Reply To: Game Intelligence / Decision Training

[hockeygod]

This past weekend, Hockey Alberta hosted a coach & player development clinic in Beiseker, a small town NE of Calgary. I couldn't attend the coach training on the Friday night, but did 6 hours of ice on Saturday. We had 17 kids and 4 coaches for the Novice group; 34 kids and 6 coaches for the atom and peewee groups; then 34 kids and 4 coaches for the bantam and midget kids. Each group had two hours of ice. Apparently, 24 coaches were there on Friday night but only 14 came to run the ice with their teams. I guess a few coaches even walked out of their training session on Friday night. Kind of sad but that isn't uncommon. The organizer put it down to 'Know it all" coaches who have to put an appearance in to be able to coach. Plus being harvest time, a lot of these guys are farmers; they couldn't come Saturday as they were getting the crops in.

By parachuting into this association, we gave them some valuable stuff, but without follow up, it is like going to hear a motivational speaker for an hour or two. You leave all motivated, then by the end of the week, you are back to your 'Groundhog Day' life! We, like motivational speakers, are only providing a brief spark of education and energy; it is up to the individual coach (or hopefully) the association to continue to support the coaches with further professional development (if they want it).

I am still trying to 'convert' Hockey Alberta to the benefits of the Game Intelligence methodology. We did some fun warmup games (3 tennis ball x-ice; the basket game; tire relay), with about 20 minutes at the end for some competitive 1 vs 1 / 2 v 2 stuff. My preference would be to forget about the power skating and technical instruction (especially given the needs of this association and the type of kids) and use games to teach the kids and the coaches, but this approach is still considered too radical…!

I spoke with almost every coach during the ice sessions. All of them agreed that the games were much more fun than the drills; plus the coaches didn't always seem comfortable (or sometimes capable) demonstrating all of the skills. (I know they could try to find someone else to demo or use technology to show the kids, but my impression was that most here don't have access to these things… this is a very small town with kids from nearby farms coming in to play out of this community.) Playing games allows the kids to learn from the game and doesn't put these coaches into the uncomfortable position of having to demonstrate something they can't do.

The more I watch, the more I study, I see that kids want to move – be they novice or midget – and standing around in lines waiting for 1 minute to do a 'drill' for 15 seconds is not anybody's idea of fun. Even adults struggle to maintain intense focus ('deliberate practice') under these conditions. For some reason, this is how we were taught and we are byproducts of our own upbringing; so we expect 5 – 17 year-old's to learn this way? We need to recognize that this is a wrong presumption – it's Industrial Revolution thinking – and implement change for the better. Time to get with the 21st century! (See http://www.ted.com for some great videos – in particular, search For Sir Ken Robinson and read some of his books if you get the chance…
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html )

We need to stress more activity! Be cognizant of the work to rest ratios, explanation time, management time, different ways to use the ice, etc. Play games with a purpose and keep score! Hold the kids accountable. Don't kill their creativity! Nurture their talents…

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