Reply To: Game Intelligence / Decision Training

[DaveM]

Dean – Glad I could be the whipping boy here!

In an ideal world I would be done with drills altogether, but I can't make that leap yet. The example I gave in the original post was specifically about getting players to recognize when their bad habits have a negative impact on the team's play. Many habits are so ingrained that players are completely unaware that they have them. A controlled scrimmage is one way to heighten the awareness of the frequency of these habits. (Herb Brooks referred to them as the drill he would do if he could only do one.) The danger in doing this is that it can be overly negative coaching, but if you correct the play and let them start back up properly you can turn this into some positive feedback, sort of like stopping video, rewinding, and then slowly going through the better way to do it. No, it doesn't keep everyone moving like a small game does, but I wonder how long it would take our players to realize that facing the puck would be the answer to their breakout problems when they have been doing it chronically for years AND our defense doesn't make them pay for it.

I want to get to the point where I'm using only games as a teaching tool, but I think a lot depends on the maturity, skill set, and fundamental skills and habits of your players. I'm trying to break old habits in older (14-18 yr old) players, for example, and would certainly not use the same tactics for 9-10 year old players. I also would not use this method as a primary teaching and learning method for a whole season. This is really about stopping something the players are doing unconsciously, and once the behavior has been minimized we can hopefully move on to more fluid games for learning new tactics and approaches.

I've learned a lot about game sense, transition games, and teaching games for understanding through the resources I've been introduced to on this site. The best I can say about my approach at this point is that it is somewhat hybrid. First I try to identify what I want to improve or have the players learn (I still try to cover too much). After that I see if I can recall a game that emphasizes the skill or tactic. Next, is there a transition game that would accomplish this? If not, is there a drill we could use to make it a competition? Finally,what specific skill should we emphasize in a warm-up that will be relied on in accomplishing the mission?

So Dean, while I'm not entirely a convert yet, I do feel like I'm getting there. Your passion for the topic is inspiring, but I don't feel like I have a game situation for every need yet. Once you publish that book on smart transition games I'll have a lot more tools to work with 😁 (If you need an editor let me know!) When it comes to breaking down old habits though, I think of the descriptions I've read of some of the masters (John Wooden for ex.) coaching a practice; slowing things down, breaking the moves down, then building them up into game speed, and repeating with constant feedback. It might not work for everyone, but it feels like the right fit for this purpose. Now if I could just be that organized, articulate, and inspiring,

Dave

ps. Rookie Coach – Here are some games that might help hone breakout skills. Hope this helps.
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Dave just to interject a bit here.
We used 4 cross ice games to teach the concepts of angling, tight gaps, D side, communicating, switching, creating offensive 2-1's, close support. I called them all together a few times each game to point out things. It only took about 30" but I think controlled scrimmage is important. When we do full ice things I like to talk with them when they are resting but sometimes having them FREEZE on the whistle is a good way to have a realistic situation right in front of everyone and find solutions together.
Tom

Attachments

• 2 Pass, Cross-Ice.pdf (38 KB)
• Breakout Games.pdf (196 KB)