For those of you who liked the video of our new goalie from Day 4, we’ve also signed a new forward (see the second half of this video). Zinga!
Our Core Beliefs
In the first few days of our Training Camp, we’ve talked about our team’s five Core Beliefs.
Day 1 – Having Fun!
Day 2 – Staying Positive and Hard Work
Day 3 – Coachability
Day 4 – Play FAST!
These five core beliefs will be a huge part of everything we do this year as a team. You’ll hear them a lot.
You may have noticed that we haven’t spent a whole lot of time (yet) on hockey strategy, tactics or skills. That will soon change. But before we start getting to the fun stuff, we’ve got a few more things to cover.
Our Success Game Plan
If you want to succeed at anything you need both a plan and a process to execute it.
1. Set Goals
Be clear and concise as to who you want to be and what you want to do.
As a team, we’ll be setting team goals, but you should also think about setting individual goals. As we go, we’ll be talking more about setting both team and individual goals and how to sync them up so that you can succeed at both.
2. Plan Your Attack
Follow a proven path. Find a coach who has been successful at taking others where you want to go and can teach you how to do the same.
Break things down into learnable and executable chunks. Then focus on the top 20% of these chunks that will have the greatest impact. A good coach can identify all of the important elements and help you identify your top 20%.
I’ve already planned out our attack for the upcoming season. We’ll be working on this every week.
3. Execute Your Plan
Build routines that allow you to get more of the right stuff done. Remember, the best schedule is one you’ll execute.
Block focus time into your daily routine to ensure that you accomplish the important things.
Do your best to stay out of the Zombie-Zone (alive time vs. dead time). It’s really easy to waste time on things that really aren’t important (social media or Internet browsing).
If you have a day that goes off the rails, don’t worry about it. Just get right back into your routine tomorrow.
4. Commit To Getting 1% Better Every Day
Even a 1% improvement every day will quickly compound.
Be more motivated to execute your plan than your competition! Find ways to make yourself accountable and make your stakes higher than your competition.
Build feedback into your process.
An Avalanche Accelerates
av·a·lanche ( /avəˌlan(t)SH/ )Definition: noun1. a mass of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.2. a sudden arrival or occurrence of something in overwhelming quantities.
You’ll hear me use the the phrase to “An Avalanche Accelerates” a lot. Obviously, it is our team name, but there are several other reasons.
I use it to remind us of the importance of speed. An avalanche is an awesome thing. It moves very fast and overwhelms everything in its path. This is just what we want to do as a team.
The second reason that I like the phrase “An Avalanche Accelerates” is that reminds us how something that starts as a tiny snowflake can grow first into a snowball and then into a massive force. If we commit to getting just 1% better every day, eventually nothing will be able to stop us either.
The third reason I like this phrase is that it reminds me of the learning process we’ll use throughout the season. In order to improve in all aspects of the game, skills and tactics will be taught through three phase progression designed to allow us to do everything FASTER.
- Acquire – The basic concepts are explained to the player. Players will be asked to demonstrate (at slow speed) and explain the components of each skill to ensure that they have acquired the skill.
- Accelerate – How can we execute this skill FASTER? Reinforce the skill using overspeed drills so that it can be executed without conscious thought.
- Apply – Players will apply this skill in simulated game situations and in real games at maximum speed.
Today’s Assignment:
- Memorize our team’s five core values (they will be on the test).
- Start thinking about your individual goals for the upcoming season and beyond. Write them down.
- What is the connection between “An Avalanche Accelerates” and the three phase learning progression to get faster? (it’s a very simple answer) When you think you’ve got the answer post a thumbs up to the WhatsApp group. Don’t post the answer and give it away to your teammates yet.