would make it a point to frequently quiz or otherwise help your youngster/s in this area.

As for coaches of very young teams…  I have done a simple drill — off-ice and on the ice — that really reinforces the off-sides rule.  So, here goes…

• Either mark a line (with chalk) on the lockerroom floor or out in the runway, or use a section of the blue line on the ice.
• Have a coach be a partner for one kid at a time as they both approach the offensive blue line.  In this way, the coach gets to totally control over the drill.
• The coach will want to alternate his her approach to this drill.  In other words, sometimes you might move at a slow, sure pace, and put the puck on-side ahead of your young partner.  At yet other times, the coach should pretend to have difficulty advancing the puck, at which time the young skater must know enough to delay until he or she sees the puck cross the line.

Oh, by the way, parents could easily run that drill at home.  Just be creative about locating a mock blue line.

Then, here’s a little insight into my reason for solving the problems dealt with in that video…  When my grandson was a 6-year old Mite C in the local youth program, I used to cringe at the amount of ice-time that was wasted in his games.  I mean, kids would mill around for what seemed an eternity, searching for where they should line-up for a face-off.  Worse yet, few of the little guys understood the rules of off-side or icing, which meant there were countless more face-offs than there should have been.  So, if there is a very good reason for solving these problems — or for having your youngster or team watch the video countless times, it’s to give them more real playing time within an hour of ice, and to thusly make the game more fun for them.

Finally, here’s our deal, and a good reason why I’m currently making this video available to non-members:

I NEED YOUR FEEDBACK!

Down below is a box for “Feel free to leave a comment… “.

What I’d really like to know is if the video seemed to work — with an individual, or with a team.  And, while it would be nice to have a commenter’s name and organization, I would at least like to know the age of the youngster/s using the program, as well as your position (as a parent or coach).

Oh, and yes you can share this page and video with teammates or friends.  Just send them a link to the CoachChic.com home page (that works best), and tell them to scan the free stuff for “Learning Hockey — with Coach Chic & Chomper“.

Thanks for stopping by.  And, I look forward to helping you further as your little one grows in the game.

– Dennis Chighisola

President and CEO of Mental Edge

Shaun@MentalEdgeNow.com

For years I have wondered what part innate talent plays in the success of athletes. Growing up aspiring to be a pro athlete I thought on many occasions, “I wish I were talented enough to be as good as others.”  In fact as I have progressed in business I have also believed that success is a by product of the genes you get and some are lucky while the rest of us are scrapping and clawing to rise to the success of others.  While attending the PGA Championship last month I started thinking about the pathway these athletes took to get to where they are. Could there be more to it than simply genes?

Recently, I came across a book that challenges the significance of innate talent in the success of athletes, musicians, and business leaders. Geoff Colvin has written a book titled “Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World Class Performers from Everybody Else”. Colvin makes a compelling case that THE ART OF DELIBERATE PRACTICE is what differentiates world-class performance from others.  He then goes on to describe this compelling concept:

“People who engage in intensive deliberate practice push themselves slightly beyond their current limitations physically and mentally.”

Doing this leads to greater perception, greater knowledge, and greater memory of what they know.  Practicing in this manner over a long period of time leads to the brain and body literally changing. When one learns to perceive more they are able to focus in on vital information that is significant when looking to creatively chart a course of success. For example, being aware of facial expressions in young athletes gives clues as to how they are receiving certain points of teaching. Often times a young athlete’s ability to be coached is closely connected to the closeness they feel to their coach. If a coach is not picking up on these subtle cues they miss information that is vital to their ability to influence a young life. In the same manner, learning to read important cues during a competitive situation gives athletes an advantage on their competition. It is this information that many athletes seem to miss.

Intensive deliberate practice not only improves an athlete’s level of perception but also increases their “working’ knowledge within their sport. It is as though an athlete’s knowledge base grows with each opportunity to play and practice in this manner. This dove tails with other performance coaches who encourage athletes to make sure they are always in the process of learning with each situation. Increasing their data base helps to inform them as to how to predict and approach different situations with greater mastery.  With this increased knowledge making decisions becomes easier and confidence in that process is increased.

Lastly, intensive deliberate practice improves an athlete’s memory of what they have learned in past performances. When they intentionally go into situations with this mindset their memories of the working knowledge they have acquired increases and they draw on this to acquire an edge on their competition.

It turns out the mental aspect of performance is vitally important and learning to approach our performance opportunities with a deliberate intensive approach gives us the secret many champions use to create the Mental Edge!

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Some time ago I discovered the benefits to just slightly changing any given drill to shock my players’ concentration.  Substituting another object in place of the puck can do this.  And, I’ve more recently tried — with some success — the use of big balls, like those used in basketball or soccer.

– Dennis Chighisola

Okay, I know the above claim needs a whole lot more explaining, so here goes…

Let me start by reminding my CoachChic.com friends that “repetition (surely is) the best teacher”.  However, “boredom is the greatest threat to effective teaching”.  In other words, doing the same exact drill, over and over again, IS great for creating muscle memory.  Still, that’s only good to a point, since overdoing the same drill is likely to eventually cause our players’ eyes to glaze-over.  I mean, at some point, our players will start just going through the motions in zombie-like fashion.  And this is when poor technique and poor decision-making — along with the wrong kind of muscle memory — start creeping in.

Let me also remind you that it’s at a time like this when there’s a need to get a little creative, or “artful”.  (If there’s a caveat here, it’s that we have to continue reinforcing proper techniques, and not just go to another form of drilling for the sake of change.  In other words, while players have to feel a drill is new, parents and coaches have to be careful in choosing a substitute drill.)

Now, one of the earliest posts I contributed to this site had to do with using a small ball for teaching passing techniques.  As I described in that one, pairs of players move while passing the ball back and forth to each other.  As I also suggested, proper passing and receiving fundamentals can be reinforced while this drill runs.  The receiver can be reminded to give a good target, and we coaches can reinforce a need for the passer to lead his or her teammate and to put the pass right on-target.

If you get where I’m going with this, you might also sense, as I do, that players usually won’t see the above described drill as being anything like the same old, same old ones we’ve done so many times before.  In fact, I often see my players refreshed by this approach, and they tend to give more of themselves just because the drill does seem new to them.

As another example…  Late last winter I started to get the impression that my junior high school team kids were just going through the motions during our breakout drills.  (Actually, things were getting pretty ugly.)  How could I blame them, though.  We must have done those same old drills hundreds of times over the long season.  So, I decided to bring a soccer ball to our next off-ice practice session.  And, it did the trick.  Suddenly the kids seemed to brighten-up, and they were suddenly focusing again, too.  Their concentration was back, and they once again began attempting to place passes right to their teammates’ hands.

Now, once I see something works, I salt that idea away for future reference.  Ya, switching to small ball passing (as described earlier) probably crept into my drill repertoire some 15-years ago, and it’s always been there for me to fall back on as the need arose.  So has the big ball idea been available for me since late last season.

That said, I want to insert here another thought…  In strength training circles there is a relatively new approach referred to as periodization.  And, for all the science that might be used to describe that mouthful, my oversimplification of that term is this:

While sticking with a given training routine for a considerable length of time will produce positive results, there will ultimately come a time when progress either slows or almost stops.  (This is often referred to as “plateau-ing”.)  So, the idea of periodization is to avoid plateaus — in advance — by periodically changing an athlete’s routine.  In other words, we know a routine is ultimately going to lose its effectiveness.  So, why not switch to some alternate exercises beforehand?

So, does this line of thinking sound anything like my idea of using alternative drills in our hockey practices?  I definitely think so.  And, borrowing from the idea of periodization, I’ve even begun inserting substitute drills BEFORE the traditional ones start losing their effectiveness.

As an aside here, and as a way of introducing a few new drill ideas for you…  I don’t think we should get stuck on any given type of substitute for a puck.  At certain times small balls work; at others times I’ve found it wiser to use a big ball, because it slightly slows the action, or because it in some other way makes a drill run better or safer.  And, I don’t doubt that either you or I might arrive at something even better to use sometime down the road (I don’t know; frisbee, anybody?).

Now, late this summer I felt the need to reinforce offensive 2 on 1 principles with my Team NEHI guys.  I think players tend to like games of keepaway, probably because there’s competition involved, and also because these contests aren’t very different from real game action.  Of course, I like keepaway games because they force real game decision-making, proper passing and receiving skills, and because they can be performed in a small, easily observed area.  In other words, it’s pretty easy for participants and coaches to see if choices and skills have been performed successfully.

Shown to the right are my guys playing games of 2 on 1 keepaway (roughly) within the end face-off circles.  (If you click on the photo you’ll see a video of my guys in action.)  Actually, we played these games on-ice during the week with pucks, then used a soccer ball in our weekly off-ice practice.  If you can appreciate it, the same principles and techniques were reinforced in both venues, while the kids reaped the benefits of seemingly different drills.  In the video you might notice the kids laughing a bit, or being fairly animated (suggesting they’re enjoying the competition).  Also, notice the two young kids (our junior high school goalies) in the second group, as they actually try to get open and they also use some eye fakes to fool the checker.  And, done enough, I’ll suggest that these things will gradually transfer into their game play.

Shown in the second photo are some of my NEHI HS Prep guys doing the same drill.  (Click on the photo to see that drill in action.)  You’ll notice I’ve added a little incentive (or consequences) to their success or failure in the game.  Hey, there are consequences if we lose the puck in a real game, so — on an honor system — kids who cause a turn-over quickly do 5 push-ups.

This brief sidebar…  I tell my guys ahead of time that I don’t want the push-ups to be seen as a real punishment.  The reason I’m only asking them to perform five quick ones is so that they’ll at least associate a small amount of pain(?) or embarrassment(?) with losing the puck or ball.  (If you think about it, most of the drills we coaches run during our practices don’t have the same kind of results-oriented consequences as our games.)

The final photo shows some of my kids working on their offensive zone man-advantage plays.  I’ll get plenty into powerplay tactics down the road.  But, for now let me say that an effective powerplay can often be the great equalizer when/if our team is struggling in other areas.  Also, if you think about it, powerplay skills and principles tend to trickle-over into many areas of a team’s 5 on 5 play.  I say all this to let you know that we spend a pretty good amount of time working on man-advantage situations.  Understandably then, we REALLY need alternative forms of practice to avoid all the issues associated with boredom.

(Click the photo to see action drilling on our powerplay.)  This clip was taken early in the kids’ learning my version of the umbrella formation.  So, while they certainly haven’t yet gotten to the point of executing plays in this video, they are quickly learning to recognize where teammates should be, where opponents likely are, and where their passing options might be.  Again, though — aside from the teaching aspects, this form of drilling makes it possible for me to practice powerplay tactics — A LOT.

In closing, I hope players, parents and coaches appreciate my concerns for practicing plenty while also trying to keep focus or concentration.  I’ll suggest there’s a delicate balance required in our drill selections — between traditional ones and alternatives.  The use of small and big balls can help towards this aim.  But, they’re by no means our only options.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quality Thoughts = Quality Emotions = Quality Actions

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

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

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

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

– Dennis Chighisola

Shaun Goodsell M.A.
Senior Performance Coach

Mental Edge

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

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

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

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

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

*

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

– Dennis Chighisola

For now, though, I believe every team should have a few offensive face-off plays.  As I’ll say in the video, there are numerous plays that could be worked down deep in your rivals’ zone.  At the same time, perfecting just a couple is probably a lot better than having a bunch of them that aren’t nearly as effective.

So, here are a few that have worked well for my teams…

You might also get a hint here about my (unique?) teaching method.  Because, despite all the things that go into preventing a rival player from scoring, I try to give my guys a very simple and clear end-goal to accomplish that.  Said yet another way, I’ve found that my players are ultimately able to measure their own successes or failures in this area because I’ve given them this clear cut responsibility.

Oh, by the way…  Member coaches should see a couple of drills I use to work on this “stick controlling” skill, and I highly recommend you borrow these for your practices…

It must have been about 2- or 3-years ago when one of my Team NEHI assistants described something he’d seen on a newscast.  I guess the sports segment showed some clips of our local NHL hockey team, and then it highlighted the team’s new coach.  As my friend excitedly explained, the guy was being lauded by his players, mainly because of the way he made practices fun and interesting.  And I guess that pro coach was also credited with inventing a number of his own drills, including one my assistant saw and marveled at.

Now, I’m taking this all in, and I’m sort of smiling on the inside (hey, maybe I was even grinning on the outside).  No matter, I ultimately shared with my assistant the fact that I create drills all the time.  (More recently I’ve stated that I probably invent pretty close to a drill per week, although sometimes it’s only a drill per month.)

What I think really amazed my friend was the fact that anyone could just up and design a new drill — be it that NHL guy, yours truly, or anyone else.

Anyway, we were interrupted before too long, so I had to leave-off with a simple enough question, “Where do you think drills come from?”

That, of course, gives you and me a place to begin.  And, it also provides the opportunity for some spin-off examples this month, most notably in an entry whereby Todd Jacobson explains some drills he’s currently using with our Team NEHI goaltenders.

– Dennis Chighisola

Now, from this old coach’s perspective, new drill ideas frequently come about because there’s a problem.  Said yet another way, a new drill can be created to solve a difficulty one of our players — or most of our team — is experiencing.

New drills are also often devised to enhance a given individual skill.  In other words, we might invent a new skating drill because it will enhance that area for a player (or numerous players), and we could do the same to help him, her or them to be better puckhandlers, passers, receivers, shooters, checkers, etc.

For sure, long-time members know that I find a huge benefit to borrowing from other sports.  So, for example, I might study what high level sprint coaches are doing with their athletes, and subsequently adapt a drill or two that translates well to my guys’ work on skating speed.  I’ve further helped my players by borrowing footwork drills or ball handling drills from other team sports, I’ve found some tactical or strategy ideas in other sports that actually work well in hockey, and I’ve discovered plenty of conditioning or competitive type drills that are useful and appropriate for my use (so long as they meet the demands placed on ice hockey players).

I’m especially on the look-out for new training aid ideas.  Let’s face it:  Players love pitting their efforts against gadgets, and they’ll often go above and beyond their normal practice pace just to beat one.  Of course, cost is a factor with these — for all of us.  So, while I might purchase some training devices, I might be able to arrive at a homemade version that does the trick nicely, or I might be able to borrow from just the main concept of a great tool to achieve fairly similar training effects in another way.  (That might be the case with the first drill Todd introduces this month.)

An improvement in team play skills frequently calls for the use of an important principle of motor learning known as the Whole:Part Method (and so can this method be used to break-down and improve a rather complex individual skill).  As with other technical terms I use within these pages, have no fear; I’ll make it simple enough for anyone to understand…

A good example of this technique might be the breaking-down of a basic breakout play.  And in this example, the breakout represents our Whole.  Of course, something like passes exchanged — perhaps from a defenseman to a near winger to a centerman — will either work or not work, depending on execution.  So, this important motor learning principle suggests that each of the small Parts of a breakout could be practiced, vastly improved, and then put back together into a more efficient Whole.  That was the basis for my video on Basic Breakouts.  However, as you’ll notice in that video, I’ve gone quite a bit deeper, focusing on the goalie’s involvement and in his or her handling of the puck, a defenseman’s moves with a puck to avoid a forechecker, improved pass-receiving routes by the forwards, etc.  And one could get deeper and deeper into each tiny element of that play.  In fact, a coach (player or parent) could view just one of those examples as a Whole, break it down into smaller Parts, perfect those Parts, and then put them back together into a more proficient Whole.

Now, I’ll tell you how I often arrive at some of my new drill ideas — actually applying the about principle…

Please click-on this link for A New Hockey Drill Idea, then look over my shoulder to see a segment of video I’ve isolated on, or the Part I’m running over and over again.

As you might notice, the breakout is actually botched, and a defensive player coming down the middle intercepts the pass.

Something struck me about that play, causing me to make a drill out of the interception and the immediate problem faced by the puckcarrier.  In other words, he grabs the puck, and then quickly finds a defender right in his face.  (If you need to watch the video a number of times to see what I’m getting at, please do so.  Can you see how constantly re-running a short segment does sort of look like a drill?)

And that’s the new drill I’m going to soon put into my practices…  I’m going to place a line of forwards out near their offensive blue line, and I’m going to have another line of defenders ready off to one side.  As a coach tosses a free puck out in the vicinity of the first forward, he’ll quickly be pressured by the first guy in the defenders’ line.  To me, this is something that happens in a game, or something my puckcarriers frequently have to deal with.  So, why not practice it?

Oh, by the way…  I can already see potential for progressions to this drill.  As happened in the video, the guy who intercepted the pass was quickly joined by a teammate.  So, I’ll eventually do the same in the next step to this drill, having a second forward exit the line to — as quickly as possible — join the attack.

Just as an FYI here…  I honestly did just create this drill as I was preparing the current entry for you.  I grabbed the first game footage I could find, I ran it a number of times, and that interception kept jumping out at me.

Now, this entry happens to introduce two things I’d like to continue for awhile here at CoachChic.com.

The ability to open some of our videos in a new window is going to help me rush certain information to you.  In other words, rather than needing to spend the hours required to put an audio soundtrack to short clips that require only brief explanations, I can quickly shoot the video, upload it to a post for you to see, and do my explaining via the nearby text.  (Let me know if this works or doesn’t work for you, but the ability to do this is likely to mean tons more video for you.)

Finally, I know lots of members want me to do ALL of the work for them, including showing them EXACTLY how a drill should be run.  Oh, I’ll continue to do plenty of that.  At the same time, though, I sense I’m arming you all the more if I explain and show how you might either design your own drills, or slightly adapt other drills to better suit your specific needs.  (No, none of us are likely dealing with the exact same problems or talents, so it’s helpful that we have a sense of how to create some of our own drills.)  So, over coming days, weeks and months, look for more ideas in this area.  I’m getting psyched! 

– Dennis Chighisola

Now, as you might recall, I talked some about my fun approach to training in that earlier piece.  And, although I didn’t mention my work with older players very much, I need to say right now that most of our more advanced level work (or work with older kids) should also end-up being enjoyable to those in our charge.

That said, a major part of my year-round work involves coaching — and actually guiding the development of — two NEHI teams.  One group is of junior high school age, the other made-up of high school-ers.

For a number of reasons, I have to slightly adjust my ways with them — due to their ages, their general age-specific personalities (if you know what I mean), and because of their presumed aims in the game.  And in reference to the latter, each is assumed to be dreaming of making a high school team someday, and they ultimately want to do really well at that level.

So — as I jokingly refer to it, I’ll sometimes have to wear my “high school coach’s hat”.  I mean, if you think about it, athletes don’t only succeed by having great skills and hockey smarts.  No, each team candidate is a whole package, with yet another key ingredient being the way they handle themselves emotionally.  (Just ask Shaun Goodsell and his Mental Edge staff if that one isn’t so.)

Anyway, at different times during our practices and games, I’ll put on that high school coach’s hat and grump and grumble a little.  I actually warn the kids about it, even telling them, “I love you guys, so I’m preparing you as best I can for what’s ahead, even if it comes-off sounding mean.”

Oh, and by the way…  Sometimes I have to fake it — not really being upset with them at all, but instead wanting to ensure they’re going to be able to deal with the mix of positives and negatives that are sure to be thrown their way down the road.

As for the subject of “doing the right thing”…  Don’t you know that I slightly “lost it” at practice the other night, only hours after I’d sent-in the earlier referenced article.

What had happened was that a lot of my long-time players were acting a little too comfortable as we drilled.  They are senior members of the group, they know a lot of what’s coming in some of the basic drills, and they were half-listening or half-working as the practice went along.  More than anything, I worried that they were showing our new team members the wrong way to apply themselves in a practice.

So, at some point I began turning the screws on them.  And I sorta nailed the offenders for anything and everything they did wrong.  Ya, I got their attention — and that of the new guys, too.

Still, comes the time to end practice, and I’m thinking about a few things…  To a kid, they love the game.  I mean, they are all great kids, and they really are into getting better.  And, here they are at a “voluntary” practice on a warm summer night, while some other kids aren’t even there to work on their game.  If you get my drift, I’m thinking that — while the whipping was necessary, I couldn’t send a single player home wishing he hadn’t come.  Make sense to you?

And that caused me to gather everyone together at the very end of practice, to sit everyone in a circle, and to rehash the events of the night.

As close as I can recall, I said, “Hey, I need to explain a few things to you guys…  I think you guys know I love you, and I only do things that will help you in the end.  You also know I love teaching the game.  So, if there are things going on that prevent me from teaching, I’m going to let you know about it.”

Oh, I’m sure I said more than that over about 5-minutes, but that was the gist of it.  No way was I apologizing for holding their feet to the fire.  At the same time, however, I wanted to ensure future practices ran as they should, and I also wanted to give those kids reasons to come back for future practices.

So, my questions — to older players, parents and other coaches…  How do you feel about a coach holding his or her players’ feet to the proverbial fire?  And, how do you feel about explaining oneself as I did?  Further, since I will at least once or twice per year tell my players that I made a coaching mistake (or whatever), how do you feel about that?

Shaun Goodsell, MA

Still, I find the “L” forecheck to be the simplest of all, and easy enough for most beginners and intermediate players to eventually understand and execute.

Better yet, as you’ll soon discover, this forecheck is great for teaching basic playing principles.

Also, I think my explanation of this strategy provides some insight into the way I deal with our game (and the way you can expect me to deal with most other areas).  I mean, a lot of coaches will just dump a sketch in your lap and expect you to go out and immediately teach it.  As you’ll see, however, there’s a lot more that should be understood about any given tactic or strategy, including the thought processes or decisions each player encounters.  And, once he or she has gotten into the following, I think any member coach will have the confidence to implement — and even troubleshoot — this simple way to forecheck.

My work happens to have me spending a lot of time alone.  So, the thousands of other soloists in Twitterland offer me plenty of cyber-friends I can bounce ideas off, or just plain commiserate with.

Then, talk about the chance to share ideas…  With my rather outside-the-box approach to hockey training, I find it awesome to meet and talk with specialist from all kinds of fields — like track, strength training, mental training, nutrition and so many more.

Better yet, I’ve for a very long time said that Twitter members are some of the best and the brightest in the world.  And, among the best and brightest is one Nicole M LaVoi (photo to right).

Dr LaVoi is an Education specialist at the University of Minnesota’s School of Kinesiology, and she’s an expert when it comes to youth sports, especially when it comes to the interactions of players, coaches and parents.  In fact, she has authored or co-authored a number of articles on the latter subject (two of these cited below).

As an aside here…  Having just finished reading one of those studies, I know that the authors had some very serious concerns in mind — like the ways abusive coaches, unsettled homes, and confrontations between parents influence young kids trying to play “a game”.

Yet, a March 15, 2009 Twitter post by Dr LaVoi really struck a chord with me.  You see, I’ve for a very long time been bothered by parents who attempt to coach their kids from the sidelines (or from a rink’s bleachers).  So, I really took notice when she commented that (based on studies), “…kids say ‘coaching from sidelines’ is the #1 bad parent behavior they don’t like.”

Now, if you’re unfamiliar with Twitter, you should know that members are confined to 140 characters per comment.  So it’s sometimes difficult to put things in plain English.  Still, there’s no doubting what Nicole was relating from that study — pretty much to the effect that, “Kids say they hate it when parents attempt to coach from the sidelines!”

Again, I’ll suggest that this sort of parent behavior probably pales to some of the other things discussed in that study.  Yet, interference by parents during team activities really is a biggie when it comes to the coach-player relationship.

As examples…

Parents usually haven’t a clue what has been agreed upon in a team’s pre-game talk or at various times during the game.  Nor do they know what changes in roles may have been asked of certain players.  And, as kids climb the ladder in our game, it’s likely that team related strategies will change pretty often, even from shift to shift.  So, my first point:

It’s quite possible that parents are calling for their youngsters to do the exact opposite of what’s really expected of them — by their coach, by their teammates.

Then, consider that our game is one of transition.  In other words, player roles change in a heartbeat — from offense to defense, from defense to offense.  Said yet another way, our game calls for instant reading of a situation, followed by an equally quick — and proper — reaction.  We’re talking about playing on instinct here, really.  And that brings me to my second point:

There’s no time to really think under these conditions, and there’s surely no time for a player to listen to verbal instructions, process the information, and then react accordingly.

Finally — and thanks to Dr Nicole M LaVoi, et al, there’s a third point, in that:

We now know that the calling of directions from the sidelines by parents can be especially unsettling to the kids.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself, and telling you the gist of the short video to follow.  Actually, I created this for my Team NEHI parents a few years ago, hoping to encourage them in one area while discouraging in another.  And, as always, I ask you to have a look and listen to “Up the boards, Johnny!”, then let me know what you think…

If you’d like to know more about the studies referenced above, please see:

Omli, J., & LaVoi, N.M. (2009). The perfect storm: Background anger in youth sports. Journal of Sport Behavior, 32(2), 242-260.

Shields, D.L. Bredemeier, B.L., LaVoi, N.M., & Power, C.F. (2005). The behavior of youth, parents, and coaches: The good, the bad & the ugly. Journal of Research on Character Education, 3(1).

Mental Edge

As we participate and engage in life there is a constant exchange of information. We send energy into the environment and we get it back. From a competitive perspective, we attempt to impact our environment through our actions and hopefully allow ourselves to be open to feedback we are getting. However, it is also very important that we evaluate the relationship we cultivate with the information from outside of us to determine whether or not we are learning the lessons present to make the adjustments in our performance that helps us move towards improved performance.

With this in mind, I want to compare two types of responses and how they impact performance.

The first response is FIGHT. When we fight with the information from outside of us we often have an underlying expectation that things should be going different and we are entitled to a different fate or outcome. When people engage in a fight response they often become disappointed, anxious, and some become more determined to work harder and more diligent, while others disengage because they become pessimistic about their ability to dictate a different outcome. This over time creates significant discouragement and leads to a reduction in motivational energy. There are many possible examples of this but when an athlete’s performance falls short at any moment the game will give them information that they have to make sense of. When they FIGHT this information is when a series of thoughts flow and the fight response is in full function.

Another way to deal with the feedback we get from our performance is to engage in FLOW. At the core of this relationship with our environment is the ability to absorb, accept, and make emotional and physical adjustments using the moment as a learning opportunity leading to enhanced performance… using what is happening in the here and now. Expectations stay realistic and our response is focused, relaxed and very intentional. I have found that teaching athletes to learn from the information they are getting from around them truly empowers them to find advantages on their opponent as well as enhance their performance, utilizing not only their bodies but also their minds.

At the Mental Edge we are committed to helping athletes learn to FLOW with the environment around them leading to an enhanced experience as well as improved performance in sport and in life.  We have launched an Audio Series that will give athletes a tool to perform in sport and in life with FLOW — staying away from fight! Our new Audio Series is called Mind Strength: an Edge on your Competition by Mastering Five Mental Toughness Skills To Become a Winner on the Field and in Life.

In my case, I don’t want to miss covering a single aspect of the game.  So I’ve devised several ways to arrive at checklists — for team strategies and positional tactics, as well as for the individual skills that help my players execute those well.

Now, you might find it interesting the way I’ve arrived at the various categories here at CoachChic.com.  Actually, though, that’s also pretty close to the way my personal coaching notebook is arranged for next season.

All that said, the following video probably over-simplifies things a bit (and it might be a little boring to some).  But that’s the way I am…  For the sake of my players — and for YOUR sake, I just don’t want to risk glossing-over anything or missing a single step.  So, here goes with a look at “Breaking Down the Game”…

That said, I’d like member players, parents and coaches to pay particular attention to the so-called “little things” I point-out in the following video.  For, I think an awareness of these skills — from both a physical and mental perspective — can make a profound impact on any individual’s or team’s ability to move the puck out of their end.  Then, once you’ve seen the video, I’d like to add a few more comments (below)…

Now that you’ve had a chance to watch that video, I’d like to emphasize a few things…

As you’ll catch me saying often, playing the game well calls for great skills and an ability to think the game.  (Believe it or not, I occasionally run across folks at local arenas who feel players can avoid one or the other and still excel.)

As I said in the video, skill-wise a player needs to be able to skate his or her position, handling the puck under pressure is essential, and it’s also an absolute necessity that players make and catch passes.

It should also be evident that players can’t just close their eyes and fire the puck in some general direction.  In fact, I made the point that we would like to fool the opposition forecheckers when possible, and that the first pass in our zone is especially important.

Finally, because the breakout is actually a combination of many skills and thought processes, look for me to add a number of new videos in coming months, these focusing in more depth on each small breakout part.

The following is another great question sent me via the Youth Sports Coalition.  As with many others, it’s a real challenge.  More importantly. I believe my answer is something every CoachChic.com member ought to consider.

– Dennis Chighisola

Q: Anonymous asks a pretty tough question, and one for which there probably isn’t a right or wrong answer.  As the parent of a second year Bantam describes the situation, his/her son is currently extremely small compared to others in his age group.  Perhaps repeating some medical advice, Anonymous does state that, “…it will be several years before he will start to catch up size wise to his peers.”  With that, the parent asks for advice on two hockey playing options for next year — one offering more practices but possibly less game-time, the other likely to give the boy more playing time but less practice.  Oh, then he/she suggests a third possible option, as in, “Is it time to just give up on hockey?”

A: If anyone wants my opinion when faced with a choice between games and practices, I’ll always opt for more practices.  Practices are where players get to hone their skills; no one ever improved from playing in a game (I could write the equivalent of “War and Peace” on this subject).

That said, the mentioning of a third option by Anonymous bothers me a little.  I mean, I’m wondering if the idea of packing it in is just something that’s crossing the parent’s mind, or is it a feeling the youngster has openly expressed.  No matter, please read on…

Actually, I can’t help raising a point I think about often.  You see, all winter long I get to watch the guys coming and going from a local senior league that plays next door to where my team practices.  It’s a night-out for those older guys — feeling part of a team again, getting some exercise, hanging long after their games to have a few beers, swap war stories and have some laughs.  The funny thing is, the teams are a mix of former NHL players and other old pros, long ago college players and probably some guys who didn’t play that high when they were younger.  Plenty of my former high school and college players are there too, which brings me to sense that they must have really loved the game if they’re still at it.

And that’s the point I want to raise for Anonymous’ sake, in that, on a Monday night in Hingham, MA, it seems to matter not where the guys had been long before.  As a matter of fact, it appears to me that all of those senior league members have returned to where they began, just playing the game for the love of it.  And if we think about it further, the guys who reached fairly high levels only stayed there for a fraction of all the time they’ve played.  Or, said yet another way, they’ve spent most of their lives playing just for the love of it.

Now, if Anonymous can agree with what I’ve said to this point, perhaps the most important next step is to resolve his/her son’s reason for playing.  Oh, hockey isn’t for everyone, and there are countless other things a young teen can do for enjoyment.  However, if the boy feels as I suspect — still loving the game, this might at least help ease some current bumps in the road.  Perspective is everything, you know.  And by that, I’ll suggest that the best and the least players on any young team had better not be going to the rink on a given night with visions of the NHL (whatever).  No, I think it better that every youngster head-out with a smile, and mainly just for the love of it.

I hope Anonymous understands why I dealt primarily with the larger question here.  For, that solved, it’ll probably become clearer which team his/her son should aim for.

Then, despite my 40-ish years in the game, I wouldn’t dare predict which young players will or won’t “make it” in the end (and I’ll further suggest that professional scouts couldn’t do any better).  Sure, anyone can spot the kid with potential on a given night.  But things change rapidly in a youngster’s life — physically and interest-wise.  Besides, it’s hard to measure what’s inside a young player, beginning with his love of the game.

For sure, I do a lot for my players’ when it comes to their skills and playing smarts, but I also do quite a bit to improve their psyche.  And it’s the latter — trying to help my kids carry themselves and act like true athletes — that I’d like to comment on here.  In particular, I’d like to share with you something I frequently try to convince my older guys about…

You see, this is something I always felt from my experiences as a long-time high school and then college head coach, in that skills tend to get a player noticed — and they tend to help a kid make his or her team; thereafter, however, hockey smarts tend to get a player ice time.  Think along with me, if you will…

About all that’s really recognized at tryouts is whether a player fits — skill-wise.  All sorts of drills are conducted for this purpose, without there being much a coach can do to discover whether the players can think and skate, or play the game according to sound hockey principles.

Once his or her team is named, a coach goes about the next steps, which include filtering players towards their positions or rolls, and then teaching them his or her playing system.  And it’s at this time that hockey smarts (or a lack thereof) start to show.

As an aside…  Of course, a player’s skill capabilities enter into the amount of ice time he or she gets.  But, for the sake of this discussion, let’s envision that most team members are in the ballpark when it comes to skill oriented capabilities.

Actually, that process — of assessing and re-assessing each player’s ability to think the game or play the system — continues throughout a season.  In other words, make dumb plays with the puck in your own end, and you might expect to sit.  Forget your assignment on a face-off, and you might not hear your name called for a long, long time.

So again, if you can appreciate my point…  Great skills are sure to get a player noticed — and probably picked — during a difficult tryout process.  In a way though, a new process starts right after tryouts end, this one involving the battle for ice time.  And, while skills are still a factor in logging lots of ice, so are hockey smarts and an ability to execute the coach’s playing system.

Finally, I’ve come to believe that understanding the above is really a part of each player’s mentality.  And I also believe this mind set is best taught early — again, convincing him or her to build highlight reel skills, but at the same time realizing the need to be smart and adaptable (to whatever strategies and tactics a new coach might want to employ).

This is a great follow-up to the last Mental Training entry.  (So please be sure to read that first!)

– Dennis Chighisola

Shaun Goodsell, MA
Senior Performance Coach

Shaun@MentalEdgeNow.com

If you scan or read most articles describing the success or failure of an athlete, inevitably, somewhere in the article there will be the mention of confidence as the crucial factor dictating success or failure. Why is it that so many believe that confidence is so important? I think it is because we are addicted to feeling good and believe that everything begins with feeling good. If someone succeeds we think it is because they believe they can. If they fail it is because they do not believe they can. The fact is that it is much more complicated then this.

What dictates a person’s level of success is whether or not they have the skills to be effective, not how deeply they believe in themselves. Although a belief in oneself is helpful, it is not the determining factor in one’s level of effectiveness. The time athletes spend developing their skills and their subsequent mastery of those skills is the most significant factor in determining their level of success. When an athlete masters skills and transfers their mastery to competitive arenas then a deep level of belief forms. Cultivating this deep belief starts with believing that specific skills are the vital difference makers in competitive situations and the application of those is what is responsible for success.

One story that highlights this concept happens often in the sport of baseball. When a pitcher is unable to get hitters out there might be any number of reasons for that. They are not hitting their spots, changing speeds, lacking velocity, or simply not studying hitters and learning how to get them out.

In football it could be a lack of speed, execution, or game planning. In hockey it could be some fundamentals are lacking making it difficult to create success.

The belief that a person has in their ability to be effective and successful is completely tied to their level of skill development and this is one of the vital factors that goes into helping young athletes shape the kind of mindset that helps them compete successfully as well as enjoy doing it. So next time you are tempted to believe that it was confidence that dictated an outcome, maybe look a bit deeper and see if skill application wasn’t what dictated the outcome.

If the above article causes you to sense that Shaun and The Old Coach might be  on the same wavelength, beleve it.   Actually, I was think all the time I read it that just about every drill and game playing tip on this website was initially developed with a player’s confidence in mind.  And my suggestions to go slowly and to master each step before taking on the next is also aimed at building confidence.  Confidence IS that important.  With it, a guy or gal is a real player; without it, welll…

– Dennis Chighisola

Once again I apologize for the fact that the following video was produced just prior to the drastic changes made to rules involving body contact and such.  And again, I promise to do an update in time for your new season next fall.

Also, this VERY important note…  When I think about a smart player, checking — or the defensive side of his or her game — comes quickly to mind.  It’s that important, and it’s a major part of our game’s X’s and O’s.  So, while players and parents should certainly know this information, I truly believe the dedicated coach has to understand these principles well enough to convey them well to his or her players…

I happened to be browsing the Mental Edge website this morning, and I ran across the following.  Something just struck me about the words, but I’ll tell you a more about that a little later.  For now, please have a read…

– Dennis Chighisola

EXPERTS AGREE one’s mental approach can separate the ordinary achiever from the exceptional one. A positive mental approach is also strongly correlated with those individuals who derive a positive experience from their participation in athletic competition.

However, the skills required to achieve individual goals are often overlooked because the primary focus for development is concentrated more on physical attributes than mental approach.

At Mental Edge, our mission is to increase personal achievement and elevate the experience of individuals through mentoring and the teaching of competencies necessary to achieve a positive experience, on and off the field of play.

We believe personal satisfaction is fundamental to participation in sports … and in life.

I have to thank Mental Edge’s Shaun Goodsell for those words.

Now, the real reason I think this short piece is so important to our members?  It’s because I feel he’s right-on in his observation — in that “the primary focus for development (among most youth hockey parents) is concentrated more on physical attributes”.  Yes, I see an awful lot of parents carting their kids from skills program to skills program, oftentimes helping create what I (only half-jokingly) refer to as “professional powerskaters”.  Come to think of it, I’ve noticed an awful lot of youth coaches running skills-only kinds of practices, too — whipping their kids up and down the ice, but never really helping them learn the game.

Oh, I suspect that isn’t EXACTLY what Shaun was getting at up above, although I am sure he meant to say that much more emphasis is placed on physical skills than the mental side of a player’s game.

Which brings me to a few things involving my NEHI players…

• At least a few times per season I purposely have a talk with my older kids about the thinking side of their game.  And I’ll frequently use two levels of play I’m sure most of them are familiar with — in that they’ve all seen a number of Boston Bruins games, as well as games played by Boston’s highest minor league team, the nearby Providence Bruins.  Through a back and forth discussion, we’ll try to reason why some highly talented guys down on the farm never get a chance to crack the parent team’s line-up. Again, there are some highly skilled players down there on the “Baby B’s,” yet they never get an NHL call-up. ???  What we ultimately arrive at is the fact that some of those young guys can’t yet be trusted to think the game at a high level.  They may not be able to stay focused on the task at hand (see my “Think ‘n Skate” Program for more on this), or they might not possess the mental skills Shaun Goodsell is talking about.
• Just near the end of my grandson’s first college exhibition season, he called to ask if I’d do him a huge favor.  He remembered some “visualization” tapes I’d created years ago for my hockey school students.  What I did was to make audio cassette tapes for each of the three skating positions, and then I had the kids lie back — eyes closed, relaxed, and then “picturing” themselves performing their various duties during a typical shift.  Anyway, Tony Chic was asking if I might recreate one for his center position, so that he could transfer the audio to his IPod.  (Darn, good for him, huh?)  And, hmmmmm…  Did I just suggest to myself a new project that might benefit CoachChic.com members?  I mean, would you someday like to have access to visualization audio programs like I’ve just mentioned?  Let me know, huh?

Then, back briefly to one last comment on skills training and the like…  Without question, greatly enhanced skills bring with them a substantial boost in confidence.  So, daring to put words in Shaun’s mouth on this one, I think we’d both tell you to keep working hard on those individual skills.  Actually, the point here isn’t to suggest backing-off on physical work; the idea IS that appropriate attention has to also be given to the mental side of a player’s game.

Finally, I’ll suggest that there are (at least?) two parts to an athlete’s mental preparation…  As I’ve noted above, a transition sport participant must learn to combine great physical skills with an ability to play smartly (and that’s what our “Thinking the Game” section is all about).  For the rest, I gladly defer to the real experts, Shaun Goodsell and his Mental Edge staff.

– Dennis Chighisola

Oh, apologies in advance…  This video was produced just before the sweeping new changes came into effect involving physical contact.  So, please take what you can from that area, and trust that I’ll create an updated version in time for you’re next season.

As Justin Johnson will explain shortly, he took some time last August to visit with athletes and to discuss with them their approaches to a just completed off-season.  And I thought reflecting back on these should be interesting — and very helpful — as CoachChic.com members plan their own spring and summer training programs.

Dennis Chighisola

Justin Johnson
Mental Edge Performance Advisor

As I’ve traveled around this past month discussing with athletes about how they have spent their summer, I’ve stumbled across an interesting phenomenon. A great number of athletes, of all abilities mind you, have decided to take on a Quantity over Quality approach in their off-season. In their pursuit of excellence athletes find themselves practicing sport-specific skills sometimes up to four or more hours a day, six days a week. Pile on top of that, games, lifting, and for many others, a summer sport or camp. As an athlete you begin to wear very thin.

It is amazing when you sit down with a group of athletes and ask them about what they have learned or gained from all of these hours of activity. The response ranges from a puzzled look to a list of three or four things. By physically participating in all of this activity and training, the athlete has been forced to move from an intense focused form of training, which yields the most results, to a more conservative way of training so they have enough energy to get them through the entire day or week.

The reason so few athletes have a response to what they have learned is because mentally they move in a zombie- like state from one activity to another. Not remembering how or what they did last week in their game or practice. So an ironic situation occurs, despite all of the activity athletes are involved in only a select few are gaining any experience from their involvement.

How can you combat this? Well, it’s simple; set some time aside to reflect. Take a few minutes after each activity you partake in and ask yourself a few questions:

What did I learn?
What could I have done better?
What did I do well?
What should I try next time?
Was that fun?

You can also write in a daily or weekly journal to keep track of the activities you are doing and what you are gaining from them. This journal will be an incredibly valuable asset as you move through the summer compiling all of the great learning experiences. As you look back over your entries throughout the summer you will begin to get a sense of what is working for you and what isn’t. The journal will also help you in the following off season. Depending on how detailed you are you should have a great blueprint for what you should and shouldn’t sign up for and participate in. This way you can look forward to a more efficient and effective off season as well as the knowledge that you have become a more experienced athlete.

As sort of a PS to Justin’s great piece…

I think older players and parents of young players should come away with the idea that some planning will really help make the coming off-season more productive and even more fun.  Justin’s 5-point checklist should aid in that.

But I’d like to especially emphasize the fun part here…  You see, I believe there’s a fine line between a routine being fairly enjoyable or being a flat-out drudgery.  And, besides my concerns for how a player feels during his or her off-season, I’m overly worried about his or her mental and physical states as the new hockey season approaches.  I mean, the last thing we want is for a player to be already spent — either physically or emotionally — come next Labor Day.  Actually, the best case scenario would have them entering the fall just dying to get back on the ice.

So, for the time being, I hope you’ll just consider the broad ideas outlined to this point.  More help in this area is on the horizon.

As a brief follow-up…  When it comes to dump-ins, I’ve noticed higher level strategies evolving over the years.  And, don’t be surprised if they continue to do so.

There was a time when dumps were usually carried out just as I’ve described them in the video — I mean, hard around the boards or softly to the opposite corner.  Then there was a time when higher level teams shied away from sending their dumps around, because goaltenders got pretty good — and mobile enough to stop those pucks.  In more recent years, I’ve noticed teams again daring to fire the puck hard around.  As a matter of fact, a lot of teams are sending the puck in so hard that it travels around and through both end corners so that a teammate can grab it along the boards and fairly high in the offensive zone.  My real point, though, is that the ideas I’ve mentioned in the video are valid for most levels.  However, a clever coach just might make some slight adjustments as he or she sees the game change.

One freezing cold winter night my team traveled north to New Hampshire to do battle with a very tough opponent.  Worse yet, the flu bug had hit my squad, leaving us without several top skaters and my two best goaltenders.

Still, my assistant coaches and I concocted a pretty good game plan.  We were going to ask our guys to play super-conservatively, and we were going to ask them to do everything smartly.  (More on the smartly part in a moment.)

As luck (and my players’ hard work) would have it, we scored two quick goals that night, and we were limiting our opponents’ shots from far out and from bad angles.  We even managed to keep that lead — and that style of play going — through almost two periods on foreign ice.

Now, besides employing a very conservative forecheck, I’d ask my guys to do some other things that were absolutely necessary to the predicament we were in.  For example, I suggested that we had to eat at the game clock as much as possible.  And I also advised the guys to dump the puck most times, and to only think offense when our opponents made mistakes, or when we had a really good chance of scoring.

Actually, by taking a quick lead, we’d created  conditions that frustrated our rivals.  And they did start making the kinds of mistakes teams make when they can’t seem to generate any offense.  Sure enough, they started taking chances with the puck, and they forced passes numerous times right to my guys’ sticks.

Ya, everything was going according to plan, and we’d managed to kill nearly two-thirds of the game while clinging to that slim lead.

So, what happens late in that second stanza is that one of my very offensive minded forwards eventually steals the puck in neutral ice, and he starts carrying towards the NH team’s zone.  We’d been over this situation countless times to this point — back home in our last practice, in our pre-game talk, and as recently as the last intermission.  What my guy had to read was his honest-to-goodness chances of successfully carrying the puck on towards the goal.

Darn, but he had to see that there were three enemy defenders in front of him, and that the only sane thing to do was to dump the puck so we could move into our forecheck.  Not this time, though…  Instead he barged right into those defenders and immediately coughed-up the puck.  The opponent who stole the puck relayed it up-ice to a streaking winger who fired a slapshot into our goal.

And don’t you know that that one goal lit a fire under our rivals, and they managed a 2-2 tie just before the period ended.  Oh, and we could hear them hooting and howling in the dressingroom down the hall.  They were believing in themselves again, and they were ready to blow our doors off in the final period.

Okay, so what did I think really went wrong?

In a way, I couldn’t fault my young forward. I felt what happened wasn’t intentional, but more a difficulty he — and countless other players — had developed in their earliest years.  I mean, our game is kind of fast, wild and tense (to list just a few adjectives).  And just by its very nature, I can appreciate how players can momentarily lose their heads or make a wrong decision in the heat of battle.

Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about that turning point in our game — all the bus ride home, and for the days, weeks and months after.  You see, although I’ve coached teams for numerous years, I’m really a skills coach inside.  So, when I’ve seen good and bad plays at the higher levels, I’ve always felt I could design something for younger guys and gals to help them when they reach those higher levels.

And what I thought I’d been seeing with a lot of older players was a difficulty in dealing with a physical challenge while also keeping a clear head and staying with a plan.

So, with a summer hockey school starting a few months after that college season ended, I set-out to design a program that would help young players learn to “Skate ‘n Think” at the same time.  In other words, my idea was to give the kids a simple physical challenge, while also asking them to deal with a mental problem.

With that, the following video shows what I’ve done with my idea through the years since then. (Although I created this form of drilling in the late 1980′s, you’ll notice that I only produced this video a few years ago.) Once you’ve watched it, see below, because I have a lot more to add…

Now that you have an idea of the program I ultimately designed, let me go back to the initial problem — as I see it…

Do you recall those young teenagers hopping across the lawn on large balls?  (I also used a photo of it at the top of this page.)  Well, one of those kids took a pretty nasty spill halfway through the drill.  I just happened to be holding the camera near the end of the course and I was able to see his face as he arrived and readied to give his coach the answer.  The fact is, if ever they had to put a “deer caught in the headlights” sample in a dictionary, there would be none better than the look on that poor boy’s face.

What had happened was that he got messed up by the fall, and he lost all train of thought.  Little wonder he’d forgotten the mental problem he was asked to deal with.

So, I have to ask you…  Do hockey players face similar challenges in their games?  You bet.  They get spun around, tripped-up, they take awful spills and ferocious body-checks.  And, is there a chance they’re going to have that deer in the headlights moment, just like my young camp student?  Or is there the chance they’re going to recover and forget the game plan, the score, the time remaining in a period?  Again, you can bet at least some players will.

Then a few short asides…

Within my other videos, you’ll often see my kids tumbling while performing another skill.  I have them do it for other purposes too, but one good reason I mix this skill with others is to artificially cause a little confusion.

Ironically, as I was doing a little research earlier today, I found an on-line article describing some rather unorthodox methods used by old Soviet coaches.  It seems Anatoli Tarasov and other USSR coaches knew their players had to be prepped for the numerous adversities that take place in a game.  So, the Russian coaches would actually — purposely — trip or otherwise foul players during practices or apply some last minute off-the-wall rules to drills and scrimmages.

Finally, I am going to start using this form of drilling again once my players return to The MOTION Lab this spring, and I’ll continue it when we later move to the ice.  Yet, even though this seems like a team-type activity, a parent could easily create a “Think ‘n Skate” set of problems for his or her youngster to do at home.  And, an older player could just as easily use some imagination to take advantage of these combined physical and mental challenges.

In keeping with our current theme — as in using the coming off-season wisely, nothing could be more appropriate than some great advice on “goal setting”.  So, thanks to another member of the Mental Edge team, here’s a great piece by Justin Johnson!

– Dennis Chighisola

Justin Johnson

Mental Edge Performance Advisor

June marks the start for many young athletes’ summer training. For most this is their off season, a chance to start a new and build speed strength and endurance in hopes that this three- month period will yield great results. However more often then not even the best intentions leave the athlete in only slightly better shape, and likely confused on whether or not what they have done will equal the results they set out to reach. The best way to eliminate this trend is set up a plan that will lead them to success. Below I will discuss three crucial skills around developing an effective and efficient off season.

What have you got?
In athletics and in life we have two types of personal currency Time and Energy. One without the other is useless and often times the mismanagement of the two leads to frustration, regret and confusion. Your first focus needs to be on how you can effectively and efficiently balance your time and energy. Managing this currency is a day to day process that requires you to keep your priorities in check. Discipline in this skill will set the athlete up for a greater chance of success in the next area, Goal Setting.

Begin with the end in mind
Each off season, or any period in which you hope to make gains or reach a goal, requires you to contemplate your desired results. When working with our athletes we call these the WANT goals. A few examples of want goals could be: shaving a second off your 40 time, gain 10 lbs. of muscle, or develop greater flexibility. These goals are often the easiest to think of and serve as a launching board for your off season for a number of reasons. First when you set a goal it gives you a target. That target forces you to look around and evaluate where you currently stand in the path of reaching your goals. For some this path is close and clear, for others it’s long and practically hidden. If unclear of where you are consult with a trusted coach, or family member who will give you constructive honest feedback, not a self-esteem boost.

The second, and most often misunderstood, portion of effective goal setting is what we call the DO goals. DO goals are simply the actions you have to take in order to get what you WANT. Although pretty straight forward this is where the young athlete typically gets led astray. There are two criteria that make up an effective DO goal: It must be something you have complete control over, and it must give you headway towards your intended target. For example if you are a sprinter hoping to shave time from your sprints you most certainly wouldn’t train by running 2 miles in hopes of shaving that time. A more effective use of your time and energy should be spent on start technique. Your technique is something you have complete control over, and by working on it you have given yourself the opportunity to move closer toward your intended WANT goal. DO goals should be compared to rungs on a ladder: each time you accomplish a DO goal it leads you closer up the ladder to your WANT.

If you can effectively manage your time and energy and organize your training around your intended results using WANT and DO goals you will have a great start to a quality off- season experience.

Talk about exciting…  It gives me great pleasure to introduce a new guest contributor to CoachChic.com in the way of Shaun Goodsell.  Shaun has had a passion for working with and helping kids and adolescents for the better part of his life. He has been working with kids in adverse situations for twenty years and has seen many of them through the most horrific of situations. He grew up playing hockey and running cross-country for his local high school and has also run an amazing six marathons! With a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology and his undying love for athletics and young people, Shaun has combined his academic background, his innate love for working with kids and adolescents and finally, his passion for sports in general to create The Mental Edge. A company which not only guides athletes toward a higher ground in measures of performance, but also in their every day lives.  So, knowing members are going to love Shaun’s contributions (and perhaps some by his associates), here goes…

Shaun Goodsell, MA
Senior Performance Coach

Shaun@MentalEdgeNow.com

Over the past twenty plus years I have spent thousands of hours with teenagers, parents and coaches. The time spent has taught me that many teenage athletes are hungry for quality feedback that is descriptive, specific, and informed. The more kids get this type of feedback the more they are equipped to direct their physical and mental energy towards improving, as well as, leveraging strengths. This seems to unleash energy, engagement, and passion that many coaches and parents are often surprised to see, yet, scratch their heads on how to replicate.

What is truthful is that “the truth is intriguing”. What is false is “encouragement is the answer to every struggle a kid has”. When we as coaches and parents give truthful feedback in an intriguing manner (even though that feedback might create pain) we often set kids free from unrealistic expectations, unnecessary pressure, and engage them in ways we have not been able to in the past. Let me share an example. Many hockey players go into games with personal expectations of themselves that they should be impact players. In their minds that means scoring or tallying points. However, many of these players get discouraged game in and game out only to be told to” be patient it will come”. The truth is there are very few impact players and this player may be best served by being told they do not currently possess the skills to be an impact player. To a player that most likely has experienced frustration and disappointment, they might be set free to now excel in other ways because they were told the truth.

It is my belief that we better serve our young athletes by telling them the truth. The truth truly does set you free!

If you are looking to sharpen YOUR Mental Edge and want to learn more about creating a strategy that maximizes your personal strengths, please email Dawn@MentalEdgeNow.com today!

Shaun

And, in a future entry I’ll explain and show a video on a special drill format I created over a decade ago called “Think ‘n Skate”.  Wait ’til you see it!

The good part of this Q and A section is that I’m getting to make some great new friends, and the ones I’ve answered here so far have submitted some great questions.  If there’s a tough part about this, it’s that I’m already getting overwhelmed (the first month into this new site)!  So, please be patient with me (hey, I’m trying to hurry – LOL); I intend to answer each and every question — promise!

– Dennis C

Q: Jackson H. asks for some ideas for timing his team’s breakout, especially when it comes to when his off-side winger starts moving down the ice.  The immediate problem, as Jackson notes, is that, “We have one winger on our team that always seems to leave a little too early, making it difficult for the centre or puck side winger to pass to him.”  In particular, Jackson is looking for some sort of a cue to give kids in that position, as in, “Don’t cross the _____ before _____…”

A: Right off the bat, I have to give Coach H. credit in looking for simple cues.  That’s what our job should be about as coaches, simplifying the game for our players any time we can.

That said, I think much of what we’d want here should be based on what we’re trying to accomplish with the far-side guy.

So, being not-so-simple at first, let me provide a little insight into what I like to do…  For, both defensively and offensively, I like to create depth in the deployment of my 5-skaters.  As this translates to my breakouts, it would likely have two defensemen back aways at first, a puck-side winger and centerman moving mid-defensive zone, and the far-side winger moving into neutral ice.

I think one cue that would help Jackson’s guy quite a bit (and his currently not doing this is likely the real problem), is that the off-side winger shouldn’t take-off until he’s absolutely sure the puck is being moved safely to the second wave (the other winger or the center).  That, in of itself, will probably prevent a far-side guy from getting too far ahead of his mates.

I might add a second thought here, as well…  I’ve noticed some of my lead breakout guys sometimes moving so far ahead of their teammates that their stick-blades are blocked by a rival defenseman.  I mean, my centerman or winger with the puck is trying to feed that guy with a cross-ice pass, but an opposition defender — or the defender’s stick lies in the way.  Really, it’s just a matter of inches — or at most, a few feet, but a clear path MUST be seen from the passer’s stick-blade to the blade of the potential receiver.  As simple as that sounds, however, a lot of young players just don’t seem to grasp the concept.

Well, I hope that helped you, Jackson, at least somewhat.  If not, though, please don’t hesitate to clarify your question even further.

By the way, some viewers might feel as though some of the information — here and throughout this site — is sort of basic.  That’s this old coach’s nature, though, to make sure absolutely nothing is skipped or glossed over.  And, if you think about it, the so-called “little things” tend to make the biggest differences to the success of individual players and teams.

So, take a look at installment two in this special series on Checking, or the defensive side of your game…

At body-checking levels, certain cues can be spotted as to a back-skating defenseman’s intentions.

For example, a smart attacker can watch a defenseman’s skates for a hint of what that guy wants to do.  I mean, those skates are almost always a dead give-away…

On the one hand, a back-skating defender might keep the skates under his body in order to stay moving backwards and to stay mobile.

On the other hand, a defenseman will almost always start to spread his skates in order to gain strength and stability in anticipation of a body-check.  So, when an attacker reads this cue, it’s a good time to put on the jets and  blast around that D.

]]> http://www.coachchic.com/reading-a-defenseman-on-the-1-on-1/feed/ 4 http://www.coachchic.com/turning-points/ http://www.coachchic.com/turning-points/#comments Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:06:51 +0000 Dennis Chighisola http://www.coachchic.com.php5-4.websitetestlink.com/turning-points/ The other night I really enjoyed watching a local college hockey game.  And, although I was mainly there socially, I couldn’t help but occasionally see things through a coach’s eyes.

In the early-going, the supposedly weaker team (henceforth the home team) performed seeming miracles by shutting down their stronger opponent.  In fact, the first period ended with the home team holding a nice 2-0 lead.

As is customary at such a level, the home team initially opened the second stanza with a very conservative forecheck.  Actually, all was going well — at first, with the visitors seeming to be pretty frustrated.

Now, as a coach, I frequently have the feeling that there are “turning points” in a game.  I mean, flow might be going in favor of one team, when suddenly something happens to drastically shift the momentum.  And, that’s what I’m sure I saw occur about 5-minutes into that second period…

What happened at about that time is that the home team had a nice offensive rush.  All three home squad forwards went hard to the net, with the puck eventually trickling behind the goal-line.  From there a home team forward made what I think was a blind pass towards the front of the net.  Also at that point I think the momentum of the game turned drastically.

For, a visiting player scooped the errant pass, which led to a man-advantage rush and then a ton of shots down the other end.  So strong was the pressure on their goaltender that a home team defenseman was ultimately called for a penalty.  Within seconds on the powerplay, the visitors netted their first goal.  Minutes later — probably on a high from their sudden resurgence — the visitors potted another.  Tie game!  And, with the home squad now on their heels, the visitors took the lead for good.

Ironically, I cringed when I first noticed that huge mistake, although I had no idea at the time if it would prove as fatal as it did.

So, what really went wrong?  First, a team has to play a little differently when protecting a lead.  And, I’d have to say that a team that is probably less talented than their opponents had better play all the smarter — and more conservatively — when they’re ahead.

Actually, what went wrong was really a two-parter…  Sure, the team in the lead would have loved to have added another goal.  But, not at the expense of taking risks.  And it was probably an unwarranted risk at the time to have all three forwards go too deeply into the offensive zone.  Worse yet, a blind pass backwards — or towards their opponents’ end — was just asking for trouble.  I mean, these are the kinds of passes that are so often picked-off to result in 2 on 1′s or 3 on 2′s the other way (don’t forget that all three home team forwards were down low in the zone at that time).

And so it happened that night.  Of course, we’ll never know if things could have worked out differently — IF all three attacking forwards weren’t buried in their end, IF the opponents hadn’t snatched the risky pass, IF the opponents weren’t able to immediately get sustained pressure at the other end, IF, IF and IF…

Still, now you might appreciate the snowball effect — or at least the potential for that — if higher level players don’t play game situations by long-standing hockey principles.  And, while so-called turning points can just as often come from great extra efforts, they’re doubly frustrating if they’re just a matter of thinking the game a little smarter.

I always like to begin any discussion about the defensive side of hockey by putting some things into perspective.  I mean, it can sometimes be difficult for skaters to play a truly balanced game without a solid understanding of where their defensive efforts fit.

So, I’ll be including several short videos in this section over the next few months, with this first episode aimed at better defining the term “checking”.

Loading... ]]> http://www.coachchic.com/checking-the-real-definition/feed/ 1 http://www.coachchic.com/reading-a-defenseman-on-the-1-on-1-tip-1/ http://www.coachchic.com/reading-a-defenseman-on-the-1-on-1-tip-1/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:37:28 +0000 Dennis Chighisola http://www.coachchic.com.php5-4.websitetestlink.com/reading-a-defenseman-on-the-1-on-1-tip-1/ Just as attackers learn to read what a goaltender is attempting to do, a smart puckcarrier should attempt to look for indications of a back-skating defenseman’s intentions.

In almost all instances, a defender will try to guard either the ice behind him or her or the ice in front.  In other words, the “D” will back-up rather quickly (to guard behind) or hold his or her ground in neutral ice (to protect in front).

One way or the other, it’s usually a good idea for the attacker to take what the defenseman gives away…

If the defender quickly back-skates, the attacker can allow him or her to continue until he or she can be used as a screen.

If the defender stalls in neutral ice — trying to stop the rush early, the attacker would be wise to toss the puck behind the defender and then attempt to quickly get around to retrieve it.

So again, it just makes sense to take whatever area the defender concedes.

]]> http://www.coachchic.com/reading-a-defenseman-on-the-1-on-1-tip-1/feed/ 0 http://www.coachchic.com/read-and-react-skills/ http://www.coachchic.com/read-and-react-skills/#comments Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:01:50 +0000 Dennis Chighisola http://www.coachchic.com.php5-4.websitetestlink.com/read-and-react-skills/

I usually hate the crazing terms that arise in hockey coaching circles, because most of them hardly describe the technique or principle they’ve been applied to.  That, however, isn’t the case with the expressions “read” and “react”.

To me, “reading” a play is a mental skill, and it also requires a high degree of alertness.  I’m sure you can appreciate what I mean by alertness, so let’s just move on to explore reading skills…

First, a player must recognize the numerical situation he or she is facing.  For, whether on the attack or defending, totally different tactics are needed in 1 on 1 and 2 on 1 match-ups.  (All other match-ups — like 2 on 2′s and 3 on 2′s — are really just combinations of the previously noted ones.)

Secondly — and beyond just recognizing each situation, there’s the need to know EXACTLY how to deal with each.  Oh, those new to the game might think that there’s some generic way of playing all the situations.  But, that’s the furthest thing from the truth; each requires a specific handling (and I promise to address all the various situations in future posts).

Reading accomplished, the next step is for a player to physically do the right things.  Defensively, this mostly involves “reacting” with effective skating technique and body positioning, while attacking can include all the offensive skills, like skating, puckhandling, passing, pass receiving and shooting.

Now, I suggested in last month’s post (Playing with Balance) that reading and reacting skills can set a player apart from others.  And, this is surely so.  Just think about it…  I’d doubt we’d argue the value of alertness when it comes to beating other players.  So is smartness critical to applying the right solution to a given problem.  Then, of course, it’s the cat-like player who gains the upper hand with great — and quickly applied — individual skills.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Actually, I liken this to when my little sister and I used to play tag around the diningroom table…  That table sure did protect the one trying to avoid being tagged.

And so it is for the puckcarrier behind the net.  He or she can bide their time until a teammate gets open for a pass, or until the first checker decides to chase.  For, if that defensive player does chase-out, he or she usually falls far behind the puckcarrier, thusly allowing a man-advantage for the offensive team.

What I’m really getting at here is the need for players to know where they are on the ice.  Or, as in the case of the above described players, I’m talking about 1) realizing that you’re only a step or two from the red line, and 2) realizing that just a little more effort could have resulted in an effective dump-in and no icing infraction.

As a PS…  I often wonder — when something like the above happens in a game, if the coaches make note of it and later go over it with all of their players.  That’s my suggestion to other coaches.  And, if you’re a parent of a player making any of the mistakes found under “Thinking The Game”, I’d make it a point to discuss them with him or her.  Oh, and by the way…  Those “little things” I see happening in a game are the reason I long ago started jotting the problems you’ll often find here or in “A Coach’s Notebook“.

There are some very good reasons we might accept an occasional defensive zone face-off.  However, neither this month’s or November’s are really worthy of putting our net in jeopardy.

The other night I happened to notice one of my centermen reversing his lower hand on his stick just before moving in to take a face-off.  I’m sure you know what I mean…  He switched his lower hand in the opposite direction, supposedly to gain more strength for pulling the puck rearward.

The good part of this was that my young guy was at least mindful of drawing the puck back amid his teammates.  However, the bad part of this ploy actually reared its ugly head once the puck was dropped.

You see, for a lot of years now, most coaches have steered their face-off men away from this technique for a couple of very good reasons:

1. Going in with that kind of a hand arrangement is a dead giveaway as to what a centerman plans to do;
2. (as happened in the ensuing play) that sort of grip gives a player almost no chance in the battle for a loose puck.

Yes, the latter is exactly what happened…  After an initial swipe at the puck, the biscuit remained between the two combatants until the rival centerman walked away with it.

So again, while a face-off man might be able to gain more strength from that grip, the negatives seemingly far outweigh the positives.

Now, the above diagram shows my “X” defending against a puckcarrier shown as the “O”.  My guy’s positioning is pretty good here, since he’s in between his man and our net, and he’s also holding something close to a 45-degree angle on that man.

When it comes to terminology, I say that my guy’s location — between his man and his own net — puts him on the Plus side of the play.  (As an FYI here, his holding the 45-degree angle assures us that the puckcarrier is trapped towards the boards, and that he isn’t going to easily make his way to our goal.

However, here’s where things can sometimes get tricky — and go terribly wrong — in my Plus and Minus view of things…  Very frequently, two rival players such as these get involved in a tussle along the boards.  And, in the middle of that brief wrestling match, it’s a no-no if my guy at any point gets rolled towards the Minus side.  And, all it takes is for the attacker to gain an advantage for a brief moment.  For, if our guy does get rolled towards the Minus side, it’s quite likely our opponents will have something akin to a man-advantage from that point onward (as indicated by the green line in the sketch below).

Of course, these brief skirmishes can happen anywhere along the boards, in any of the three zones.  Yes, I feel the situation is just as dangerous if our man loses his Plus side positioning far down behind our opponents’ net.

One player attempts a long-bomb pass to a teammate flying through the neutral zone.  The problem is that the pass is off its mark by several feet, and the potential receiver gives-up chasing it.  Of course, that team is called for icing, and the ensuing face-of is brought back down in front of their goal.

Now, to me, that’s a significant penalty to pay for something that just might have been avoided.  Oh, there are times when I feel that an icing call is justified (and I’ll go into that at another time).  On the above play, however, I think it’s well worth the extra effort to save us from that infraction.

That’s part of the reason I usually discuss this topic a few times per season with my players, suggesting that busting their buns to just make contact with an errant pass on the offensive half of the ice is going to help us big-time.  And, besides saving us from a possible icing penalty, a tipped puck is going to eventually fall somewhere in the offensive zone.

So, while some of the above might seem like it doesn’t need saying, I’ve discovered these  concepts aren’t always understood by all players.