The In-Powered Coach

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“You reveal your intelligence by your labels.”

-Taylor Welch

My first time around in tier 3 junior hockey lasted 2 years. I didn’t know what I was doing in 2018. I probably should have been fired then.

The 2nd time around in tier 3 lasted one month. And I got more accomplished in 30 days with that group than I did in 2 years with the other team.

Why?

I had a clue this time.

I hear coaches today with teams that are underperforming and don’t look like they have any conceptual detail in their game at all say, “my kids aren’t smart or good enough.”

That’s the cop out.

What it really means is the coach has no idea what he’s doing.

How do I know?

I used to say that when I coached tier 3 the first time.

And I didn’t say it the 2nd time.

The first time, we didn’t play principles-based.

The second time we did.

The first time they weren’t attuned to bend the concepts of the game in their favor… I didn’t know what the concepts were yet.

The second time I did.

The first time I made excuses that our players weren’t smart and didn’t ‘get it’.

The second time there were no excuses; there was just the process… And the process was getting there in just 4 games.

The first time I didn’t know what the CLA was.

The second time I did.

Full EcoD/CLA is how you get pretty good, pretty fast, with what others called ‘bad players’.

How do I know? People told me it would be tough to do what I wanted (conceptual hockey) with tier 3 players.

I did it anyway.

The dumbest thing they did was run the CLA staff out of town for people who didn’t know those 3 letters could be arranged in such a way. But I’m digressing… Here’s the point.

Suppose you’re 8 years old and don’t know how to solve a college-level physics problem. And you’re told you have moments to solve it. Are you dumb?

Or just unaware? Unprepared. In need of tools but equipped with none.

Do not blame the student; look at the environment.

Attune intention and attention through video.

Give them rep without rep problems to solve with constraints.

They are not dumb; they just haven’t seen enough of it yet.

Supply it. And stop wasting valuable development time (months) installing systems.

If you think your players are dumb, look at your training…You’re probably creating favorable conditions for dumb hockey to emerge.

Systems are Overly Constraining and Create Conditions for Dumb Hockey

"If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."

-William Blake

Systems are the over-constraints that lead players to attempt to solve problems that are not there (emergent in that context).

Using a tool that doesn’t make sense for the moment, the context, or the job to be done.

“We always middle lane drive on this team.” Even if it creates 3, 1v1’s and no advantage.

“Our system is to play fast all the time.” Except it only makes sense when you inherit or create an advantage…

“We always need one net front hold”… Until you’re standing tied up and bringing opponents to clog up valuable scoring space.

Systems are fragile.

Systems are generalities.

“To generalize is to be an idiot.”― William Blake

Systems are dead. Why?

Because acting irrespective of context because ‘it’s the system’ is at best, idiotic and, at worst, completely detrimental to developing your players’ ability to problem-solve in the moment.

Give the game back to the players and watch the game come alive.

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”― William Blake

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Why shot selection principles are based in the Truth

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Thread

More examples of similar missed affordances to get inside and upgrade from the same game, this example is very close to WBS exemplar in terms of context:

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“The problem is more philosophical and starts way before players get to the NHL. It’s easier to destroy than to create. As a coach, it’s easier to tell your players to suffocate the opposing team and not turn the puck over. There are still players whose imagination and creativity capture the Soviet spirit — Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in Chicago just to name a few. However, they are becoming exceptions to the rule. Many young players who are intelligent and can see the game four moves ahead are not valued. They’re told ‘simple, simple, simple.’ “That mentality is kind of boring. Nobody wants to get fired. Nobody wants to get sent down to the minors. “Say what you want about the Whiplash mentality (or the Soviet mentality), but if coaches are going to push kids at that age, why are they pushing them to play a simple game? Why aren’t coaches pushing them to create a masterpiece? “We lose a lot of Pavel Datsyuks to the closed-minded nature of the AHL and NHL.”

-Igor Larionov

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Part 2: The Breakdown

Part 3: The SSG ideas

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