Managing Your Emotions

Far too often emotional changes within a player or throughout a team, dictate the whether a team wins or loses.  Managing both success and failure can be difficult.  Yet, oftentimes it is the psychology of your team that determines its ultimate success.

Here is an interesting article by a sports psychologists-
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201105/sports-become-emotional-master-athlete

5 Core Characteristics of Winners
http://www.blogface2face.com/2010/05/5-core-characteristics-of-winners.html

1. Self- Confidence
2. Risk- takers
3. Unafraid of hard work
4. Determination
5. Patience


One of the prime traits that I try to impart of the teams I coach is to be willing to fail. Winners have to live with the fact that failure is inevitable. We might fail a test, we might make a bad decision, and we might come up short. But winners also realize that failure is a learning lesson and not an ultimate defeat. We learn more by failing than winning because failing shows us how to win. Winners learn from their mistakes—and profit from them.

After my teams State Quarter Final loss this past Saturday I tried to have them reflect upon all their successes from this past season... The overtime wins, the most wins in 10 years, the first time in 10 seasons they got past the 1st round of the state tournament....  And have them focus on the learning part of the defeat.  How they played the defending state champion, who competes in championship games each season, and how we could learn from this experience and apply it to our future seasons.

Losing sucks.  It's awful.  Ultimately though... the more you learn from it, and the harder you work to overcome it, the greater your success will be.

Favorite Hockey Books

For long winter nights, here is a list of some of my favorite hockey reads...

1. The Game: A Thoughtful and Provocative Look at a Life in Hockey

Published in 1983, Ken Dryden's chronicle of a career with the Montreal Canadiens is the ultmiate sports memior.  Often called the best hockey book ever, and deservedly so.

2. Coach: The Pat Burns Story  by Rose Dimanno

Pat Burns was one of the great NHL coaches. He worked with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, and seemed always to enjoy instant success, including coaching the New Jersey Devils to a Stanley Cup victory in 2003. Cancer--his third bout--finally claimed him in 2010, aged 58.

3. Gretzky: An Autobiography  by Rick Reilly

4.  Laura Stamm PowerSkating  by Laura Stamm

A detailed analytical read covering her entrie skating philosophy.  Deeply detailed with accompanying drills

5.  Scotty Bowman: A Life in Hockey  by Douglas Hunter

Convers everything from Bowman's playing days up to his first Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings.

6.  Ultimate Hockey Drill Book- Vol 1, 2 & 3  by Rick Trimble

Info on the Spring Training Team

Scoring Concepts Spring Training Team 2013

This spring I am putting together a Midget aged team (1995-1998 birth year players) composed of Central New Hampshire players to train for a month, and then go compete in a showcase tournament in Marlborough, Massachusetts.  Given that they take up the ice at the Laconia Ice Arena from April to August, the idea is provide an alternative to hanging up the equipment for high school aged players in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.  Moreover, the team will get advanced training and coaching in a fun and competitive environment.

Each participant gets:

* 4 weeks of on/off ice training sessions at Plymouth State Rink (4 consecutive Wednesdays starting March 27th, 620-730pm)

* One 1 on 1 private skill training session on synthetic ice

* Team Jersey & Socks

* Participation in the Coca- Cola Showcase (April 19-21) in Marlborough, MA (3 game minimum)

* Participation with a Laconia Leafs Jr. Hockey Team Practice.

For info email me at- scoringconcepts@gmail.com

 

What's ahead for Scoring Concepts in 2013...

2012 was a great year for Scoring Concepts.  The move from New Jersey to New Hampshire wasn't an easy one, as I said some goodbyes to great people in the Garden State, but New Hampshire gave us a great reception and we are poised for a Banner year in 2013.

Some Highlights from 2012...


* Became the Assistant Coach with the Laconia Leafs Jr Hockey Program.
* Named the Head Hockey Coach at Kingswood High School in Wolfeboro, NH.  Last season's record was 3-12-1, and so far through New Years Day we are 2-3-0-1.
* 6 Freshman who learned to skate with Scoring Concepts clinics played Varsity Hockey at Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield, NJ.
* The "Long Weekend Workout" clinic on May 24th at the Community Center in Woodbridge, NJ had over 30 kids in attendance!
* Over 100 Private Training Sessions in the Calendar year of 2012!  Special thanks to hockey parents such as the House's, the Mohan's, the Demer's, the Tulloch's, the Sack's, and the Buckley's to name a few.
* Declan House (Mercer Chiefs Pee Wee AAA) winning the MVP of the Bell Cup Semifinals in Ottawa.
* August 21st "Pre-Season POWER Workshop" & the 11/12/12 " "Explosive Speed Clinic" at Plymouth State University Arena each had over 30 kids in attendance!
* Billy Andrew making the NJ Rockets AAA.
* 27 scheduled goalie and powerskating sessions with the Henniker Youth Hockey Association... Go Huskies!
* IJHL semi-finalist with the Trenton Habs Jr Hockey Team, and helping to move along Chris Watkins, Cody Newcombe, Sean Kacerosky, Russell Armbruster, Andrew Fosina, and Joe Cangelosi to higher levels of Hockey.
* 2- Day Winter Focus Camp at Laconia Ice Arena!


Earmarked for 2013 are...

* Scoring Concepts Elite Spring Training Team (birth years 98-95).  5 Weeks of On/ Off Ice Training at Plymouth State University, culminating in the Coca- Cola Showcase Tournament in Marlborough, MA.
* More Camps... More Clinics... More Training.
* State Tournament for Kingswood Regional High School.

and...
The construction of the Scoring Concepts Training Center!

Center will feature:
1) A 30 foot long synthetic ice sheet
2) Full Gym, including both free weights and machines
3) Outside plexiglass shooting gallery

Center will host:
* Private & Small Group Training Sessions
* Weeklong morning summer camps
* Small Group Clinics
* Holiday Clinics
* Team Training

The Motto?  "We training like Rocky, not like Drago"

Article on Personalized Coaching...

Article Reprinted courtesy of-
http://www.dynamicfoundations.com/coaching.htm

What is "Coaching?"

To paraphrase Albert Einstein, it takes a different kind of thinking to solve a problem than the kind of thinking which produced the problem. Simply, "coaching" is the process of helping people develop their capacity to think about things (such as problems, people, relationships, customers, products, services, the future) in new and creative ways so that they can accomplish what they really want to accomplish.

Coaching has an enormously important role in the building and sustaining of great organizations and extraordinary workplaces. People who want to accomplish great things often get stuck along the way. Coaching helps people get un-stuck. An example of this is that while many leaders, executives, and managers in organizations seem to "know" intuitively what they need to do to move forward, few of them actually follow through because they're stuck in some way. Coaching helps people focus on the things that are contributing to their being stuck, and then move beyond them.

The Wendel Clark Video

Most of the team's I have served as Head Coach for have watched "the Wendel Clark Video".  I've used this 4 minute video in a variety of ways, but mainly to demonstrate 4 things...

1) Be a Competitor-  You want to be the team that is tough to play against.  Finish your checks, work hard all the time, make simple plays, and pay the price.

2) Size Doesn't Matter in Hockey-  Mr. Clark was 5'10ish and at best 190lbs., and he took on, with success, players of all sizes and skill levels.

3) Be Well Rounded-  Mr. Clark scored over 300 goals in the National Hockey League, and yet still stood up for his teammates against anyone.  He was a 2- Way player in every sense of the phrase.

4) Play with Passion-  Don't take shifts off.  Be engaged.



 "Game in, game out, year in, year out, just a kid cruising the ice looking to cause trouble - a wicked wristshot for a goal, a crushing bodycheck, a fight - opponents' bodies littered on the ice, fans out of their seats, the place in an uproar, and Wendel, no expression on his face, looking around wondering what the commotion was about."--Ken Dryden- Quote taken from Wendel Clark's Retirement Press Conference.


Here is the Video...

Setting Goals

I asked my High School team to give the Coaching Staff 2 goals this season-
1) 2 Hockey Goals
&
2) 2 Academic Goals

Some of the answers have been very interesting...

According to LiveStrong,

A goal is a specific plan of action geared toward obtaining a desired result. Clear, concise goals precede all professional and personal measures of success. In beginning any particular journey, one must know of the direction in which he is heading. People with goals move forward with directed focus, while maintaining the capacity to adjust to unexpected challenges. Doing this, they perform in a way that inspires a sense of balance, purpose and overall well-being in themselves and others.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/17384-purpose-setting-goals/#ixzz2CgVUyXbV

I've always expressed to my athletes to indentify QUANTIFIABLE GOALS.

Thesaurus Legend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Adj.

1.

quantifiable - capable of being quantified quantitative - expressible as a quantity or relating to or susceptible of measurement; "export wheat without quantitative limitations"; "quantitative analysis determines the amounts and proportions of the chemical constituents of a substance or mixture"                 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain