“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 our site’s 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, just to add to this topic, I promise add a special post later this month entitled “Playing with Balance”, which coupled with the current post can help 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.