Unlocking the Power of a Fast Mind in Hockey

It gives me great pleasure to introduce the latest specialist to join us, Andrej Pierow. He comes to us all the way from Sweden, with tons of elite level experience in teaching and developing coaches. Now, I have to smile, recalling that my old friend apologized for his questionable English, and asked that I might fix things where needed. The fact is, however, that I found the piece he sent me easily readable — and awesome.

So, with that, here’s the first advice Andrej provides us, this all about “Unlocking the Power of a Fast Mind in Hockey”.

~ Dennis C

The text below is as relevant for coaches as it is for players…

People call it “Ice hockey” while in fact the name is “barely controllable, continuously and instantly shifting chaos with tons of violence to it”… Try to remember that.

Having “fast feet” and “fast hands” is nothing one needs to think about these days — there simply are no players from U14 elite up to semi-pro and full pro levels who don’t have those qualities.

Today, except for “fast feet” and “fast hands”, a player must be smart — “fast mind”, “player smartness”, “very high hockey IQ” … Call it as you like.

Since “fast feet” and “fast hands” abilities are already there, it means that there were/are ways to develop those.  With no surprise, there also are ways to develop a “fast mind” — a coach can do that working with a team, you can do it being a player on a team where the coach doesn’t do the work.

As it is with “fast feet” and “fast hands”, a “fast mind” skill set is built following an ancient “Rule of Mastery”:  One need to know what and why one did “yesterday”, what and why one does “today” and what/why one will do “tomorrow”. All needs to stay connected with each other and form a curve of intentional progression.  (I might not have space to give you all the examples of how to practically execute this path, but be sure to include 60 minutes of “barely controllable, continuously and instantly shifting chaos with tons of violence to it” to master a “fast mind”.

If the topic of intentionally and effectively developing “player smartness” and a “fast mind” did wake your interest, or if it intrigued you, you are welcome to reach out in a comment below.  I’d love to talk further on this topic with you.