The background to the following conversation actually started several days ago over on my blog, Coach Chic’s Hockey Diary*. I encourage you to scan those two articles, and especially the videos contained in the second one. For your convenience, here are the two article links:
- Why My Work Is So Different
- The Special Sport Clubs
I also mentioned in both articles the fact that the seeds for The MOTION Lab stemmed from my getting to see and gain appreciation for the special sport clubs during my studies in the old Soviet Union.
-- Dennis Chighisola
* I might suggest you subscribe to my blog, because it is now a new part of CoachChic.com
A Little History to The MOTION Lab
The following video makes some great points I’d like to build upon after you’ve heard Dr Yessis’ interview.
Once again we can thank YouTube.com and a noted authority for sharing such great advice. Now, as for that advice…
Near the end of that interview, Dr Yessis makes a pretty strong push for something akin to special sports clubs, as well as using qualified coaches and other specialists to staff them.
However, while he didn’t state it directly, my guess is that he’d also suggest that given athletes be guided by a single entity (either by and individual or by a staff).
My reason for raising this point stems from watching a lot of pretty high level hockey programs in my area who don’t really do that. In other words, the instruction is fragmented -- between a head coach, a separate staff of skills coaches, and maybe a fitness instructor.
Let me explain that in another way… A head coach obviously oversees a team during their practices and games. And I’ll suggest that he (or she) is the one person who knows what the kids’ strengths and weaknesses are – as individuals and as a group. From there, his kids report to a weekly skills session where the special coaches seldom have any understanding of what those kids are experiencing in their games. Sure, some of the generic type drills that are usually run in these sessions might be good for the kids. However, the skills instructors may never touch upon the kids’ true needs. And I think the same can be said for the strength or fitness instructor, in that he or she probably isn't privy to the players’ true needs.
Oh, by the way, I have heard an explanation as to why some organizations like things as I just described. What they seem to believe is that a "variety" of coaches will serve the kids well. Hmmmmmm…
That said, about a decade ago I gave some really serious thought to the way I would put my Team NEHI program together. And, what I decided was that I wanted our skills to fit with the things we were trying to do in our practices and games, and I wanted our dryland and in-line training to support our on-ice practices, skills and games.
Oh, and long-time members should be familiar with my constant note-taking, as well as the way it helps me design my future practices – of any kind. Of course, I have the luxury of using those notes -- three times per week. On the other hand, part-time skills and fitness coaches never get to take notes about game problems.
If you’d like an example of what I’m talking about here, let’s consider the powerplay… For sure, this requires some special individual skills, and they’re not usually the kinds of skills a team can spend LOTS of time on in a traditional practice. Just to name a few, I might suggest games of keepaway – of all different numerical combinations, shooting off a pass, one-touch passing and saucer passing. So, my weekly skills deal with these, and I even spend some of our off-ice training time on those skills.
That’s not the only reason my way of doing things seems to work better. For, I am always watching individual players for their unique needs. Actually, I alluded to this in my article entitled “
The Effects of Growth Spurts on Hockey Players”. In that piece I explained how I communicated with those kids and their parents, and I also mentioned a few drills I put into our skills and off-ice sessions to help them through that sometimes difficult period.
So again, if you can see what I mean, my practices are all tied together, with each supporting the others. And, I’ll suggest that the only way that kind of continuity can really take place is if one guy (or gal) oversees the team’s development. Actually, I’m also going to suggest that Dr Yessis’ idea about having select players train in some sort of club atmosphere would have this happen – with either an individual or a staff following the development of each player.
As for The MOTION Lab… I think I built that about 5-years ago. And, after some experimentation with private students and small groups, I decided to incorporate it into my Team NEHI program. However, not wanting to overburden my players and their families by adding another training session to their fall and winter schedule, I decided to bring them to the Lab during our off-season.
Now, I might change things a little this coming season, but... I usually bring the teams into the Lab in late May. This is the first time the new groups gather, and they'll be with me until either late November (when the high schoolers leave) or late April (when the junior high team's league ends). The length of time I have them affords me the chance to take a long-range approach – as in, slow and steady wins the race. That in mind, I use the Lab to start building some of the background skills my kids will need by the time they go to our occasional summer ice-time or to our outdoor sprint and agility sessions.
Once again, though, if you can see what I mean, everything pretty much fits – from the spring Lab to the summer programs to our late summer camp, and then to our fall and winter season.
Then, one final thought… Every so often I will have a parent within our Team NEHI group who will believe that more is better. In other words, even though their youngster practices three times per week and plays a weekly game with us, they’ll still use what should have been a few let-the-body-rest days to get their kids extra training. Ugh. Here we go again with that fragmented kind of training. And, no matter how good the other trainer might be, it’s likely that the best drills in the world aren’t going to help the youngster. In fact, I’ve seen some pretty good players caught in this, and they've usually come to a near standstill under such conditions. As often, I've seen some kids with great promise just not fulfill their expectations.
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