When I say “critical”, I mean it. This is information that can make or break a youngster’s athletic ability, and hockey playing abilities. I was going to post this audio and the connected video parts now, but I think it’s important that I give members the opportunity to digest all of this segment first. (Part 2 should be posted shortly.) So, my suggestion: transfer this recording to something that allows you to listen away from your desk, or somewhere that permits you to enter some deep thought. PS: Science and medicine change over time, so it might be possible…
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If you didn’t know by now, there is a lot of bad — or misguided — information out there, when it comes to off-season training advice. Most hockey seasons are winding down right now, so I thought this a good time to offer my two cents worth. Really, I have some great stuff planned for coming weeks and months, and the contents of the nearby video should provide an awesome background to much of that. Number One, of course, is that I have to convince you that the coming off-season can actually be THE most important time of the…
As I finished typing the above title, it struck me how much of my hockey coaching — and problem solving — has relied on the use of video. This brief aside… My first paid coaching gig was at a rink that owned one of the first video recorders and players ever made. And, while this may sound funny today to folks who don’t recall such, I’d never before been able to do what I could do with that machine, like sitting and playing (and playing and playing) a certain segment of a game or a practice, to study every…
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A lot of years ago — actually, before USA Hockey changed to that name, I did a lot of work with their forerunner, AHAUS. And one of those jobs — back when video was very new — included being in on the designing of some instructional tapes to share with their membership. (I mean, the small group I worked with back then was preparing training videos for coaches from the entire United States.) So, we’re in a meeting one night in a nice spot on a pier in Boston, MA, and hashing over the topics to include in our very…
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I’m sure I sometimes sound a little snobbish — like today in social media when I posted: “I got so tired of watching current day hockey coaches teaching backward skating wrong — and I mean REALLY wrong, that I decided to start a video on that subject for my Mastermind Group. Ugh.” Truly, guys, I can’t help myself. Supposed gurus are telling totally wrong or totally unscientific things to unknowing youth coaches, parents and new adult players, and those poor people are going to think their guidance is right. Before going further, I need to refer back to the three…
This might be the second most important teaching principle any hockey coach, parent or player could know. In a nutshell, what it says is that a drill loses its effectiveness once a player (or group of players) has mastered the drill. In a way, my old prof was telling us that we would be wasting our players’ time by reusing and reusing the same drill. Of course, as soon as the drill is mastered, no further growth occurs. What’s the answer? As I showed in the video, it would be to add new challenges. But, in reality, what we’re…