Reply To: Game Intelligence / Decision Training

[hockeygod]

Tom,

Thursday night was another five+ hours of ice. I must admit, it was like Groundhog Day – each session was merging into the next and the days were becoming a blur… this was after a couple hours of ice earlier in the day. (Yet another reason to schedule breaks – to help keep the instructors sharp.)

Most of the early 'back-to-back' sessions were Novice (U8) kids, so the ice wasn't too bad. We would have loved to have more breaks to clean the ice so we could take our skates off for a few minutes… 5-6 hours straight is tough physically and mentally (having to be 'on' for the players and coaches). Also, breaks would have allowed for debriefs / pre-icing of the coaches; which was a critical oversight in the planning – in my estimation. Many coaches said they would love to have more time to discuss the games. We are hoping to do some follow-up sessions in the future with the association – additional dryland and ice with the coaches and a classroom session.

Several coaches came to thank John and I personally. It means a lot to know you have made a positive difference in someone's life.

I gave out my contact info to a few people and we met with one coach afterwards over a well-earned beer till the early hours of the AM.

I tried to get my skates dry this week, but I wasn't out of them long enough to achieve this. I was pretty happy to be done last night… then back on skates at 7 am this morning for two sessions! Now I am taking the weekend off of the blades to celebrate my B-Day and Thanksgiving.
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Happy Birthday Dean. It sounds like the clinic was a success. Once coaches start using games and transition games they don't want to just do drills anymore and the players enjoy the practices even more.

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