SPECIAL ARTICLE FROM USA HOCKEY
The Value Of Small Area Games In Ice Hockey Development
By Paul Cannata
Former
Assistant Coach, Northeastern University
Scientific
knowledge indicates that the greatest window of opportunity for the
development of physical skills exists between the ages of 6 and 13 years
old. It is vital that during these ages young players are physically
active, mentally stimulated and having fun during youth practices.
Highly
structured activities, slowly paced and pre-determined practice drills,
dictatorial coaching styles amid adult pressured environments with an
emphasis on winning will produce robotic, tentative, skill deficient,
mentally limited hockey players. Adults can envision an ideal
workplace versus a ‘difficult’ working environment to draw a personal
analogy.
We
can easily look to other venues for successful models of teaching and
general learning methodology. In his book, The Disciplined Mind,
Howard Gardner examined successful kindergarten and elementary classrooms
around the world. Gardner observed that the most successful tend to
have a number of children simultaneously engaged in activities. You
may see kids all drawing in their own coloring book, playing with their
piece of clay or slopping their finger paints on a sheet. The kids
are allotted a certain freedom to experiment, learn and discover at their
own pace and in their own manner. Also, you may see a group of young
children working together on a project with little adult interference.
You do not see twelve kids in line in one corner of the classroom
and one at a time going to a board and putting a crayon mark on the easel
and returning to the end of the line.
The
teacher moves around quietly and occasionally offers a bit of advice and
encouragement while maintaining control of the overall climate. It
is this type of creative and positive environment governed by a level of
discipline that needs to be duplicated during a youth hockey practice.
I
believe that the introduction of small games into your practices will
allow a team to move toward this ideal practice environment.
Why
use small games?
Small
games have been around for a long time. Kids have been creating
small games in the basement, driveway and in the back corner of a local
rink all on their own forever. When kids drag out hockey nets they
do not put them 200 feet apart. Matter of fact when young adults have a
chance to create their own surface on a pond or street they tend not to
choose the ‘olympic sheet’ option either! I have not seen too
many pond hockey games with ten year olds placing the nets so far apart
that you can barely see them! A pond the size of a rink will often
have two or three games going on simultaneously.
As
far as ‘organized hockey’ goes I have gleaned a great deal in regards
to ‘Small Games’ from the cultivated minds of Bob Richardson (Calgary
Flames), Gary Wright (AIC) and Bill Beaney (Middlebury College).
Among others these coaches have long professed the value of ‘games’
for practices and the development of players of all ages. Over the
past couple of years I have witnessed many Hockey East, US National and
NHL teams utilizing these games during their practices. I conclude
that if our most esteemed coaches who function in a ‘results oriented’
world (their jobs are literally on the line) choose to utilize them during
their valuable practice sessions then they must trust their developmental
value.
By
nature, hockey is a read and react sport. It is a ‘feel’ sport.
There are very few ‘set plays’ . A player is constantly reading
the ice as to what situation is developing and what the options may be.
These options are constantly evolving, often by the second. Further,
often there is no one answer or exact solution for a player. A
player must be able to ‘see the ice’ or ‘sense the play’ to be
creative and ultimately make ‘smart plays’ with and without the puck.
In order to become adept at this decision making process a player must
be allowed to flourish in this environment. Small area games provide your
players with this learning environment. Drills we tend to use have certain
benefits but the down side of drills is that they are usually
predetermined to all involved. A 1V1 is a 1V1 until the end.
The players involved, including the goaltender know both ahead of time and
during the play what they are confronting. Conversely, small area
games are spontaneous in nature and can produce a variety of situations.
In this end they duplicate ‘real game’ conditions. Consistently
playing within these circumstances will undoubtedly enhance the physical
skills and creativity of a hockey player. There are no drills which
provide this combination of
‘thinking’,
‘reading’, ‘reacting’, ‘competing’, skating, passing, shooting
and stickhandling as experienced in a small game.
Referring
back to the world of education Gardner suggests, “An individual with a
keen memory might well understand a topic; however, it is plausible that
he or she merely remembers the information and has not a clue about how to
use it appropriately in an unfamiliar circumstance.” Virtually
every play in hockey is slightly or drastically different depending on a
number of circumstances. Having your players constantly repeating
contrived situations will not lead to a deep understanding and feel for
the game of hockey.
Individual
physical skills as well as the ability to ‘see the ice’ and ‘be
creative’ are what separate the great players from the average players.
Small games foster the development of all of these skills within a
competitive and enjoyable environment.
During
small games the players touch the puck more, are placed in tight area
situations and have more attempts at the net than any drill I have ever
witnessed. Obviously this plays well for both the development of the
skaters as well as the goaltenders!
Over
the last few years at Northeastern University we have played many cross
ice games following light practices on the morning of game days. The
coaches all play along with players coming off injury and those who may be
out of the line-up that night. We have a full sheet of ice to use
but we choose to use only one zone. We are confident that this small
area will assist the players out of the line-up in developing their
stickhandling, passing, shooting, hockey sense and conditioning.
Quite frankly all of us, including the coaches, enjoy it more because you
are never far from the action! A shot on one net can lead to a
rebound and an immediate attempt at the other net! Obviously, our
backup goaltenders are also benefiting because they are getting ten times
the scoring chances as they may other wise. Finally, we all have
fun. These games are a blast. If you can get the coaching
staff together having fun with the players who are ‘out of the
line-up’ then these games must be magical! Yeah, every now and
then you might get an errant puck or elbow from a disgruntled young man
but that’s all part of the action!
All
facets of the game of hockey can be taught and emphasized through small
games. A young player can learn defensive themes, offensive
themes, sportsmanship, technical or tactical skills. It is left to
the coach to emphasize and implement various conditions to achieve the
desired results. The imagination is all that limits the type and
scope of games we can create.
An
extremely important element to the success of your games will be the
personality a coach exudes and ultimately the game environment created.
Remember, the game must be placed in the hands of the players. The
players must feel the independence of playing with the ability to make
‘smart plays’ and make ‘mistakes’. We all learn through
mistakes. This is where a fine balance of coaching must come into
play. The independence of playing is lost when coaches are
constantly barking orders and directing the play. Also, quite
frankly, this becomes annoying. Imagine playing golf and some guy
following you around yelling at you to hit the ball here and there and
when to hit it and how to hit it and on and on! The game must be in
the player’s hands and should take on a life of it’s own.
Scientists
also believe we only use ten percent of our brain. How could
we ever approach our potential if we did not experiment. How could a
coach or teacher ever try to limit a young player’s scope? Could
you imagine the consequences if one of Gretzky’s youth coaches demanded
he not stop behind the opponents net? Would a coach ever tell magic
Johnson not to pass behind his back or smile when he played the game he so
enjoyed?
This
does not mean that a coach just let’s things run amok. Overseeing
the sportsmanship, discipline and abiding by the rules of the game are
vital. Players must be held accountable in these respects.
Players want to play. Usually depriving a player of shifts serves as
a pretty quick reminder. However, think of yourself as that
elementary school teacher working your way around. Stay somewhat in
the background. Let the kids have the game and offer encouragement
and advice when you see fit. Step in
The
Value Of Small Area Games In Ice Hockey Development (cont.)
as
the disciplinarian when necessary. John Wooden, former champion
basketball coach at UCLA always believed that, “Young people need
models, not critics.”
The
ice and the game itself will become an effective teacher. A player
will often know when he/she has made a mistake. The players will
start to govern themselves in a number of ways. When a player
finds that something works they will probably repeat this often.
When they find that certain moves or decisions are not working, they will
probably remove this from their repertoire over time. One must
remember that these decisions and overall development will happen at
different times. Some players hop in, figure out the game quickly
and begin to add creative elements to it within minutes. For others
it may be a much longer process. This would be true of any endeavor.
I suggest you read Dr. Mel Levine’s latest book, A Mind At A Time, for a
closer look at this learning process.
However,
this is one of the best elements of small games. They allow the
better players to flourish and move along. The activity and
environment is in place to foster development. This is also true for
the lesser player. They are certainly challenged but the opportunity
remains to improve physically and mentally and come along over time while
still playing the game and having fun. Both levels of players
and all in between are engaged, challenged, empowered, competing and
having fun! The space is reduced so the better player is forced to
‘do more’ while the reduction of space allows the lesser player to
always ‘be involved’. In this case the ‘rising tide surely
lifts all boats’.
Contrast
this situation with a typical 1V1 where for one, the situation is
predetermined. No one has to think to figure out what the situation
is and in the end the better players tend to blow by the weaker ones and
neither player gets anything out of it. If the offensive player
misses the net or shoots from four feet out then even the goalie gets
nothing out of it!
Another
important variable to the success of small games with younger players is
the use of modified equipment. In particular younger players must be
using lighter pucks. To ask a seven or eight year old kid to use the
same weighted puck as does Steve Yzerman and Brett Hull is absolutely
absurd. Not only is it a foolish concept but it is actually
detrimental to the motor skill development of the kids. Young kids
playing with a regulation puck is akin to an adult using a five pound
rock! Not only is it not fun, but one is not developing dexterity
and fluidity in their motions. Matter of fact, what one is
developing is rigidity and poor movement.
It
would also be advisable to use modified nets for youngsters. Again,
a small child is being asked to cover the same ground as Patrick Roy and
Curtis Joseph. Would we ever do this in soccer with our young
kids? A good idea is to hang an L shaped piece of plywood off the
cross-bar covering at least one foot of the top and one foot of one side.
This is cost effective and can be done quickly prior to practice.
Now a young goalie has a chance and the shooters must be more accurate.
If
a team is using small area games while the coach is low key and supportive
and the players are using modified equipment one has created an ideal
playing, learning and teaching environment! You now have all the
ingredients for mental, physical and social development.
As
much as anything these games are fun! Bob Richardson refers to two
words previously mentioned when discussing small games: engaged and
empowered. The players become engaged and empowered during practices
because the game is put in their hands and they are ‘playing hockey’!
Lou Vairo once commented that, “He never heard anyone say, ‘Let’s go
work hockey.’ It is always, ‘Let’s go play hockey.’”
I agree and I’ll add one more. I never heard a kid say, “I want
to go drill hockey.” Remember, the kids come to the rink to play hockey.
John Wooden also felt that, “When we are out of sympathy with the young,
then our work in this world is over.” As leaders of the hockey
world it is incumbent upon us to protect the game and the opportunity to
play the game for our youngsters.
Drop
the puck!
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