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* Here we will post articles for everyone to read. These might be techniques or skills that we want to develop, or new systems that we would like to implement.
MENTAL PREPARATION: 8 PART SERIES: 3 to 8
Part 3: Conditioning Your Mind
You can strengthen and condition your mind to achieve quality results just as you strengthen and condition your body to grow muscles, have more power and be more capable. Conditioning your mind is teaching your mind to think in a certain way to experience or perform a certain activity effectively.
Mental conditioning involves self-talk, visualization, relaxation and concentration. This means handling distractions and creating internal emotional control.
Part 4: How Do You Mentally Prepare?
It might seem uncomfortable at first to consciously "prepare" your mind. After all, you're used to thinking a certain way and getting yourself to change that thinking requires effort and THINKING!
Here are a few techniques that you can use immediately to condition your mind:
Self-Talk: Talking to yourself can be either uplifting or detrimental. Since your experience in life is determined by what you say to yourself, make sure that you choose your words wisely. Your self-talk will affect your moods, behaviors and ultimately your results. Words such as "smart, amazing, confident, ready" are power words that make you feel good and become self-prophetic. Using power words is positive self-talk.
EXAMPLE: After a disappointing game, if you say to yourself, "I screwed up. I didn't play well. I'm not as good as so and so," chances are you will feel even worse. This kind of talk does not put at your best.
However, if after that disappointing game you tell yourself, "I know that I can play better then what I did today and I will apply myself to do that at the next game. Today was a good learning experience for me and now I'm moving on," then you will probably feel revived and ready to try again harder and better. It's the same situation but with a different self-talk which creates a different outlook and causes a different behavior which will yield different results.
Use Positive Questions: Asking a question is an easy way to direct your self-talk and speak to your mind. No matter what you ask yourself, your brain will always search for an answer.
EXAMPLE: If after a disappointing game, you ask yourself, "How could I have been so stupid as to miss that goal?" your brain will search all its "files" in an attempt to answer you and come up with something like, "Because you don't what you're doing, you're not good at anything, you're so dumb." Now you don't feel so good about yourself while contemplating that answer. This negative self-talk will not help you to be prepared.
However, if after that same disappointing game, you ask yourself, "What did I learn from all this?" then your brain will probably come up with something like, "I need to work on hitting the net in practice" or "I need to relax when I have the puck in front of the opponent's net." It changes your position from feeling bad to feeling like you can do something about the situation. Suddenly, you're feeling empowered instead of discouraged.
Visualizing: Visualizing an outcome before it happens or seeing yourself perform is another way to create success and set yourself up for victory. All of us have a very powerful imagination that we can unleash to help us achieve our dreams. We have all heard the fantastic stories of people overcoming the odds to achieve great feats. How did they do it? Most of them, if not all, saw themselves winning or achieving in their minds first. That is where it starts.
Part 5: Dealing with Distractions
Distractions cause you to turn away from your original focus of interest. If your attention is drawn away from your game, even for a second, then you are distracted. Distractions can test your focus and ability to continue with your current thought. Unwanted noises or interruptions can make a player fan on his shot or lose sight of the puck. Natural distractions such as poor ice quality or ill-fitting equipment can also be distracting.
Distractions are different for players in different age groups. For example,
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5-8 years old:
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A small bird flies in the rink and flutters from one rafter to another.
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9-10 years old:
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A player with new equipment thinks about how it does not feel right.
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12-13 years old:
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A player is told by his grandparent that if he scores or gets a
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shutout, he will receive a gift or money.
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14-16 years old:
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A player has his new girlfriend watching him for the first time.
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With time, players learn to block out these distractions and stay focused on their game. Most adults would ignore the distractions mentioned in the examples above but to a young player, these can affect how they think and react in a game.
A great way to handle distractions is to deal with them in advance. For example, coaches could play loud music in a practice while drills are going on or they could invite parents and friends in the stands to scream and yell during a practice. After a while, this will eventually aid the players to block out the distractions. Deal with the potential distractions before a game. That way you can focus on what you want in a game and not be preoccupied by what you don't want.
Part 6: Controlling Your Emotions
Controlling your emotions is a key element to proper mental preparation and conditioning. Aggravation and frustration can be some of the worst feelings to have. They will prevent any player, coach or official from seeing clearly and maintaining the focus of a task.
One of the best and quickest ways to control emotions is by taking a deep breath. It helps to momentarily calm down the nerves. When you are in a calm state, you can think clearly. When people are tense or angry, they tend to hold their breath, which makes it difficult to think rationally.
Fear is another emotion that can cause distraction. It prevents people from achieving the levels of success they deserve. The degree of fear that a player feels will depend on the situation he faces. Imagine going for the puck in the corner and you are in a foot race with another player. Think of what your initial feeling is based on these instances:
- The opponent is ten inches taller than you
- The opponent is six inches shorter than you
- The opponent is a boy
- The opponent is your best friend
- The opponent is the other team's best player
In all of these instances, you may have had different thoughts or feelings when racing for the puck, ranging from confident to passive. Your emotional control is vital to the level of effectiveness you will deliver for that task.
Part 7: Track Your Mental Conditioning Progress
Tracking your progress in mental conditioning is very similar to tracking your progress in physical conditioning. By writing down what you think, when you think of it and what your feelings are, you will understand why you did what you did. When you look back, you will be able to see your mistakes and successes.
People are creatures of habit. We do something the same way over and over until someone or something shows us differently. By journaling your activities or emotions, you will be able to teach yourself to break your undesirable habits and create new empowering ones. Here is a list of things you can keep track of after a game to help your progress:
- Emotional control: how you are able to control your feelings in a competitive environment
- Concentration: how you can focus on the immediate task at hand
- Handling pressure: how you react when demands are put on you to deliver
- Self-talking: what you say to yourself
- Visualization: what and how you see something in your mind
- Distractions: things that happen around you to get you off your game
Processing all of this information is significant but it does nothing if you do not reflect back on it. In other words, read your journal on a regular basis to see your progress.
Part 8: Pre-Game Preparation
Pre-game preparation should include reading the power words you wrote for yourself. Saying them over and over will do wonders for your confidence while increasing your concentration and honing your focus. Relaxation should be another element in your preparation. One way to relax is to socialize before a game in the front lobby of a rink and talk with family and friends. Deep breathing in the room while you dress will put you in control. Clear your mind of any distracting thoughts.
Your mental condition is based on how you plan to work your mind. Mental weights include good images, power words and exercising focus through concentration. You do what you need to do to become the best you can. You cannot control your outside surroundings but you can control how you handle them.
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MENTAL PREPARATION: 8 PART SERIES
PART 1 : What is Mental Preparation?
To be mentally prepared means preparing ahead of time to be your best. This increases your self-confidence and keeps you focused during the game because you will have thought in advance about what you want to do in any situation. This in turn will improve your performance. 
Just as you exercise your body to be in shape to play the game, you must exercise your mind to be in shape to play the game. If your body is ready but your mind is not, you will probably not get the results you want.
Mental preparation for a game should start long before the puck drops. It means thinking about how you will position yourself, challenge your opponents and manoeuvre the puck. By the time the game begins, you should already have visualized your performance. Both players and coaches need to have a personal mental game plan, which means a personal strategy on how they intend to perform during the game.
As you go up in levels, you will encounter more and more talented athletes. While team skills are equal and player skills are comparable, the difference between success and failure will be found in the mental game.
PART 2 : The Importance of Transition
Everyone has "lots of stuff" going on in her life. The mentally prepared hockey player is able to put that "stuff" aside and put herself in game mode. Each player and coach needs to determine what it means to be in game mode. For some, it might involve listening to music. For others, it might involve a personal ritual. It does not matter what you do as long as it works for you and it puts you in the hockey mindset for that game. Bringing your life problems or issues into the game will cause problems. It will distract you and your team mates and affect your game. Your problems won't be resolved while you are on the ice; they will still be there when the game is over. Push aside those issues for the game and deal with them after the game. You probably won't enjoy yourself if you think about those problems during the game anyway. Isn't the point of playing, coaching or officiating hockey to have fun?
You can put yourself in game mode by:
- Visualizing yourself in the rink.
- Thinking about what you will do during the game.
- Rehearsing your tactics for various situations.
- Focusing on what you want to accomplish in the game.
You can start when you are at home getting ready to come to the rink. The warm-up is an excellent opportunity to put yourself in game mode. It is more than just a preparation for the body-it is also a time to prepare your mind.
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PASSING: THE KEY TO TEAM PLAY
Why is passing so important? Because it sets up almost every scoring opportunity. Passing is the quickest and most effective way to move the puck around the playing surface because puck movement is faster than player movement.
There are many reasons for passing the puck during a hockey game: to quickly bring the puck out of your defensive zone, to defeat a defender and create a numerical advantage (an essential on a power play), or to set up that great scoring opportunity. Each type of pass serves a unique purpose in terms of catching your opponents off guard and gaining positional advantage. The speed and change in flow provided when making a pass allows your offense to open up many exciting opportunities to put the puck into a scoring situation.
Accuracy, Timing, Deception
Three factors to consider when executing an effective pass are accuracy, knowing when to pass and deception. Following a good pass, don’t stand around congratulating yourself, get back into the play!
1. Accuracy is essential when passing the puck. If you don’t put the puck on your teammate’s stick, you may have just given possession to the other team. To be accurate, you must be able to lead a moving receiver with the puck; that is, you must pass the puck far enough ahead of the moving receiver to give him time to catch the pass.
2. Knowing when to pass. Deciding when to pass the puck should always be based on improving your TEAM’s offensive situation (remember there is a direct relationship between passing and team play!). If a teammate is in a better position than you are, don’t keep the puck—pass it.
3. Deception. Many players spoil their passing attempt because they telegraph their intention. Telegraphing a pass occurs when the passer is looking at the potential receiver and lining up the passing play without any deception. This gives a defender an easy opportunity to steal the puck. Passers can use their peripheral vision or a deceptive move to confuse a defender providing valuable time and space for the receiver.
Three passes you can use to catch defenders off guard include the flip pass, around-the-boards pass and give-and-go pass.
Flip Pass
The flip (or saucer) pass is one technique that can be used when you cannot make a direct pass to your receiver due to a defender’s stick.
The key to making an accurate flip pass is rotating the puck, which is created by rolling the puck from the heel of the stick blade to the toe as the pass is made. This will ensure that the puck lands flat and does not bounce or roll.
The flip pass requires a short follow through to put the puck 6-18 inches off the playing surface and over a defender’s stick. No deception is needed with this type of pass as the puck going airborne takes care of it. Figure 1 shows an excellent neutral zone penetration (flip) pass allowing the play to quickly move from your defensive zone to the red line.
Around-the-Boards Pass
Like the flip pass, the around-the-boards pass allows a passer to indirectly reach a receiver; and since you are using the boards as a guide, it is very accurate. It is particularly effective when used by a defenseman (D) to move the puck from behind the net to an open forward (F) positioned along the boards (as part of a breakout) or when moving the puck in your offensive zone to a teammate on the far side of the net (Figure 2). The pass should be low and not too hard so the receiver can handle it. Since this pass goes around a defender, deception is built right in.
Give-and-Go
The give-and-go pass (really a passing play) is designed to deceive and defeat an opponent and move the puck into a scoring opportunity.
The give-and-go pass can be used in any area on the playing surface. In the defensive zone, the pass can be used in conjunction with a breakout. In the offensive zone, it can be used as part of your offensive zone strategy. If the defender is expecting (reading) a give-and-go pass, you can still deceive him/her with a give-and-no-go (pass the puck and have the initial receiver fake the return pass).
Perfect your passing technique (accuracy, knowing when to pass, and use of deception) and our team will improve its offensive effectiveness with the flick of a stick.