Player Development

Player Development Camps

Introduction

Welcome to the Bob Halkidis Development Camp. The focus of this camp is to help players improve their individual skills and maintain a certain level of conditioning through out the off season.  All players will be tested using the "Dominoes Skills Challenge Test".  This on ice test consists of six stations ranging from skating speed, agility, to passing and shooting accuracy.  The beginning weeks we will focus on the mechanics of skating, passing, shooting, and stick handling.  Initially, drills will be done at slower speeds in order for players to gain confidence.  As we progress into the middle weeks of the camp the tempo of the drills will be increased.  Toward the end, all drills and progressions will be at full tempo to prepare for the upcoming season.

Please keep in mind that in order for players to really learn and improve their skills, they must be pushed outside of their comfort zone.  Players will be encouraged to skate harder and not to worry about falling or losing a puck in a drill, remember; this is to improve each individual player's skill and is not a tryout or a competition with other players on the ice.

Complex skills are most easily acquired a bit at a time.  The suggested order for teaching hockey skills is skating, puck control, passing and receiving, shooting, checking.  The progressions that we will be teaching are organized from simple to complex.

Teaching Philosophy

The simplest way of describing how people learn is "I hear, I see, I do."  Coaches apply this by explaining, demonstrating, and practicing a skill.  By gathering information, making decisions on how to perform, practicing, and then evaluating the result or being provided an opinion about the result, an athlete can learn a skill.  A coach must first evaluate every player's level of skill.  Age, strength, maturity, and motivation are all influences on the learning capabilities of an Athlete.

Feedback
An athlete always needs to know how well they have performed a skill.  Delayed feedback is not the way to go, so we make sure that the athlete gets immediate feedback.  Although verbal feedback is wonderful, visual feedback is better for beginners, while verbal is best and more effective for older more experienced athletes.  We give limited,  specific feedback during the development process of a skill, this makes sure that the athlete understands the feedback they are receiving too.

Whole vs. Part
Complex skills should be seen in their entirety first, and then broken down into parts so that they can easily be learned.  If an athlete can find related sections in each part of a whole skill, then it will make learning more effective.  An example of this is, teaching the hip check where each skill is broken down and then practiced as these following elements,  backward skating and crouch, hip and body rotation, contact, and knee extension and upward thrust.  When timed coordination is required for these parts, we practice with all of them together and in sequence.  It is a whole lot better to practice a skill as a whole.

Chaining
Chaining, what chaining means is to learn and connect the parts that make up a complex skill.  While learning a skill, the athlete learns to link the various distinct parts of the skill.  Forward Chaining means to learn a skill by starting with the first part.  An example of forward chaining in teaching the slap shot is by teaching the back swing, then moving through the forward swing, and finally the impact and follow-through stages.  Backward Chaining means to learn a skill be starting with the last part and then working your way backwards.  The skill will be practiced as a whole as soon as the parts of it are linked together.  An example of back chaining in teaching the slap shot is by starting with the follow-through and moving back through the sequence.

Shaping
When the learning of a skill takes place gradually it is called Shaping.  The skill will be demonstrated then broken down into simpler form to include only the most important parts.  The missing parts will be added in gradually so that the whole skill is learned.  The way shaping differs from chaining is that the athlete can start at any part of the skill and learn it where as in chaining you have to start at either the beginning or end.

Imagery
Before mental practice (imagery) can be done an athlete needs some knowledge of the skill.   Mental rehearsal of a skill will be shown to help with the learning process. We use mental practice and physical practice with each other before a skill is about to be used and also at times away from practice.

Mass vs. Distributed Practice
Practice being massed or distributed is not as important as the total number of trials or time for quality practice being given.  The most believed superior thing to do is the practicing a skill that is divided among a number of practices rather than practicing a skill massed into one practice.  When used with the better skilled or more mature athlete massed practice may work in some situations.

Grouping
Athletes tend to learn faster when grouped with others at their level of skill. Lower skilled athletes learn faster when grouped in a mixed-skill group, while higher skilled athletes would rather work with practice.  When used with the better skilled or more mature athlete massed practice may work in some situations.  Athletes tend to learn faster when grouped with others at their level of skill. Lower skilled athletes learn faster when grouped in a mixed-skill group, while higher skilled athletes would rather work with, and also learn faster while practicing with the higher skilled group. 

Environment
Well-planned, positive instruction with proper teaching aids and equipment supports the learning process; also a well lit, clean, positive practice environment can too.

Short-term Memory
Information stays with a learner between 20 and 30 seconds, so we teach only three or four key points at a time.  These are two reasons why an athlete needs to practice the skill being taught immediately after the teaching process takes place. 

Teaching Process

Select the Skill
Step one in the process of teaching is to select the skill or skills to be taught.  The athletes' present skill level, age, physical maturity, and motivation are important in deciding the skill progression.  Skills should not be too easy or too hard.  Simple to complex progression is a must and have a plan for that progression.  Game-like yet challenging skills and drills should always be used.  Key points on how we teach are the explanation, demonstration, practice, feedback, and  the correction.

Explanation:
We choose three to five key teaching points with short phrases while starting with the importance of the skill.  Since learners have a short attention and start to forget after 30 seconds we keep our explanation time from one to one and a half minutes, making sure we speak concisely, clearly, and use direct eye contact with our athletes. 

Demonstration:
In most cases the demonstration and explanation coincide with each other.  We make sure the angle the skilled is going to be viewed from  is the correct angle so the demonstration will be effective.  Sometimes we have a skill demonstrated by a highly skilled athlete.  We make sure that no athlete is behind us when we are talking.

Practice:
Remember the short-term memory section,   we practice the demonstrated and explained  skill right away.  The formation of the practice or drill should depend on whether the athletes work alone, in pairs, or in groups.

Feedback:
Group  and individual corrections on common errors will be given; also feedback on specific drills during the practice.

Analysis of Skills

Observing:
To give better feedback we make sure our assistant coaches circulate the ice, and always be in the correct position to observe.  We make sure to be specific with feedback and make sure it is given as soon as possible after the skill has been practiced.  Also our coaches are able to understand and pick out common errors in a skill.

Positive and Negative Feedback:
During 90% of the time we use positive reinforcement, we use positive reinforcement when we want a move or behavior to be repeated.  If we do not want a move or behavior repeated, we do not reinforce it.  The key point in this is we only reinforce the positive aspects or a move or behavior.  Using negative feedback is only okay when we do not want a move or behavior repeated, but do not use it on a regular basis because athletes learn faster and learn more in a positive environment.

Testing
The most straightforward analysis of development is results-driven testing. Such testing will be foundational in our Player Development Camps. Every player will go through a series of six tests evaluating skating and hockey skills. Their results will be recorded and compared with North American average and best times. This allows comparison to hockey players of similar ages throughout the US and Canada. At the end of the camp, we will retest all players, showcasing their improvement.

Station 1 - Forehand/Backhand Passing
1 Player starts with puck standing on edge of circle, a receiver is standing straight across from the passer near the boards. The passer makes a total of 10 passes, 5 forehand and 5 backhand. Receivers are 24 feet from passer. At the point where the receiver is located, place two spray paint dots on the ice 1 foot apart. The passer skates around the pylons to pick up another puck to make another moving pass. 5 passes are made on the forehand then change direction to make 5 passes on the backhand. The receiver is not scored for pass reception. A successful pass is one that goes through the 2 dots on the ice.

Station 2 - Forward Weave Agility Skate
Start at the blue line, skate forward towards the far pylon and make a tight turn around first pylon. Weave back through the pylons, making a tight turn around the last pylon, and weave back through the pylons, making a tight turn around the last one. Sprint back to the blue line which is both the start and finish line. Timed both without and with a puck.

Station 3 - Shooting Accuracy
Players take 10 forehand and 10 backhand shots at a target. 3 points are awarded for hitting the top corners, 2 points for the "five-hole," and 1 point for the bottom corners.

Station 4 - Figure 8 Stickhandling
Each player is timed to see how long it takes to do 5 Figure 8s around spraypainted dots. Player remains stationary, only the puck does the Figure 8s.

Station 5 - Agility Skate
Player skates forward and backward through a series of pylons and straight lines. Tests starting and stopping, pivoting, turns, forward and backward skating. Tested first without a puck, then with a puck.

Station 6 - Forward and Backward Speed Skate
Players skate as fast as they can 100 feet, first forwards and then backwards. Timed both without a puck and with a puck.

Teaching Progressions

Instruction during the camp will focus on 5 main skill sets: skating, puck control, passing/receiving, shooting, and checking. Coaches will teach progressively, beginning with basic skills and advancing to more complex ones. The following are sample skills that will be taught during the camp.

Skating

Forward Skating

1. Skating Stride

2. Front Start

3. Side Start

4. Two-foot stop

5. One-foot stop

Backward Skating

1. Skating Stride

2. Start

3. Two-foot stop

4. One-foot stop

Forward Skating

1. Tight turn

2. Crossovers

3. Backward Skating

4. Crossovers

Turning

1. Forward to backward

2. Backward to forward, heel-to-heel, crossover (Mohawk)

3. Backward to forward with no stop

Puck Control

Stick handling (front, side, and diagonal)

1. Stationary

2. Moving around cones

3. Moving around a stationary player

4. One-on-one in a confined space

Deking

1. Fake one way, go the other (forehand)

2. Fake one way, go the other (backhand)

3. Change speed

4. Stop and start

5. Curl

6. Stick fakes (pass or shoot)

7. Between stick blade and skates

8. Between legs

9. Moving around a cone

10. Moving around a stationary player

11. Moving around a moving player

Passing/Receiving

Passing Skills (in pairs, stationary and moving)

1. Forehand sweep pass

2. Backhand sweep pass

3. Drop pass

4. Back pass

5. Bank pass

6. Forehand snap pass

7. Backhand snap pass

8. Saucer forehand pass

9. Saucer backhand pass

Pass Reception Skills (in pairs, threes, fours, and fives; stationary and moving)

1. Forehand

2. Backhand

3. Extended stick

4. On inside of the skate

5. On outside of the skate

6. In the air with glove

7. In the air with stick

Shooting

Shooting Skills

1. Forehand sweep shot

2. Backhand sweep shot

3. Forehand snap shot

4. Backhand snap shot

5. Forehand flip shot

6. Backhand flip shot

7. Slap shot

8. Shooting without stopping the puck (one-timers)

Progression

1. Stationary, shooting against the boards

2. Moving, shooting against the boards

3. Moving, shooting against the goaltender

4. Shooting after receiving the pass against goaltender

Checking

Checking Skills

1. Angling

2. Poke check

3. Sweep check

4. Stick lift and stick press

5. Taking a check

6. Shoulder check

7. Stick lift and shoulder check

8. Roller check

9. Hip check

10. Diving poke check

Power Skating Drills

1. Shuffle (heel to heel)

2. Toes behind heel

3. Crossover

4. Forward lunges

5. Backward lunges

6. Inside edge (forward) Double knee bend

7. Inside edge (backwards)

8. Outside edge (forward)

9. Outside edge (backward)

10. 3-step stop (forward)

11. 3-step stop (backward)

12. Forward/Backward transition

13. C-cuts right leg forward

14. C-cuts left leg forward

15. 2 leg C-cuts forward

16. C-cut right leg backward

17. C cut left leg backward

18. 2 leg C-cut backward

19. Drop knee Russian hop

20. 180 degree jump turn

21. 360 degree jump turn

22. 2 foot mogul / skiing

23. 2 foot alternating slalom

24. Single leg alternating edges

25. Backward C-cuts

26. Backward Outside edges (cross in front)

27. Backward outside edges (cross behind)

28. Inside Edge backward around stick

29. Outside edge backward around stick

30. Figure 8 inside edge backward around stick

31. Figure 8 outside

32. Inside edges pulls around circle

33. Single leg suicides (forward/backward)

34. One leg 180 degree twist

35. 180 degree power pull (front/back fast)

36. Jump stride (forward/backwards)

37. Stutter 2 feet / fake right turn

The Off-Season

Hockey season is over, most parents and players are beginning to think about what, if any, plans they will make for the off-season.

Off-season athletics, during spring and summer are very important and key for hockey players to continue their development. Let's not overlook the importance of the off-season. Why stop improving? Off-season is the time to step it up and continue the development cycle.

It is OK to play other sports after the hockey season such as baseball or soccer. Athletes should be working on several skill sets including multi-tasking; for example foot pattern movements and upper body movements simultaneously.

A Squirt should not be doing the same things a Midget player does. Midget players can begin to incorporate more off-ice routines like plyometrics or weight training.

The Off-season is time for skill development. Work on practicing skills all summer and train the body (age specific ) to develop the muscle memory for the skills that will be used when games resume.

It is best to do both on ice and off-ice workouts. Ice time is important at a young age, but the older athlete can easier incorporate off-ice training into skill development. Work on the small things, like stick handling in tight areas, break down a small segment of the game and work on just that. The best part is many skills can be worked on off the ice. For example, you can work on stick handling and shooting at home, in the street or at the park. Stick handling is a great example of a skill you can work on alone, too. The more you do it, the more comfortable you'll be when you start playing again.

Quality execution repeated at high tempo is the key to success in sports today. The more exposures athletes have to specific skill sets the better equipped they will be in competition.