Every player wants to get better. Every player spends countless hours working on their game. Not every player gets the results they want. Why does this happen? Why don’t results directly reflect the time that players put in?
Questions I’ve considered:
How are players using their time?
Are players working on their game in the best possible way?
Are they getting the most development out of every session?
What I’ve noticed:
Players spend time working on things that don’t produce optimal results.
Players are not using their development time correctly and therefore are not producing effective long term results .
Players are often working on things that make them somewhat better in one area but not better overall.
Solution:
Is there a process to get more out of every session?
Yes – there is a better way.
There is a concept that considers all factors. It is as simple as players using their development time correctly. Over a period of time, while putting in work on the right stuff and avoiding the wrong stuff, players can achieve much more during their development process.
There’s always an argument on how certain things make a player better, but are we considering the full picture? Does making isolated improvements in one area while losing ground in another reflect the best use of a player's time? For example, does spending time getting better hands while losing game sense and awareness reflect the best use of time? No – those trade-offs don’t equal optimal results. Getting better at one thing while missing out on another isn’t a winning approach, and that seems to be why so many players miss in the long run – they spend their time working on the wrong stuff.
A player’s hockey success is about having their mental and physical skills sharp and ready to go at the time of competition, while continuing to level up all those skills session by session. An unsuccessful player, with an incorrect approach would have the mindset of, “ just do more work” or “every little bit helps”. More work doesn’t equal better players. Strategic work equals better players.
This process of maximizing efforts through realistic game situation training, while avoiding unrealistic training, is the only way I can think of that gives 99.9% of players a chance at making higher levels in hockey.
Questions I’ve considered:
How are players using their time?
Are players working on their game in the best possible way?
Are they getting the most development out of every session?
What I’ve noticed:
Players spend time working on things that don’t produce optimal results.
Players are not using their development time correctly and therefore are not producing effective long term results .
Players are often working on things that make them somewhat better in one area but not better overall.
Solution:
Is there a process to get more out of every session?
Yes – there is a better way.
There is a concept that considers all factors. It is as simple as players using their development time correctly. Over a period of time, while putting in work on the right stuff and avoiding the wrong stuff, players can achieve much more during their development process.
There’s always an argument on how certain things make a player better, but are we considering the full picture? Does making isolated improvements in one area while losing ground in another reflect the best use of a player's time? For example, does spending time getting better hands while losing game sense and awareness reflect the best use of time? No – those trade-offs don’t equal optimal results. Getting better at one thing while missing out on another isn’t a winning approach, and that seems to be why so many players miss in the long run – they spend their time working on the wrong stuff.
A player’s hockey success is about having their mental and physical skills sharp and ready to go at the time of competition, while continuing to level up all those skills session by session. An unsuccessful player, with an incorrect approach would have the mindset of, “ just do more work” or “every little bit helps”. More work doesn’t equal better players. Strategic work equals better players.
This process of maximizing efforts through realistic game situation training, while avoiding unrealistic training, is the only way I can think of that gives 99.9% of players a chance at making higher levels in hockey.