Long time CoachChic.com members should recognize the co-author of this post, or at least the producer of the following video. And, while he might suggest that there's no secrets to hockey drilling, I think I'll have to do a little explaining about that.
-- Dennis Chighisola
No Secrets To Hockey Drilling
Yes, our Czech hockey coaching friend, Oldrich Jindra, makes another contribution here, this time with a video he prefaces with the idea that there are no secrets to hockey drilling. (Actually, he said it in reference to hockey practices, but my slight change helps this article better in Google searches.) As for that line of thinking -- that there are no secrets to hockey drilling, I do believe I'll have to shed my own thoughts on that once you've seen the following video (this made available by Oldrich)... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYQikdi9GTI Besides seeing some decent drills in that video, did you gain a sense of what Coach Jindra was getting at, when he suggested that there are no secrets to hockey drilling? Well, my take is that he was borrowing and then putting a twist on Nike's slogan, as in "Just do it!" In other words, drills don't do us any good sitting in a smartphone app or on your clipboard. No, they'll only help us improve as we use them -- maybe over and over and over. Of course, I think most long time members will agree that there ARE some secrets to running hockey drills properly, and getting the most out of them...
I'm sure members realize that there are two sides to any drill -- the scientific side and the artistic side. So, right up front, I'd have to say that "How You Practice Hockey Really Matters".
As I write in "The 'Artistic' Hockey Coach", a handful of coaches teaching the exact same drill/s will get drastically different results. How so? It's because of the different ways they present, demo, monitor, and provide feedback for each drill. Again, think about what I'm saying here, and maybe read the linked article.
If you have time to let your head hurt a little ( :) ), see my article on "Key Stages In Hockey Learning". And, yet another challenging read might be my article on "Rewiring Hockey Brains".
Okay, so getting back to what Oly meant about there being no secrets to hockey drilling... I long ago wrote an article called "Learning By Doing", and that stemmed from two favorite quotes. I highly recommend that members read that, but I'll give you a shortcut version here...
One has to do with epigenetics, a new branch of science you probably heard here first. Within that, you should have discovered that a player's genes can actually be influenced by doing (or as I said in that piece, by "doing (and doing and doing)." That, in itself, should suggest what Oldrich likely meant by there being no secrets to hockey drilling.
My long ago hockey student, Aristotle (LOL), said much the same, in that "What we learn to do, we learn by actually doing. Men come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players by playing the harp."
In closing, I think Oldrich Jindra is an extremely bright guy. I also think, though, that he left the title of his video very much open to interpretation. So, before someone from USA Hockey latches on to that literally -- and starts telling everyone that there are no secrets to hockey drilling, I'm glad I've had the opportunity to clarify it for my members.
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PS: I know I spent all my time on defining the meaning/s behind that video, and none so far on the content. As far as that goes, I hope member coaches take note of the way those drills mostly represent small segments of attacking the goal. I don't think I need to explain those drills, except to say that Oldrich seems to assemble tons of ideas for the viewer -- on numerous ways to practice shooting or making a move on the goaltender.
