*Information on GDI Prairies Mental Training is periodically updated each month with new insights on the following psychologial aspects: Mental Toughness, Confidence, Relaxation/ Activation, Concentration, and Objectives. Check back often for new information.* If you would like to get more insight on the mental aspects of the game contact one of your GDI - Regional Managers for consulting *
January.12.2011
Practice Goalies vs. Game Goalies
I’M A GREAT PRACTICE GOALIE, JUST NOT IN GAMES Practice…one word that has never had so many different meanings. Practice can mean getting your tail worked off through skating drills because of your team’s terrible performance, or a light scrimmage with the boys (or girls) as you prepare for a big game. Everyone talks about how you have to work hard in practice. You’ve heard it from your parents, teammates and coaches. The truth is “work hard” is not the secret ingredient to ensuring that you continue to develop in practice.I recently worked with a goaltender who said, “I work harder than anyone out there on my game, yet I still can’t compete in games.” I am sure you have probably at times felt this same frustration, or maybe you’re currently feeling this way. You can complete six thousand t-pushes until you’re red in the face and you feel like you may become a part of the bowling team, but if you’re not creating the same environment, you’re wasting your time.
Games are played at a high intensity, with pressure from varying sources placed firmly on the goalie’s shoulders to not let his team down. You can have the most high intensity practice in the world, but without the pressure your muscles will freeze up or be unsure what to do. Why does this happen? Many people have asked me this question along the way and the simple answer is that we fail to recall our skills in game situations because we remember our skills best when we’re in the same situations as when we learnt them. If you are relaxed and free from pressure in practice yet under pressure and tense during a game you are literally playing two different sports in essence. For us to be able to play well under pressure we need to train under the same circumstances as we will be faced with during a game. Here are a few tips to ensure that you are not wasting your time in your next practice:
QUALITY NOT QUANTITY - Stop facing hundreds of shots or completing hundreds of backside pushes. Instead take fewer shots or work on the technical aspects of the backside push. Create good habits and follow your rebounds to where they are going or focus on bringing your push skate close to your pad to ensure a good push. Completing ten solid repetitions of any given drill will make a much bigger difference then completing a hundred repetitions where you do not focus on where the puck went once it hit you for example. Remember in competition you will be called upon to stop two, three and maybe four shots at one time, so when practicing focus on creating those game situations.
SET GOALS FOR EACH PRACTICE - Before each practice you should set two to three key goals of skills which you are going to work on. Setting goals during practice can create game-like pressure on the goaltender and ensure that he will be able to complete the skill during the next game. Set goals like I want to stop nine out of ten pucks at any given point during practice or I want to work on reacting to getting scored on better.
GIVE YOURSELF FEEDBACK - I was talking with a goalie dad the other day who made mention of his son’s goalie coaching saying that his son had a great practice when in truth the goalie was awful. If we take the word of other people all the time we may be fooling ourselves into believing that we are better than we actually are. Give yourself honest feedback. If you over play a puck in practice be honest. Ask yourself what did I do wrong and what can I do differently next time. The feedback you need to take away from this is what you are going to do in the future not what you did wrong.
CREATE CONSEQUENCES DURING PRACTICE - Every training sessions needs a consequence. The ultimate consequence of course is that a poor practice will often lead to a bad performance in an upcoming game but give yourself consequences within the practice. Maybe it is that if you don’t stop nine out ten shots on the next drill you will have to do extra movement after the drill. If you create consequences in practices which are productive you will add more pressure to your practice, making your practice more like a game. Remember though that practicing should be fun. So when you have a good practice remember to reward yourself afterwards.
Give yourself a fighting chance in your upcoming game. Work on the above tips in your next practice and if you are diligent and honest with yourself you will be on your way to becoming a much better goaltender. Don’t kill yourself by facing hundreds of shots each practice, be realistic to what is going to help you and work on the areas where you need improvement.
Shaun Smith is the founder of Absolute Mental Training. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email him at ssmith@absolutementaltraining.com.November.15.2010
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS LOSING, ONLY LEARNING
With the regular season just underway, players from all levels, from the NHL right down to children who are six years old, are starting their regular seasons. Coaches, parents and media will all be evaluating the performance of these respective teams. Teams will be put under the microscope and many goaltenders will be shouldering the blame for their teams’ early losses. Today’s game is so much about losing and winning that even young kids will be judging their performance on any given day on if their team loses or wins. I would like to take this moment to ask all of you to consider the following: There’s No Such Thing as Losing, Only Learning.
I could only imagine what it would have been like to have been around when the great game of hockey was born as I have a hard time believing that hockey was designed around the concept of winning or losing. In fact I can almost guarantee that the game of hockey was designed to provide the people with a leisure activity where they could get together with friends and complete an activity that challenged their physical fitness.
Yet today’s game has been separated from these ideals and now we are in a state where I believe that too much pressure is put on winning and losing at every level. Don’t believe me? Look at Carey Price’s first preseason game. He was being ridiculed for performing poorly and Price’s response was along the lines of relax it’s not like the Stanley Cup is going to be won off of one preseason game. Media and dollar signs have transformed the game of hockey into a sport which the value of winning is being in proportionately valued at ALL levels.
I have had numerous conversations with six year old goaltenders who have told me that they have had a bad game because as a team they lost. Yet when we dive deeper into how they themselves played this is not always the case. Our youth feel that if they are not winning they are losers and this breaks my heart. I can only imagine the impact that I would have had on my daughter if after the first time she attempted to crawl I ridiculed her and painted her as a loser. She may have given up and never learnt how to crawl. Yet in sport we as a society believe that it is alright to drive this message into our youth. This adds increased pressure and takes the fun out of the game yet that this is not the worst product of a win or you’re a loser approach to the game of hockey. When our youth feel like losers they fail to understand that even when they are losing there is something that they can learn from a loss that will help them to become a better player. Instead they focus solely on the fact that they lost the game and only feel the pressure that they must perform better in their next game.
I would like to challenge everyone from coaches, parents and goaltenders themselves to begin their season with a different approach. Instead of looking at the game as a win or loss look at what your goaltender can learn from the game. What did the goaltender do well? What should the goaltender work on to get better? Write down three items for both questions. Maybe the goaltender had really strong angles yet failed to keep visually attached to the puck in traffic. This is a great lesson for the goaltender to work on; staying attached to the puck right to the end of the drill in their next practice. If after every game we can take a lesson out of the game of what we need to do next time to be better we will be setting ourselves up for success and we will be removing the pressure of winning. The truth is that for every goaltender the first game of the year is not life or death just as Price noted. Instead, goaltenders need to continue on the process of continually getting stronger every day if they want to experience success in their game.
Remember: The moment we stop working on our game is the minute that another goaltender is getting stronger!
Remember: The moment we stop working on our game is the minute that another goaltender is getting stronger!
Shaun Smith is the founder of Absolute Mental Training. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email him at ssmith@absolutementaltraining.com.
August.30.2010
Food For Thought
A goaltenders motives play a large part in one's path to success. What drives someone to play the sport of hockey? During a GDI lesson in the past, as I was working with a goaltender towards the end of the hour session I asked the question, " Why do you play hockey?"This question can be diverted and tossed around into other questions, but the question is normally answered with these 2 answers:
1. I play for fun
2. I play to win championships (success)
A couple months before your training camp it is beneficial to take some time to think about why you play hockey. For any sport that is played there must be a true love and passion that comes with it. This passion of course grows as an individual becomes more accustom to the competition in sport and thrill of winning. This question of "Why do you play hockey?" will lead to your goals and objectives for the upcoming season, and ultimately help you find the true meaning of what you would like to achieve by playing.
One of the answers I received back a couple years ago was as in-depth as "without hockey I would be lost, as my love for the game completes me."
June.24.2010
The Expectations Game:
The beliefs we have about how we think a game or performance will go make up our expectations. Beliefs are often shaped by coaches, parents, as well as cultivated from hundreds of messages we have heard over time. Mastering the expectations game requires the ability to go into competition with expectations that are flexible and based in realism.
Our expectations significantly influence how we interpret the events of the game and need to be realistic because when they are not we live on a tight rope of emotion resulting in being overly self- critical. Making some basic adjustments in our expectations can alter this negative cycle.
- Take the words always and never out of your performance. These words create the illusion of perfection which doesn't always exist and sets people up for inflexibility and intense frustration. Perfection would be great to strive for, but at the same time is almost impossible to maintain. For example, a training camp goal of not letting any goals in may be obtainable, but what then happens if you do. Striving for perfection is a great a goal to work towards, but at the same time it may never be obtained, and if it is, how consistent is it achieved.
- Try not to see any one event as more important than the other. Many athletes put significant pressure on themselves not realizing that success is predicated on putting together a consistent string of actions leading towards a goal. They do not have to all be flawless in order to move you closer to your goal. Consistency is a key factor in how one views your performance and mental make-up as a goaltender. A goaltender that doesn't let a goal phase him and force him to change attributes of his game, remains consistent in how he plays.
- Before your next performance think through what the worst thing that could happen is and prepare yourself for how you will deal with it. This empowers you to know before hand how you want to deal with whatever might happen. For example, knowing how to deal with a goal that is scored against you. After thinking about the worst thing that could happen, then develop a mind-set for success by looking towards what you are trying to obtain. In hockey this may be achievement (awards) or competition based.
Ending off with a simple quote. " Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
Areas of Blog Article taken from http://5PerformanceKeys.com
June.11.2010
Weather in Winnipeg is a determining factor in so much of our behavior throughout a given year. The changing of weather so infrequently from hot and sticky to cold and rainy! From the cold windy winters to the hot heat for the odd summer days it can determine ones mood, level of activity and in some cases even inspire us.
Spring/summer months are often described as the off season for many sports so it can become increasingly difficult to stay motivated to train when the weather becomes increasingly hotter. Because so much evidence exists around the importance of consistent and focused practice, help in motivation may be needed.
Justin Johnson, psychological sport performance coach out of Minnesota, describes Clarity and Creativity as 2 factors that may largely help one stay truly motivated.
Johnson says, "it is nearly impossible to be truly motivated towards a goal if you lack the clarity of what the goal is and or how to get there. Many athletes struggle with clarity because they feel that "getting better" is enough of a direction."
Unfortunately, such a well-intended, yet vague, direction is exactly what robs us of motivation. Instead find a specific action or skill you wish to develop with your time and energy. This will increase your clarity and motivation to follow through. For some having clarity is all they need to sustain prolonged periods of motivation to train. For others they need little doses of creativity to catapult them into consistent and focused training. Dr. Saul L. Miller describes clarity as providing direction and order, and it reducing uncertainty, which many people find stressful. Having a plan set in mind for how to reach your goal(s) will help keep you self motivated and directed.
Creativity, when looking for motivation, is to think about what typically inspires you, and then package it in a new way. For example, many of us enjoy competition so perhaps you pick someone in the weight room (maybe without them even knowing it) and say to yourself "I'm going to stay longer than that person", or "I'm going to out work harder". When it comes to creativity in motivation you can be as odd and unrealistic as you wish because it's just a mind game between you and your training. No matter the circumstances, ran or shine, use that sense of creativity to create a strong performance - motivational attitude.
Remember, the motivation to do anything will always be inside you. Most often all you need is either the clarity or the creativity to tap into it. Once you do you will be equipped with desire and a will that will push you further.... even on the most beautiful summer day!
The one's that continue to prepare are taking the steps towards success.
April.23.2010
Pre-Game Anxiety Checklist
1. Have a routine you can trust
The regular season should help you refine and develop your routine. In this way, you can rely on the comfort of a consistent preparation. Remember, preparation builds confidence and leads to one's success.
2. Develop Quality Practice Habits
By developing quality practice habits, the confidence in your ability to execute saves under pressure will increase.
3. Focus on what you can control
1. Have a routine you can trust
The regular season should help you refine and develop your routine. In this way, you can rely on the comfort of a consistent preparation. Remember, preparation builds confidence and leads to one's success.
2. Develop Quality Practice Habits
By developing quality practice habits, the confidence in your ability to execute saves under pressure will increase.
3. Focus on what you can control
Much of the mental energy that goalies waste is spent thinking about events over which they have no control. Focus on what you can do and what you can control. That way, you will consistently find yourself amongst the breed of goaltenders who anxiously await the opportunity to display their skill and compete. If for some reason you find yourself in a jam and need a quick fix to quell those nerves, try this tip to settle your mind and body.
4. Relaxation Techniques
2 to 1 breathing is a great way to collect yourself prior to or during the game, or when you get tossed in after the other goalie was pulled. Breathe deep in through the Nose to a 3 count. Hold. Then exhale through the mouth to a count of 6. Repeat.
4. Relaxation Techniques
2 to 1 breathing is a great way to collect yourself prior to or during the game, or when you get tossed in after the other goalie was pulled. Breathe deep in through the Nose to a 3 count. Hold. Then exhale through the mouth to a count of 6. Repeat.
March.18.2010
Winning teams believe they can. They expect to win.
2 Things build self-confidence: Success and Preparation
A simple way to increase your confidence level is to repeat simple key words that you can refer to during a game to help you to remain focused. Many goaltenders remember simple words during or before the game that they repeat in their mind, such as: BE CONSISTANT, DOMINATE, NEVER GIVE UP. Other words can also relate to specific technical aspects that serve as a reminder during the game. Such as: CHALLENGE, SQUARE, TALK, PATIENCE.
Reviewing words or thoughts that help you remember positive attributes about your game where you have had previous success will help your drive towards your overall objective – winning the game – remain intact and engaged.
