BLOG #14 - More SKILL is NOT the Solution

The most standard area that players develop is their skill. (In the loop below, skill would fall under execution). Players spend countless hours in the summer developing their overall skill. They will drown themselves with endless touch focused drills, attacking stationary triangles, and while doing an assortment of “edge control skills”. Sadly, this has a low translation rate to the season. Simply put, this type of training lacks the environmental factors that would happen in a game.

My point, developing the execution part of the loop is only a piece of the puzzle.

Summer programs rarely address the tools needed to SEE and ANALYZE the game. Of course, you wouldn’t need to do this with beginners as much. They need a solid base of skill competency before you can deliberately train these other two areas. A good rule of thumb is around 12-14 years old to start developing these two. To give a comparison, most players rarely even develop these areas deliberately. 

Seeing would be defined as head and eye checks before receiving the puck. Players should be able to utilize head positioning to maximize sight lines. Below you see the quick initial check to see the play develop.

Analyzing would be defined as processing, transition, and timing speed. This is the hardest to develop and takes the most time. These 3 core features of the analyze section are critical to developing IQ. This in conjunction with mimicking similar environmental factors of a game is how you can develop this part of the loop.

Execution, as I mentioned before, is focused on the skill side of the game. Developing technique, mechanics, and high quality touches is how you develop this part of the loop. 

Back to my point. Skill is not the solution but rather a piece of a bigger puzzle. When I train players, I focus first on developing head positioning and eye tracking skills while working on core fundamental skills. Once they are confident in these areas, we move to the development of their ability to analyze and make decisions at game speed.

How can you start? 

ACTIONABLE INSIGHT TO SEE & ANALYZE EFFECTIVELY

1-    Monkey in the middle, Use circle with 1-2 in middle & 2-4 outside circle

2-    Knock out, find a couple buddies and work on puck protection in the circle while trying to knock out other players pucks. Losers do push ups 

3-    Chaos passing, put a bunch of obstacles in a circle and with a partner work on passing to each other while working to find passing lanes & space

ACTIONABLE INSIGHT FOR EXECUTION

1-    Randomize your skill drills

2-    Avoid executing set pre-programmed moves

3-    Add chaos parts to drills

This is a great place to start. “Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day but it was built one brick at a time” - James Clear. Developing your ability to see and analyze takes time but you have the basic building blocks to start now. Start developing these key areas and you’ll find yourself seeing options you never saw before. You’ll become even more creative and making elite level plays consistently!

Thanks for reading!