The Benefits Of Watching Your Own Practice Film

How Watching Practice Film Can Be A Coach's Secret Weapon

Anyone who has ever led a hockey practice knows the numerous challenges at hand. There are so many considerations for the head coach to contemplate, including (and certainly not limited to):

• What is the energy level of the team?

• How long should I spend on a certain topic?

• Is the pace is where it needs to be?

• What is the optimum Work:Rest ratio for this drill?

• Are the goalies actually benefitting from this plan?

• How can I leverage the assistant coaches?

There’s a lot to juggle. At times, it can feel chaotic. And while experience helps, it can also preclude us from being as introspective as we should be. Practice ends, you drive home, and it’s out of your memory. Right?

---

I’ve spent the past 5+ years coaching and learning from Darryl Belfry. One of his core tenants is the importance of film. Any time our players are on the ice, there’s film. Sure, watching game film has obvious benefits. It’s easy to see how a player handles the pace of play in a competitive situation. It’s illuminating how your team adjusts (or not) to the opposition. But watching game film is only half of it.

With twice as many practices as games and significantly more puck touches in the former than the latter, the priority should be on practices.

With services like livebarn.com, watching practices is easier than ever. In years passed, we would have a coach filming with an iPad on the ice, but as time has passed, I’ve come to appreciate the big-picture (literally) that LiveBarn provides.

When re-watching practices, there is plenty to evaluate, both for coaches and players:

• Tone/energy

• Presence/body language

• Pace

• Time spent between drills

• Demonstration ability

• Translatability to games

• Drill effectiveness

• Order of operations

The insights gleaned are helpful in several ways. From a coach’s perspective, the film provides instant feedback that will help in planning the next practice(s). And, just like the tape doesn’t lie to players re: game film, the same can be said for coaches on a practice film. I’ve made several adjustments (tone/body language, most notably) after cringing watching myself run a low-energy, almost surly practice.

Fun Greg note - Watching my practices, I’ve picked up on that I speak and explain with slightly excessive hand motions…

From a player’s perspective, we’ve both sent out short clips to players from practice reps. It’s a great way to show off their improvement and reinforce what we’re working on in practice is translating to their games. Here is a great example of a practice to game transfer:

At the end of the day, the costs of recording a practice are relatively low. The benefits to players and coaches are exceedingly high.

Further Reading - Using video in practice in real time

---

Did you enjoy this newsletter?

Help us spread the ideas within and share it with the people you care about