Feature Story
Team concepts (part I)
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
While hockey is obviously a team sport,
sometimes the “team” players don’t operate very well as a team. It is also
important to remember that (almost) every team sport does also involve
important individual performances, priorities and goals.
Maybe the most “team” oriented players
that have very little ability to have (public) individual statistics are
football offensive tackles. Without them, the offense grinds to a halt, but
when the story is written and the stats are posted for the general public, very
little shows up. It is not possible to find such individuals in hockey, but
defensive defensemen probably come closest.
The first question that might be asked
is: “How important are team concepts – or playing as a team?”
Well, I believe that a group with
somewhat lesser talents, but the willingness to embrace team concepts, will
almost always beat a better team of individuals. So, if a team wants to
win and perform to the best of its combined abilities, then team concepts are
critical.
Generally, the individuals on this type
of team look good as well; there is no downside for players individually. A
team full of individuals that don’t support each well will
not likely be very successful; and the players will not look as
good.
The next question is: “What are these
‘team concepts’ – and whose responsibility is it to lay them out and enforce
them?”
Well, the responsibility to lay them out
and enforce them falls on the coaches – and to some degree the captains.
Captains should be chosen carefully so they can assist with team concepts. If
the team votes on captain(s), the coaches should also assign co-captains if
they need to supplement the players’ choices.
Team Concepts
• A
good understanding of responsibilities
Each player has to know and understand
what their key offensive and defensive support responsibilities are. For young
teams (Squirt, PeeWee) they will have to be spelled
out very well and discussed – and maybe demonstrated. For older teams (Bantam,
high school), there should be less need to demonstrate, but coaches
should not necessarily assume that players have had this education previously;
so explanations and even written descriptions are important. We’ll talk about
specific responsibilities in a later item.
• Enforcement of players doing their jobs
The players need to be held accountable
for the responsibilities that have been laid out.
I recently did a coaching clinic for a
small association and one of the coaches asked how he was to enforce players
doing their jobs and putting out a good effort when there were only 17-18
players at that division and everyone made the team. I said that associations
should allow coaches to sit players for shifts or periods (preferably the
longest stretch at one time) —give them a “time-out” as it were – for
responsibility and effort issues; but not for lack of skill issues.
If we go back to my prior writings, we
would find that I believe players bring three things to games: skill,
responsibilities and effort. The skill portion can’t change in a game so can’t
be “enforced.”
For young players (and sometimes even
older players) especially, it is sometimes difficult to remember what their
responsibilities are in all three areas of the ice. Coaches should try to keep
the basics on which they will judge (enforce) very simple.
For example, I always tell defensemen
that it is their primary job to: a) move the puck out of the zone in one of
several ways and b) defend well in the zone. That is what I call their “A”
responsibilities. Everything else becomes “B” or “C” responsibilities and pale
in importance. These two items will be what they are primarily judged on – even
up through pro teams (where it will be called plus-minus and be the basis of
contract talks)!
Coaches that establish responsibilities
and enforce them early will have a much more enjoyable and successful full
season.
• A commitment to full effort
Many coaches ask their players to put out
full effort but they really don’t teach what full effort means or help the
players achieve it. I believe that full effort games are created in practice –
every practice. The old adage “you play like you practice” is very true.
Coaches should require that all practices
are what I call “full tilt.” Full tilt is over 100 percent sometimes; and never
under 100 percent unless a coach indicates that particular drill/item is to be
done at less than 100 percent.
Coaches need to be constantly giving
players feedback (in practice and games) where they stand as to effort.
Constant monitoring and advice in practices will make game effort a “given.”
Players need to know that 80- or 90-percent effort teammates need to play on
lines that will compete with other 80- or 90-percent players – the third and
fourth lines.
Ultimately speed separates players (A to
B, JV to Varsity) more than any other factor. Speed is most often a direct
result of effort. A “fast” player at 90
percent is no faster than a moderate speed player at 100 or 110 percent. A fast
player at 100 percent is usually outstanding in at least portions of the game.
Even The Great One had to put out over 100 percent to keep up; because he
wasn’t naturally fast.
Most coaches will say that the thing they
spend the most time with and get the biggest headaches over is effort. Lines
get changed, players get demoted, players ride the
bench – most often over effort.
Again, coaches have to have enforcement.
Not playing or moving to lower lines is the discipline that is necessary – and
must be done early and consistently. Some players cannot “view themselves”
reasonably. They can’t see their own problems, so they have a hard time
correcting them. Coaches should try to use game and even practice video to help
players view themselves. This makes the correction easier, especially when
little flexibility exists for replacing or cutting the player.
Teaching a player to go at full tilt can
be career changing for many youngsters. I recall watching a good player in the
Elite League a couple of years ago who was slightly below average speed but had
great hands. He had a hard time scoring because he didn’t put out exceptional
effort. He was a scorer in high school but didn’t make the jump to a faster
pace. A couple of weeks ago I saw him again in a DIII game. He had played a
year of Junior and while he hadn’t made DI, he now is a very hard “tryer” and an excellent scorer at the college level. He is
no longer below average. His effort made him above average speed.
Next week we will continue to discuss
effort, then move on to other team concepts.
John Russo, Ph.D., is founder and
director of the