An Example of Practice to Game Transfer
Warning *Proud coach moment ahead*
Recently we were sent film from parents of their son scoring a goal. Of course, any player scoring is exciting news, but this was especially exciting to see because it was exactly something we had worked on and talked about with the player.
And funnier still, the practice video you’ve likely already seen within our first ever newsletter post Better Practices Made Easy. It’s precisely what we referenced then, taking video and making it a powerful coaching tool.
Better Practices Made Easy
In that post we mentioned this tidbit,
There are plenty of teachable moments from this video. I was able to pull 2 players aside and have conversations before their turn was up again. It was time well spent and allowed me as a coach to meet the players where they learn best, with video.
One of those two players went on to score this goal:
Downforce, great body shape, and a popped goalie’s water bottle. Awesome.
Video in Practice
Now let’s take a step back and see what practice looked like. Follow the black jersey with white + maroon candy-cane socks. He will be on the left of the screen to start.
Twice he got into that same corner support spot.
First time, he drew in the defender that opened up the backside.
Second time, he got the puck off the cycle and failed to attack the net
While both plays were still fresh on his mind, we were able to show him the video and discussed what he saw and our coaching point. As you heard on the video, our focus was to attack the net off that situation in order to put the defenders and goalie into compromising spots.
Here is the goal again, the pre-shot movement is the same as in practice. This time he took what he learned and made a better offensive decision, attacking the net. He was rewarded with a great goal. (Our goal scorer, #14, starts in the bottom right of the video)
Players taking failure in practice, learning from that failure to improve, and then succeeding in a game is a coach’s dream.
Further reading - Be the Ball, why failure and adversity are important in development.
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