Game Intelligence / Decision Training

[hockeygod]

Kai,

+1 and thanks for this post. His philosophy sounds eerily similar to myself and the Colombian! I alerted John and he is going to check out the Soccer Nation site too. I think it is so neat that someone has such a similar philosophy as myself and John… we had been wondering, "Is there anybody else out there with a similar methodology, or are we truly in 'left field' by ourselves?" Maybe we aren't the crazy coaches everybody thinks we are… now we are a group of … 3!

(I just checked my book shelf… coincidentally, I have a copy of one of his books, "Game Situation Training for Soccer" but I haven't had time to review it yet… it will now get moved up towards the top of my pile of 'to read'!)

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

[Tom Molloy]

I have had house guests the last two weeks so computer time is restricted.

Consequences: There should always be consequences in an effective practice but I believe the puck in your net or in the opposition net is the consequence. That tells you if what you are doing is right or wrong.

Before or after a drill or game I tell the players why they are doing a skill and why it will help them to be better individually and as a team. If players are not practicing the skill properly in either a game or a drill I will talk with them to find what they are thinking and if it is consistently wrong I will stop everyone and bring them in to explaning the point of the activity and how it will make them better.

The team makes a covenant that states what the players and team goals are and this is my template to how much input I give.

Last night I talked about individual goals and team goals and what college scouts look for. We talked about good habits and good technique. I told them that winning or losing is NOT an accident and went over the goals we gave up on the weekend and how good habits and techinque would prevent them. I used the games as examples of how shooting instead of making poor percentage passes would help us score more. We then did drills and games to practice good habits and techniques.

The consequences are:
– you lose instead of win close games.
– losing teams don't get recruited very much.
– scouts watch and see how you play in all four game playing roles. You need to be competent on both offense and defense.

Losing team last night did 5 push ups; more a way to point out the other team won.

If you want to get better to create more opportunities for yourself and for the team to succeed, then you compete hard in practice.

As Joan Vickers says in her Decision Making book; the players need to become independent thinkers and not rely on coach input all of the time.

So I say 'The Game is the Great Coach' and the consequence is losing the or winning the game. If you do the right things only to 'Avoid Punishment; how independent are you when the 'Coach' isn't around.

So that is my opinion and why I always appeal to stated individual and team goals.

During a game players constantly make reads and use acquired skills and habits that will help them to be successful. The coach has to make sure that these are covered in practice and the players have to make sure they become part of their toolbox.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'

[RookieCoach]

First off , I have been off the bench for about 7 years or so, but still running different team practice's.

I always used a couple of Sport Quotations with my teams:

"Success is NOT a sometimes thing , In other words, you don't do what's right once and a while , but all the time. Success is a habit. Winning is a habit ". – Vince Lombardi

" Winning isn't everything, but making the all-out effort to win is the most important thing." – Vince Lombardi

Coaches must be prepared for every practice. I prepare like it's a job.( that I would get paid for)
-Respect players and they will respect you as a coach. If you show them you are prepared and committed to teaching them , they will strive to please you , their coach.
– Put yourself in a young players position when you coach. They want to have fun , and they will want to practice.
– I am NOT a fan of "bag" skating players. But my teams don't stop skating from the time they hit the ice. I will give a few warning of the lack of intensity , and they usually know what will come if the don't focus and pick it up.
– Every practice has a different look. I constantly change drills and games. If you keep using the same practice , they will just go through the motions. It takes the thinking out of the practice.
– I have always used different types of 1on1's. I feel they have natural battles , creates competition , and players can't HIDE from 1on1's.
– Team must practice with the intensity that you want in a game situation.
– Players feed off of each other and also their coach. If they all buy into your Philosophy , you can be successful.
– Set forth a team structure of how you want to play as a team and coaching staff.
– All players must come to a game with a goal in mind. Something that they need to work on or show weakness in a game and practice. If they think about , focus, visualize and strive to improve in these areas. ( ex- keep my feet moving. don't stand still)
– They must understand that's ok to lose , if they work their hardest I would be proud of them as a coach.
– All practice situation have a puck involved , drill or games.
– I would say ' that I'm a hybrid type of coach now with drills and games. Games are making more sense , every play has a new outcome and you touch on more player roles.
– I use accountability in my practices. Players love to compete with each other.
– I am the silent type of coach that lets the players dictate the flow. After a while a player can tell by a coaches body language , and they can sense when a coach isn't happy how things are playing out.

More later. Gotta run to watch a game.

RK

[Tom Molloy]

Rookie Coach, I agree with what you say, especially about giving physical and mental effort. If they give everything they have but still lose a coach can't ask for anything more.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'

[RedWingFan]

My philosophy is 3 things

1. Pond hockey type play as much as possible. (open days, off weekends, selected times during the practices) Goal is to create what most past legends had on a daily basis that created a passion for the game.

2. Rep, Reps, Reps Keep them moving. When possible have everyone moving working on things like the Russian Warm up, particular puck moves, passing, keep away, skating moves like tight turns, mohawks, pivots

3. Learn from each other and from others. Watch your teammates and learn. Watch the opposition and learn. Copy them. What do they do best? now copy it!

I do need to use more rewards.

I am mixed on punishments for losing games during practice. Agree with both sides so I'm torn . I remember hearing that the great players do not have a love of winning but more of a hatred for losing

[DaveM]

Tough question Dean….I guess I never have taken the time to articulate this.

Some background: I had three distinctly different styles of coaches as I progressed through competitive hockey. 1)The "dump it in & go hit 'em" one, who got us in better shape than anyone else and stressed body contact. This team relied on emotion more than skill, and had lots of 3rd period wins by wearing down the other teams. 2) The technical expert, who probably developed a hundred or more Division 1 college players in his career, but who absolutely berated players when they made mistakes. Players were motivated by fear more than anything. 3) The tactician – this coach changed the way I looked at the game – made it creative & fun, even with 3 hour practices and missed vacations I always looked forward to playing. He had terrible people skills, but the way we played the game made up for it…it was wide open, creative, and all about speed. Only twice in four years did we have a bag skate, and we deserved it both times, but we were in shape from the constant flow of our practices. We won a lot of games, too.

I'd say I am a hybrid of these 3 distinctly different approaches. I would love to play the wide open game (experience #3), but without the raw skill of experience #1 and the refinement of experience #2, it's tough to play at that level….but the goal is to get there! The biggest things I've learned and I now focus on are:

1) Coach at the players level: You have to be wiling to adjust and go backwards if needed. A glaring lack of fundamental skills cannot be overlooked. Hockey is a continuum of acquired skills, and you can't move forward very far without the fundamentals. There are no shortcuts!

2) Build players up, don't tear them down: I never enjoyed playing in fear, and I catch myself often barking like the old drill sergeant I had in experience #2 above. I'm working hard at remembering these are kids, not small adults, and they are often way more fragile than they act. Encourage them when they do things right, convince them that they can and that it will make a big difference.

3) Details Matter!: Small details can make the difference between an average team/player and a good one, and they're things that everyone is capable of…stick on the puck, blocking shots, backchecking & short shifts are examples of things that everyone can do that make a difference. Do your job with attention to detail and trust that your team mates will do theirs. Do not try to do someone else's job. Reward excellence in this area but do not tolerate mediocrity. We are all capable of doing these little things that make the difference.

4) Discipline in the defensive zone, creativity everywhere else.

I still catch myself falling back to old drill sergeant skill and drill coaching from time to time, but the input of coaches here on this sight…..Tom's books & videos, Dean's relentless rants, and Kai's wealth of knowledge…..have convinced me that games are the best teacher. This has made coaching more fun too.

Dave

[Tom Molloy]

I have a patch on one eye with antibiotics in it; so the typing may not be so great with my eyes closed. This is how I want my players to be able to play the game; except the eyes closed part. I learned to touch type in high schhool and the skill stayed with me even though I didn't type for twenty five years until I got a computer.
The teacher insisted that we have good posture and we were tested regularly and earned the right to advance to the next letters. It was a drill and practice methodwith a planned progression and the consequence that we were gradedd on how fast we could type.

Coaches have to have a progression in mind that has a scope and sequence but in hockey it is not just the technical skill but also the ability to use these skills at the proper place and time during a game. That is like moving across the hall to englih class and writing stories with the typewriter.

So it seems to me the question is 'how do we get players to involve themselves in 'deep practice' where they identify mistakes and work through them until they can do it? Daniel Coyle has a video on his site where he learns to dribble the golf bacll like Tiger by using deep practice. He is self motivated and has no instructor but a video of Tiger. The Turkish coach Deniz wanted to learn how to play hockey so he got a vhs of Mario Lemieux and watched it, then practice on his own, then watched it again until the tape wore our-t and he couldn't watch it anymore. He is pretty good.

When I worked with a team from the orient they would get good athletes and bring them here for a month with ninety six hours on the ice. Some of the coaches of the younger teams would punish the players by making them stand with their hands on the bboards and the coach would beat them on the behind with his hockey stick, and if he was really mad the last whack would be to the back of the knees. Another coach would simply call the player over and he would slug him on the jaw two ot=r three times. S I had to make sure I kept my voice calm because if the coach thought I was upset then some player was going to get hammered. Later teams stopped doing this but used other punishments like hands behind the back, forehead oand toes on the ground then hold yourself for designated amounts of time.

So I have seen a lot. I have also seen our western culture change from where a clild crying in the mall. Then eveyone looked at the parents and condemed them if they didn't spank the kid to now if a parent touches the kid cell phones would be calling the poice .

So hw do we achieve deep practice and hold players accountable for how they practice.

I would like to read what punishments or rewards are given for players doing Deep Practice.

My eyes are still closed so I hope this is readable.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'

[Tom Molloy]

I can look at the computer screen now without my eyes killing me. I couldn't read your posting Dave.

I have had the same kind of coaches that you mention along with my jr A coach who put out a puck at the start of practice and then went and drank a bottle of whiskey with the owner while we played shinny games up to 5. He would come out the last 20-30 minutes of practice and bag skate us. When we were losing he would rant about us not using our power play or forecheck and we would look at each other thinking 'what power play'; what forecheck?' Anyway you eet a lot of different kinds of people in this game.

I started as the first kind of drill sargent coach who believed the fitest tea would win, then as I studied what the international coaches George kingston brought here every summer had to say I became a very tactical coach. When Juhani came he foreced me to look at how I was running practice and I started coaching like I taught PE and using drills, games and tournament. When I did this my teams winning percentage went up a lot.

So it is a process to develop a effective coaching style that is effective in teaching the skills and game understanding players need to be successful.

As I am thinking about our weekend games I am doing a mental review of what we have covered because another thing I have learned is that you can't expect players to be able to do things you haven't practiced and then reviewed. So everything is cummulative.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'

[DaveM]

It's Sunday, and you know what that means….get your thinking caps on! Attached is a post from Swen Nater's blog describing how John Wooden understood and inspired motivation. (Thanks to Eric for sharing the blog here: http://blog.coachswen.com/.) My question to you is: How do you categorize your players' motivation, or lack of it?

Please share any anecdotes, theories, or strategies you might have.

Thanks,
Dave

Attachments

• Wooden on Motivation.pdf (18 KB)

[hockeygod]

DaveM, Great blog (thanks to Eric!) I bookmarked it and started reading it. Looks good!

Here are the 6 categories in the .pdf from DaveM's post.

1. The Motivation of Wanting to be As Good as Someone Else

2. The Motivation Wanting to be Better Than Someone Else

3. The Motivation of Wanting to be Recognized as Valuable and Needed

4. The Motivation of Wanting to Please My Teacher

5. The Motivation of Wanting to Prove Someone Wrong

6. The Motivation of Improvement

These categories are a pretty comprehensive summary… are there any more categories you can think of? (DaveM: not sure what you are looking for in your question… please elaborate. Thanks!)

How about 7. The Motivation of Wanting to Earn Ridiculous $$$ and Setting Oneself Up On Easy Street For Life While Playing a Sport?

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

[hockeygod]

I was gone this weekend to watch one of The Colombian's U16 (1997's) female soccer teams play in an indoor provincial tournament. They achieved the silver medal; winning 7 games in a row leading up to and including the tournament games. They lost the gold medal game 3-1. John's team was down to 10 players and a goalie (they started with 14 players – blasted injuries!) The team that beat them was one year older (1996's) and their increased strength, speed, skill and tactical play showed. That team has played together for four years while John's team (core of 8 players) has been together for 16 months. Still, they competed very hard. They need to refine their skills and play more confident. (The opponents scored to make it 1-0 34 seconds into the game!)

I made lots of notes and stats and will share some thoughts on these as well as the play in the games I saw. I kept track of possession time in one game and then consecutive passes in two games. I didn't make any judgements about the decisions – like Stewart B. did with the Dinos when Tom was working with them… I want to determine Stewart's system to see if I can quantify games with that system. Tom, do you have a form or guidance for me in that regard? I will share my findings later this week when I get more time.

Indoor soccer is very close to hockey – played in a rink of similar dimensions, change on the fly, 5 players and a goalie, three lines marking the ice, etc. There were some different rules though… In fact, it would be cool to try playing a game of ice hockey with some of these rules!

John was very impressive with his calm demeanor on the bench. I couldn't believe some of the other coaches – absolutely losing it at their own players and the refs! You could see from the players' body language that they weren't too happy about their coaches' performance!

John asked me into the dressing room and team meetings so I got to watch how he conducts himself. Not too many people have enough confidence in themselves to do this – but we have worked with each other for almost ten years and we share a very similar philosophy. It is always nice to be able to see other coaches in action; especially behind the scenes. Lots of good stuff. It was a great weekend of PD!

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

[RedWingFan]

hockeygod wrote:
How about 7. The Motivation of Wanting to Earn Ridiculous $$$ and Setting Oneself Up On Easy Street For Life While Playing a Sport?

With Mario asking Bob Perno if he could get him 1,000,000 if he broke Guy Lafleur's junior scoring record, I would say that #7 played a good sized role in #66's motivation.

[DaveM]

Sorry, I wasn't very clear with my question.
In a nut shell, how do you (experienced coaches) motivate players? Do you categorize players based on their motivation/personalities? What strategies do you use to motivate different players/personalities? Have they worked, and what are some success stories?

Thanks,
Dave

[hockeygod]

Dave,

Here is an article I received today from Bruce Brown. He is a mentor coach from the Seattle WA area. I have bought many of his booklets, CD's and DVD's and highly recommend them. This article concerns "Positive Conditioning". It ties into this topic of player 'motivation'.

Enjoy!

Attachments

• Positive Conditioning – Bruce Brown.pdf (89 KB)

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

[hockeygod]

DaveM (and whomever), here is some more of my personal philosophy… not just the 'what' I deliver, but the 'how' the message is delivered (some background to help explain the 'why'!) …

Having lots of conversations with John the Colombian lately; mainly about philosophy. We have been looking back over our respective playing and coaching paths, focusing on what impacted us the most, and plotting what is in our respective futures… "How do we get better?"

One of the biggest things both John and I have come to realize is the old cliche is so true… I first heard it in a coach clinic in the mid 1980's… "The players don't care how much you know, till they know how much you care."

I thought it was good advice at the time. As a young coach, I really took this to heart and tried to honour this. I had some of my most memorable years and best, enduring relationships with my players and their parents (and coincidentally, great results / outcomes!) when I deeply cared about all of my players. I let them know it, too. You know, when a kid screwed up on or off the ice, I really took it personally and it was tough. But I think this made me a better coach and I know the kids appreciated my concern.

In hindsight, about ten years in, I can see how I started to slip farther from this advice. I became a "transactional coach" with winning (an uncontrollable outcome) becoming one of my most important measuring sticks. Not 'win at all costs' as I still wanted to honour the spirit of the game, but I thought and talked about winning more than the process. I started to distance myself from my players. I didn't communicate with them as much – at least, not about their life away from the rink.

I wasn't so focused on performance (within our control; therefore where my / our focus should have been.) Performance and outcomes varied; but generally weren't where I wanted them to be. We 'under-achieved'. I felt this was influenced by the other coaches I was working with and around at the time. It seemed that this was the accepted hockey culture / coaching environment and the higher you got, the more it became like this. We were all concerned about getting to the next level – using each position to leverage the next position higher up the ladder. After awhile, my internal moral compass really started to conflict with 'what' I was doing and 'how' I was doing it.

My dad got diagnosed with terminal cancer in early October and I ended up resigning my WHL coaching position in mid-December as my gift to him. I wanted to spend the rest of his days by his side. He said that was the greatest gift he had ever received. We always had tickets to attend the Flames / Montreal game on New Year's Eve. I made special arrangements to get him in (wheelchair) with the Flames, but he was too weak to go. He entered a hospice overnight and passed Jan 13th. I still have the unused tickets in my folio. Obviously, this had a huge impact on me personally. I took a year away from coaching. It was a good break for me and I started to re-establish my moral compass. Dad's passing really made me appreciate life and see things in a new light. It changed me.

I got lured back as an assistant coach at Midget AAA a full year later, after the New Year's break (the head coach quit and his AC took over but needed another AC. We had worked together previously for a few years…) It was nice to work with some kids who wanted to get better, without the same intense pressure of the WHL (winning / outcomes).

After that season, I was asked to coach girls at university, I 're-found' some of the connection with my athletes, but hindsight being truthful, didn't recover quite back to my early levels. I still felt my job was on the line if we didn't win, so this outcome was still on my radar.

When I left the girls and went back to coach the guys at MRC, it was all I could do to get through the year. I recognized within two weeks that I had inherited a lot of issues (14+ 'projects') that no coach should have to go through all in one season (excessive chewing tobacco, drugs, heavy alcohol abuse, run in's with the police, lying, violence on and off the ice, a lack of demonstrable respect, etc.) There wasn't enough time in the day to change this group – particularly because they didn't want to change. They were young adults and were set in their ways. Sad that their previous coaches (parents?) allowed them to get to this. Many of the players lived a life that I felt was counter-intuitive to an athlete; the lack of maturity and leadership really made me happy to end it after one year. (We had our first child at the end of the year and our family agreement had been that when our first miracle appeared, it would be time to step away from coaching a team and focus on family. I was so grateful to be free of that situation!)

During my time coaching the girls and boys at university, I started teaching at several skill academies (Jr. and Sr. High). I have continued this and it has been an excellent avenue to stay involved. I have been able to stay on the ice, continue to fine-tune my Game Intelligence Training curriculum (on and off-ice) and more importantly, return to the roots of my initial philosophy, "They don't care how much you know, until they know you care!" This has become especially important to me now as a parent of two young children… I see their wonder and love in their eyes… and I see that reflected in the other kids I coach. "Daddy-ism" has changed me – again – for the better and I continue to evolve!

After all of life's experiences and all of the experimenting and reading I have done along the way, I feel Daniel Coyle (and other researchers) are really onto something when they talk about the factors behind what makes an athlete successful. In the realm of Talent ID, expertise, etc., one of the major influences is THE COACH. The coach can act as an IGNITOR – a spark – to encourage someone's passion and help propel them to the next level. (They can also easily suffocate or extinguish someone's love for the game… DON'T be that coach! "Hey Gretzky, Pass! Shoot! Hit him! Don't take such long shifts… get off the ice, you puck hog!" … SHUT UP and let the game be the best teacher! Do you think Wayne's Pee Wee coaches told him any of these things? I doubt it… more like, "Wayne, your up next… stay out there Wayne…. nice goal again Wayne!" He scored 378 goals in that Pee Wee year!)

I feel that since my kids have been born, I have whole-heartedly returned to this initial philosophy and I have seen great results with the kids in the skill academies. Granted, it is a different relationship than a 'coach / team' one, but I do see a positive difference. It's not just the 'what' (Game Intelligence Training curriculum); it's the 'how' (a TRANSFORMATIONAL COACH – not a transactional coach) that is most important.

I think all kids deserve a transformational coach (I wish I would have had a coach like this!); so that is what I am in the process of becoming.

Can anyone else reflect upon the type of coach they are now? Or on their coaching journey in general? Hopefully we can have a few more people share a playing / coaching story that illustrates their past or current or future style of coaching / leadership. It is great to use this forum to learn from each other – even if it means opening up and sharing personal thoughts and influences!

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

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