Reply To: Diary of a Season 10-11

[hockeygod]

Commentary on my High School Sports Performance Class

I see them twice / week for 50 minutes each time – a total of 25 ice times in semester 1. All are Europeans – primarily from Switzerland with a few Latvians and Americans and only two Canadians. The Euro's overall skill set (skating, puck control under pressure and hockey sense) is better than average when compared to the majority of Canadians.

I have been focusing on skill development with the head up, then playing lots of 1 vs. 1 games (several 1 vs. 1's occurring at the same time – helps keep the head up and overloads the goalie(s)) to help provide situations to practice the skills under pressure. I also played some 2 vs. 1 / 2 vs. 2 / 1 vs 2 / 3 vs. 3 situations in the first couple of weeks when I had some bigger numbers (I went from 2 G and 16 skaters initially to 2 G and 11 skaters as some kids got hurt / switched courses.) I like to focus the majority of the time on 1 vs. 1 for the first 15 practices as it really provides the kids with some prime opportunities to learn the offense and defense game-playing roles. Then I move into involving more numbers…

For the last several years, I have been embracing the Game Sense model, which is an evolution of the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) model and these games really allow me to 'direct' the group in their 'understanding-by-doing' or experiential learning, about the game. I was more of a motivator-style of coach in my early days. Probably becasue I was interested in sport psych and used it when I played… not to mention the coaches I played for weren't well-versed in x's and o's, so my tactical knowledge was lacking. We are a product of our environment! (Dump and check or dump and change!!!)

Since 2003 when I was exposed to it first-hand via my coaching friend John Castrillon, I am really trying to focus even moreso on this pedagogy as I have seen it work so well for myself and other coaches in soccer and hockey. Not only am I trying to wean myself from the whiteboard, I am also trying to shut up and let them play… no longer yelling at them, telling them what to do while the drill is going on – instead asking them questions before, sometimes during and certainly after. It is really tough to bite my tongue as I still 'get into' practice and this was how I used to coach! The Game Sense model asks the coach to take a step back – the focus is on the athletes doing; not the coach telling. I find the Game Sense approach much more effective than barking out orders while running mindless, patterned 'drills' all the time (like I used to do as that is how we are trained in our certification programs… and sadly, the tradition in the hockey culture continues to embrace this way…) as these have little to no carry over to the situational play in a game – other than to learn a skill in a static environment. (These skills are not as easily replicated in a fluid, dynamic game environment!)

Now when I run a 'skill drill', it is right at the start as a warmup – and I like to involve decision-making while performing 'skills within drills' – if possible, make the 'drill' into a game. I challenge myself to attach some measurement to these 'drills' so I can use rewards and punishments – this accountability / demand to perform under pressure – matches what is found within the game. If possible, I try to either have the players compete against themselves (personal bests, etc.) or put them into teams to compete against each other. Anyway, enough background…

Tom, I used a similar game / rotation to what you described last week. I only had 5 skaters and 1 goalie when they returned to school (gear got lost by the airline!) so I played out of 1 end. It was a 1 vs. 1. As the rush crossed the offensive blueline, a new player moved up to the blueline (from 'home base' at the far blueline) to support the defensive player. When the D player got the puck, he had to move it to the support player on the blueline.

It had to be a tape-to-tape pass – no rims, banks, area passes. If it wasn't a direct pass, the waiting player (or myself) dumped the puck back in below the crease line. If the goalie covered the puck, he could give it to the D player behind the net or try to pass tape-to-tape to the player on the blueline. (The O player had to give the goalie or D player 2 stick lengths / 2 seconds.) We had two teams of 2 players each (white vs blue) – the fifth player (purple) was a joker who played against both teams (but kept his score for the team he was representing.) I walked the kids through the rotation (I have also tried to get away from using a whiteboard!), gave them the parameters or "Rules of Engagement" and asked them if they had any questions. When they asked their questions, I answered them with questions – "What do you think you should do?" and the kids figured it out for themselves. We played for 12 minutes before the kids got too tired and the game became ineffective – I love 1 vs. 1's as there is no hiding! – then moved on to other things. I didn't stop the game once – even through I saw a few things that I wanted to address – as they got the hang of the "Rules of Engagement." I felt it was important for them to learn through the experience. I would store those things in my memory banks for later. This rotation introduced them to the next game of 2 vs. 2 (when we had more numbers!) a few days later…

The next practice, I followed up with a 2 vs. 2 (11 skaters and 1 G.) Two teams – one with 5 and one with 6 skaters. Same concept. Attack one end 2 vs. 2 then as the attack crosses the blueline, 2 new players move up the blueline – from 'home base' – to support the defenders. Again, a tape-to-tape pass was required for the transition.This forces the support players to remain focused and slide along the blueline to try to present a passing option. After the pass was received by the support players, they raced down ice to the far blueline – sometimes not as far; sometimes farther; to reduce the predictability and 'pattern' – turned and came back to attack the two players who had just been attacking (no regroup with me as a coach – unlike your games Tom). Upon a successful tape-to-tape pass, the first two defenders were done and went back to 'home base.'

I questioned them about time and space from an offensive point of view (where is the open ice – in front or behind?) and defensive p.o.v. (pressure vs contain) and what principles of play would help each group. Both groups focused on transition (Offense: speed / support; Defense: gap control / support.) We played for 4 minutes, then I stopped it – "freeze!" – as I wanted to ask the teams a couple of things concerning their positioning / decision-making; then restarted it again and let them play for another 12 minutes. I stopped it again – "freeze!" – to question them on how to handle a recurring situation (as they hadn't successfully figured it out yet); once they provided some good answers, I let them play again for another 6 minutes. It was a see-saw battle. The game was 2-0 after 22 minutes. 20 pushups and 20 situps to the losers. The goalie had to do 10 technically correct (not fast) up/downs.

The pace (and decision-making) was exceptional! All told, they had competed hard for 22 minutes. This was the best 22 minutes they had 'played' since they started with me in the middle of September – lots of communication with their teammates, lots of urgency and focus, and boy did they TRY! I was pretty impressed. The neat thing was, they knew the answers to the questions I asked… and they APPLIED them to the situations. Too bad it was the final practice before Semester break. I will have half of these players back in the next semester; along with a bunch of new ones, so it will be interesting to see where we are! At least we ended on an extremely positive note!

This helps reinforce that when compared to traditional drills, the Game Sense model, while chaotic, does take a slightly longer 'incubation' time before it really shows it's benefits (developing independent, thinking players who make more 'good' decisions!)
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Dean, sounds like a great session of pracitce and thinking. Now I have to convince my wife there was a good reason for us to stay out in a blizzard and discuss the game for 4 hours after our game.. Life is hard and old hockey players aren't that smart.

Just watched the tv show about Don Cherry something like "Keep your Head Up." I think it will become a classic like "Slapshot" The scary part is that it is a true story and Slapshot is about the kinds of things that actually happened. (I played for a living for a while in that era)

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."