Mental Performance Coach, Ask Me Anything (AMA)

[Jackson Slauenwhite 4]

Hey everyone, I'm a mental performance coach/consultant working in the CHL and with Hockey Canada.

Normally at this time of the year I'm deep into playoff prep, but because the league is currently suspended, I've got a bit more time on my hands.

If you have any questions about the impact of mental performance on the game, sport psych, developing elite players, etc., feel free to ask away!

[caveman27 208]

On 3/21/2020 at 7:35 PM, Jackson Slauenwhite said:

Hey everyone, I'm a mental performance coach/consultant working in the CHL and with Hockey Canada.

Normally at this time of the year I'm deep into playoff prep, but because the league is currently suspended, I've got a bit more time on my hands.

If you have any questions about the impact of mental performance on the game, sport psych, developing elite players, etc., feel free to ask away!

For non-elite players who play in amateur/recreational leagues, I see that in some of our games, our team performs well and others, our team performs awful.

And on a personal level, sometimes, I don't perform as well in some games as others, regardless of the win-loss outcome. If I see myself not playing as well in the first period, that usually continues into the second and third periods. What would be your recommendation to a player (elite or not) who is regressing to making sloppy plays/sloppy passes/throwing away the puck needlessly, i.e. hockey IQ seems to fall off?

[Jackson Slauenwhite 4]

1 hour ago, caveman27 said:

For non-elite players who play in amateur/recreational leagues, I see that in some of our games, our team performs well and others, our team performs awful.

And on a personal level, sometimes, I don't perform as well in some games as others, regardless of the win-loss outcome. If I see myself not playing as well in the first period, that usually continues into the second and third periods. What would be your recommendation to a player (elite or not) who is regressing to making sloppy plays/sloppy passes/throwing away the puck needlessly, i.e. hockey IQ seems to fall off?

Good question! In simple terms, it sounds to me like you're talking yourself into having a bad game overall once the 1st doesn't go your way.  If you're focusing on the fact that you're having a bad 1st, or you had one, then your focus is on the negative things that happened.  We tend to get what we think about, so if you're thinking about having a bad game, you're likely going to have a bad game. 
In situations like this, it's a good idea to try to focus on your strengths and the good things you can bring for the rest of the game. This shifts your focus back into productive thinking, and will thus be more likely to produce!

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

Hey, thanks for making yourself available to us.

Here's my question...  I play in a division that is really a notch or two above my ability levels.  I'm the captain and the guys are my best friends but the truth is I often feel overmatched and I head into the game feeling nervous and that does not help me at all. 

Do you have any tips on mental game prep when you are "playing up?"

Thanks a ton!!

[colins 246]

On 3/23/2020 at 2:56 PM, caveman27 said:

For non-elite players who play in amateur/recreational leagues, I see that in some of our games, our team performs well and others, our team performs awful.

And on a personal level, sometimes, I don't perform as well in some games as others, regardless of the win-loss outcome. If I see myself not playing as well in the first period, that usually continues into the second and third periods. What would be your recommendation to a player (elite or not) who is regressing to making sloppy plays/sloppy passes/throwing away the puck needlessly, i.e. hockey IQ seems to fall off?

 

I've spent a bunch of time thinking about the same idea on what makes some games great and others it seems like you are just swimming against the tide. I think in my experience, it's a lot more mental than physical, and for the mental side of it - rest, stress, distractions - that seems to be the biggest thing. I think it's why the idea of the pre-game nap is so highly valued - it prepares you mentally for being sharp on the ice.

Have you ever stopped to think about things like how much sleep you had the night before a good performance vs. a bad one, or how much mental rest vs. stress you faced that day of a good performance vs. a bad one?

I'm not a performance coach so I don't mean to derail the thread, but in my own experience these are some of the conclusions I've come to in analyzing my own performance.

Literally some games I know exactly (mentally) what I want to do or need to do, yet that connection between the mind and body seems ever so delayed such that when I go to execute I just seem to be forcing it instead of it 'just happening' automatically. Should have had that pre-game nap! 🙂

colins

[IPv6Freely 2093]

On a bit of a selfish note, could you take a peek at this thread and tell me what you think? 
 

 

[caveman27 208]

12 hours ago, colins said:

 

I've spent a bunch of time thinking about the same idea on what makes some games great and others it seems like you are just swimming against the tide. I think in my experience, it's a lot more mental than physical, and for the mental side of it - rest, stress, distractions - that seems to be the biggest thing. I think it's why the idea of the pre-game nap is so highly valued - it prepares you mentally for being sharp on the ice.

Have you ever stopped to think about things like how much sleep you had the night before a good performance vs. a bad one, or how much mental rest vs. stress you faced that day of a good performance vs. a bad one?

I'm not a performance coach so I don't mean to derail the thread, but in my own experience these are some of the conclusions I've come to in analyzing my own performance.

Literally some games I know exactly (mentally) what I want to do or need to do, yet that connection between the mind and body seems ever so delayed such that when I go to execute I just seem to be forcing it instead of it 'just happening' automatically. Should have had that pre-game nap! 🙂

colins

I'm well rested for the most part. I look forward to games and have a positive outlook before every game. I try to stay hydrated all day on a game day, I'll drink a lot of water.

Looking back, the teams that put more pressure on me make me rush my passes, make bad passes, flub my pass, or dump a puck away (either icing it or just getting it out the blue line without looking to pass or carry it out).

I switch between playing as a winger and defenseman. I seem to do better as a defenseman. When I'm a winger, I'm not always clicking with my teammates and an entire shift was wasted on trying to get out of our own zone. I've not formally played as a forward in a team that was coached. I was a goalie growing up and I played in a minor hockey league in Midgets. Most things I've learned from watching games and tutorial stuff on youtube. Sometimes, I'll forget what I've learned and don't recognize my mistakes until later.

[shoot_the_goalie 281]

To the OP:

How do you coach/support a player to be more "hungry" and engaged in the play?  I see kids who are highly skilled, but don't really engage in the play, aren't the first ones to the puck.  They let the play come to them vs them initiating the play if that makes sense.  Then I see kids who are less skilled, but they are constantly on the puck, always aggressively engaged, always trying to initiate play.  It's not cause the passive kids are lazy or scared; they are very hard workers...to me it just seems to be a personality trait.  For what it's worth, the skilled players always perform better in drills/practices, but in games, the less skilled but more "hungry" players create better plays and better results.  Maybe a confidence issue?  Or a scared to make mistakes issue?  

Edited April 3, 2020 by shoot_the_goalie

[caveman27 208]

2 hours ago, shoot_the_goalie said:

To the OP:

How do you coach/support a player to be more "hungry" and engaged in the play?  I see kids who are highly skilled, but don't really engage in the play, aren't the first ones to the puck.  They let the play come to them vs them initiating the play if that makes sense.  Then I see kids who are less skilled, but they are constantly on the puck, always aggressively engaged, always trying to initiate play.  It's not cause the passive kids are lazy or scared; they are very hard workers...to me it just seems to be a personality trait.  For what it's worth, the skilled players always perform better in drills/practices, but in games, the less skilled but more "hungry" players create better plays and better results.  Maybe a confidence issue?  Or a scared to make mistakes issue?  

He seems to have checked out. Maybe free mental performance advice isn't the way to go for him.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

Re: how to motivate / encourage a player to engage when their natural instinct is to hang back...

Its not hockey these days, but my son (now 13) struggles with this.  Its been a consistent thing through all the sports he's played (baseball, hockey, now soccer).  It drives me insane.  Both as a parent and as frequently as the coach/assistant coach.

I think in large part, its just not something you can train / coach out.  His head coach on the travel soccer team and I talked about it some and he offered the only thing that's clicked at all... Namely that some of the hanging back is someone's natural instinct for wanting to evaluate and understand something before committing.  Some folks are naturally more willing to (metaphorically) say "fuck it, I'll figure it out when I get there" and some less.  If someone is on the "less" side, then confidence in their own skills and experience with situations is what they need.  As a coach, you can help some with that, but making sure you're taking the time to explain the whys of situations, giving them the tools they need to be confident in their understanding of situations so they don't feel the need to evaluate what's going on as much.  And perhaps even just a shared recognition of what's going (for the more self aware player) so that engaging becomes more of a conscious for them until it becomes more habitual.

But all that said... for my son particularly this remains a constant negative as regards his playing of sports.  Some of this stuff helps some, but I continue to see this as his primary limiting factor.  I keep waiting for the aggressiveness switch to flip on, but if it never does and he's just out there running around getting some exercise and never becomes the athlete he could be... Whatever.  There's more to life than sports.

I think everyone has at least some of this, btw.  And, to me, that's why its so important (particularly for younger kids) to be having fun.  When you're having fun, you're not worrying about screwing up, you're not worrying about how much you suck, you're not worrying about gaining skills and experience.  You're just having fun and after a while, you realize that hey, you're not bad at this and you know what's going on.

YMMV.  I'm not a real coach or a real sports psychologist.  🙂

Mark

[Jackson Slauenwhite 4]

On 3/23/2020 at 9:41 PM, dkmiller3356 said:

Hey, thanks for making yourself available to us.

Here's my question...  I play in a division that is really a notch or two above my ability levels.  I'm the captain and the guys are my best friends but the truth is I often feel overmatched and I head into the game feeling nervous and that does not help me at all. 

Do you have any tips on mental game prep when you are "playing up?"

Thanks a ton!!

Great Question DK!

I'll keep it very simple for you, sounds like you're focusing more on what you lack than what you bring to the table before games. This is likely why you're feeling anxious!  I'd just ask you this, what if you wrote a quick list of 2-3 strengths you bring to the table, and purposely focused on those pre-game? Comparing yourself to everyone around you is just going to take your focus off of what you have to do to perform well, and will increase your anxiety. Try keeping your focus simple and on your strengths, not where you lack or comparing yourself to others

 

On 3/23/2020 at 9:41 PM, dkmiller3356 said:

Hey, thanks for making yourself available to us.

Here's my question...  I play in a division that is really a notch or two above my ability levels.  I'm the captain and the guys are my best friends but the truth is I often feel overmatched and I head into the game feeling nervous and that does not help me at all. 

Do you have any tips on mental game prep when you are "playing up?"

Thanks a ton!!

 

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

7 hours ago, Jackson Slauenwhite said:

Great Question DK!

I'll keep it very simple for you, sounds like you're focusing more on what you lack than what you bring to the table before games. This is likely why you're feeling anxious!  I'd just ask you this, what if you wrote a quick list of 2-3 strengths you bring to the table, and purposely focused on those pre-game? Comparing yourself to everyone around you is just going to take your focus off of what you have to do to perform well, and will increase your anxiety. Try keeping your focus simple and on your strengths, not where you lack or comparing yourself to others

 

 

Thanks @Jackson Slauenwhite.  If we ever get on the ice again I will certainly try to shift my approach.  I think if I can bring more beer it'll make a huge difference!  LOL

Seriously..  I am good positionally and anticipate the play well.  Those are things I can focus on.  Much appreciated.

[Jackson Slauenwhite 4]

On 3/26/2020 at 12:46 AM, IPv6Freely said:

On a bit of a selfish note, could you take a peek at this thread and tell me what you think? 
 

 

Based on the thread, I know you said at one point that wins aren't the cause of your funk, but to me it sounds like a fair bit of the position you find yourself in is due to focus on things out of your control, which includes wins.

You can stand on your head and not get the win. That's just part of the game. If you're having fun when you're winning but not finding a way to enjoy yourself even when the game doesn't go your way, then it would be important to ask yourself "when I am feeling good, what's happening? what would make me want to come to the rink?" and then do all you can to figure out how to create those conditions.

In all honesty, this sounds like a situation that would require some deeper questioning and understanding on my part, but for what it's worth, I think finding things to get excited about and have fun with surrounding the game that aren't based on things out of your control (wins, how your team plays, your opponents, etc.) would be a good starting point!

[Jackson Slauenwhite 4]

On 4/2/2020 at 11:01 PM, shoot_the_goalie said:

To the OP:

How do you coach/support a player to be more "hungry" and engaged in the play?  I see kids who are highly skilled, but don't really engage in the play, aren't the first ones to the puck.  They let the play come to them vs them initiating the play if that makes sense.  Then I see kids who are less skilled, but they are constantly on the puck, always aggressively engaged, always trying to initiate play.  It's not cause the passive kids are lazy or scared; they are very hard workers...to me it just seems to be a personality trait.  For what it's worth, the skilled players always perform better in drills/practices, but in games, the less skilled but more "hungry" players create better plays and better results.  Maybe a confidence issue?  Or a scared to make mistakes issue?  

Great question! Many people think this is just a personality thing that can't be coached, but the truth is that compete level and hunger can be coached.

The key would be engage them in drills that promote aggressive, initiating play, and positively reinforcing the behaviour when it happens. Hopefully when it happens the player gets a good result, which will reinforce the behaviour. The player will probably like the result, which will further motivate them to play aggressively in order to seek out that result. At the same time, doing this in practice will build the player's confidence in that style of play, making it more likely to show up games.

Confidence issues and being scared to make mistakes could certainly be a possibility here, as some players are very good at hiding these things.  It never hurts to ask your players about what they feel their style of play is, and starting a harmless, curious discussion about what that player wants to be like and tweaks to their game they could make in order to get there.

Hope this helped!

[Jackson Slauenwhite 4]

14 hours ago, marka said:

Howdy,

Re: how to motivate / encourage a player to engage when their natural instinct is to hang back...

Its not hockey these days, but my son (now 13) struggles with this.  Its been a consistent thing through all the sports he's played (baseball, hockey, now soccer).  It drives me insane.  Both as a parent and as frequently as the coach/assistant coach.

I think in large part, its just not something you can train / coach out.  His head coach on the travel soccer team and I talked about it some and he offered the only thing that's clicked at all... Namely that some of the hanging back is someone's natural instinct for wanting to evaluate and understand something before committing.  Some folks are naturally more willing to (metaphorically) say "fuck it, I'll figure it out when I get there" and some less.  If someone is on the "less" side, then confidence in their own skills and experience with situations is what they need.  As a coach, you can help some with that, but making sure you're taking the time to explain the whys of situations, giving them the tools they need to be confident in their understanding of situations so they don't feel the need to evaluate what's going on as much.  And perhaps even just a shared recognition of what's going (for the more self aware player) so that engaging becomes more of a conscious for them until it becomes more habitual.

But all that said... for my son particularly this remains a constant negative as regards his playing of sports.  Some of this stuff helps some, but I continue to see this as his primary limiting factor.  I keep waiting for the aggressiveness switch to flip on, but if it never does and he's just out there running around getting some exercise and never becomes the athlete he could be... Whatever.  There's more to life than sports.

I think everyone has at least some of this, btw.  And, to me, that's why its so important (particularly for younger kids) to be having fun.  When you're having fun, you're not worrying about screwing up, you're not worrying about how much you suck, you're not worrying about gaining skills and experience.  You're just having fun and after a while, you realize that hey, you're not bad at this and you know what's going on.

YMMV.  I'm not a real coach or a real sports psychologist.  🙂

Mark

Great Question Mark!

There are a lot of factors that can come into play for a situation like this. To give you a really in-depth answer, I'd definitely need to have a deeper conversation and have some particular questions answered. However, reading through your question, here are a few things that came to mind:

- I see athletes going through this type of thing around this age group more than any other (13-15 years old or so). 

- Confidence and aggressiveness can be coached.  Typically there is one main underlying limiting belief that the player holds as true which causes a more hesitant, wait and see approach.  When this is the case, once the player can identify and accept the belief that is holding them back, they can begin to let go of that belief and replace it with a more desirable one (If they so choose, of course. Some players don't want to change this). In many ways what you said about having fun and not worrying about anything else would be the end result of changing the limiting belief! 

Feel free to respond with any other questions you may have!

[Jackson Slauenwhite 4]

4 hours ago, dkmiller3356 said:

Thanks @Jackson Slauenwhite.  If we ever get on the ice again I will certainly try to shift my approach.  I think if I can bring more beer it'll make a huge difference!  LOL

Seriously..  I am good positionally and anticipate the play well.  Those are things I can focus on.  Much appreciated.

Oh you'll be back. Sounds like you'll be back with a new focus and a few buds (the friendly kind and the beverage kind). No problem!

[Jackson Slauenwhite 4]

On 3/25/2020 at 11:42 PM, colins said:

 

I've spent a bunch of time thinking about the same idea on what makes some games great and others it seems like you are just swimming against the tide. I think in my experience, it's a lot more mental than physical, and for the mental side of it - rest, stress, distractions - that seems to be the biggest thing. I think it's why the idea of the pre-game nap is so highly valued - it prepares you mentally for being sharp on the ice.

Have you ever stopped to think about things like how much sleep you had the night before a good performance vs. a bad one, or how much mental rest vs. stress you faced that day of a good performance vs. a bad one?

I'm not a performance coach so I don't mean to derail the thread, but in my own experience these are some of the conclusions I've come to in analyzing my own performance.

Literally some games I know exactly (mentally) what I want to do or need to do, yet that connection between the mind and body seems ever so delayed such that when I go to execute I just seem to be forcing it instead of it 'just happening' automatically. Should have had that pre-game nap! 🙂

colins

If you know that pre-game naps help you play to your potential, then by all means, nap away!