Reply To: What Happens in a Hockey Shift

[hockeygod]

More great comments from Tom and Kai. Where to start?

Tom's comments about the number of transitions in hockey (like tennis), show the critical importance of improving one's decision making abilities when dealing with transitions (0-1-2 situations). How does one do this? By practicing situations involving transitions… mimic game like situations, let the kids 'play' within them, and guess what? They will get better.

(I think coaches might have an idea of what they want to improve, but don't know 'how' so they go to the fall-back position of trying to use drills – which consist of discrete stop and start points as decided upon by the coach – further removing decision making from the athlete. Performing drills is not the best way to learn 'the game'!

Great observations like using the triple threat position while carrying the puck, the difference in the primary use of cross ice games between Europe and N.A. and the subsequent amount of 'more' touches when playing these SAG's, and Tom is certainly right when he says games are better than practices (if they practices are too drill oriented) based on activity time.

Kids need opportunities to improve skills. This does include some use of drills, but in conversations with Tom, it seems I prefer to put them into competitive situations earlier than Tom does and I always try to hold them accountable to their performance – there is always a scoreboard / scorecard involved!

I use a 'skill drill' or two at the start of practice as a N-M warmup and a fun, competitive activity at the end. (As the athlete gets older, I might also keep time at the end for individuals to deliberately practice skills when they are more mature – not screw around!) I try to make these situations fun and competitive, appealing to the players' inner passion. If they show they can't handle the responsibility, I have a coach provide structure and supervision for those players in a separate area while the others 'work independently.'

I am definitely of the philosophy that I am a 'games guy'… I believe that by putting the kids into a game and they will learn the requisite applicable skills (and begin to better understand the connection / need to improve those skills outside of the 'games' so they can bring them back into the games) under realistic situations. Practicing skills in isolation only makes them better in isolation – they need to do it under pressure, during competition – that's what counts. That's why we play games. (We only have 'skills competitions' once a year at the most!) There is a lot of research that supports this Contextual Interference model. Daniel Coyle provides many examples about skills in isolation vs. applied skills' under game like conditions.

Guys like Sean Skinner – the stick handling guy – dazzle in static and contrived 1 on 1 situations, but put him into a 'real game situation', and those skills in isolation won't be nearly as dominant as he isn't used to playing in traffic, with a scoreboard, etc. Watching Alexi Kovalev in his skills video, I think he is even more skilled than Skinner, but Kovalev could execute amazing moves in a game (when he chose to!)

Learning skills are critical – don't get me wrong. However, I believe we need to incorporate them into reality (games) as soon as possible; even if the pure skills don't look as 'polished' by playing in games. Trust me, the long term learning is still there and over time, those skills will actually be better demonstrated than performing skills in isolation!

To quote Wikipedia, concerning 'Varied Practice': "The theoretical underpinnings of the varied practice approach stem primarily from a behavioral phenomenon discussed in the skill acquisition literature called contextual interference (Shea & Morgan, 1979). Contextual interference refers to a learning benefit observed when the items to be learned are randomly intermixed across training blocks rather than repeated in blocks (for a review, see Magill and Hall, 1990). That is, when identical items are blocked together during training, post-training performance is worse than when different items are intermixed. Although primarily studied with motor skill learning task, contextual interference was originally reported in a verbal paired associates task (Battig, 1966, 1972) and has been observed in other nonmotor tasks (e.g., Carlson et al., 1989). Intriguingly, the benefits of mixed-item blocks are apparent only some period of time after practice, indicating that the effects are primarily long-term."

Kai, your comments about systems that 'develop' the player vs. systems that 'kill' the player… not really sure what you mean? Do you mean some systems allow kids to make mistakes and learn vs. some systems require the kids to adhere to a strict structure / system or else get benched?

I totally agree that it takes years to properly develop a player; however, it can take five seconds to ruin them forever. I have seen it happen myself. I am amazed at how many kids absolutely 'puff up' and show their confidence if the coach complements them genuinely (not 'blowing smoke') when they deserve it – consistently. And when they make mistakes, the coaches handle this properly too – don't castigate and embarrass them. Ask them and guide them towards a better way – don't tell them the 'right' way!

I really like the quote: "If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes." – John Wooden

We learn by making mistakes and succeeding. Both are critical to learning. That's evolution. I see it as my kids grow and especially when I coach / teach U4-U8 kids. The most successful people make lots of mistakes, don't take them personally, learn from them and move forward. That's the best way to succeed – through belief in self (stay open minded, knowing one can always improve) and with perseverance!

Personally, I make a ton of mistakes but I try to learn from them. If you are truly motivated, the learning will be quick. If not… it may take a few more mistakes…!

Adults (coaches) seem to think that we must avoid letting kids make mistakes at all costs – to accelerate the learning and give us adults a better chance at winning (ego gratification / keep our minor hockey jobs???!!!) so we tell / yell 'what to do' to our players instantly and constantly – a barrage of explicit, immediate feedback.

Maybe we all secretly desire to be 'play by play' announcers??!! Shut up and leave it to the pro announcers!

The best long-term learning is random, delayed and implicit – the kids figure it out for themselves based on their Knowledge of Results. (According to Dr. Joan Vickers research on Decision Training.) I can't find an electronic copy to provide, but search “Decision Training: the effects of complex instruction, variable practice and reduced, delayed feedback on the acquisition and transfer of a motor skill.” May 1999. Authors: Dr. Joan N. Vickers, Lori S. Livingston, Sheri Umerus-Bonart and Dean T. Holden. (Journal of Sport Science.)

Abstract:

"Novice, intermediate and advanced baseball hitters followed a 7-week training programme, in which they received either behavioural training or decision training. Participants in the behavioural training group received simple-to-complex instruction, variable practice and an abundance of feedback throughout the acquisition period; the decision training group received complex instruction, variable practice and reduced delayed feedback. As predicted, the intermediate and advanced hitters who received decision training hit at a lower level (%) during acquisition but at a higher level during a transfer test in week 7. Novices in the behavioural training group were better than novices in the decision training group over both acquisition and transfer trials."

I believe we coaches should merely present the parameters of the activity and police it for rule infractions. (Watch individuals for skill deficits to determine who needs to work on what). Have the athletes keep score (you might have to help them or do it for them, depending on age and their responsibility level) and hold them accountable to it. In the meantime, SHUT UP while watching! Make mental notes to question the kids after the game is over to bring the purpose of practice into focus – ask questions about time, space or risk as it relates to your theme. (Occasionally you might choose to stop the activity and step in at a point in time where you see the same 'poor decision' happening again and again / or when you see something brilliant happen! But don't keep interrupting the game every time. You can talk to the players on the bench / while waiting for another 'shift' too; instead of stopping things entirely.)

Kai, I love your parting question about how to define creativity in hockey or team sport. Perhaps that will be fodder for more posts? What do you guys think about that question?

Thanks for your opinions Tom and Kai! You have helped spur my accident-injured brain into thought! Looking forward to hearing more from you guys and other coaches out there during the dog days of summer…!

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