Getting Inside

Getting Inside

“GET INSIDE.”

What does it mean?  It’s kind of one of our “things”.  All the best coaches have them.

We’ve been blessed to learn so much from all the great NHL coaches that we’ve had the opportunity to work with. Hitch’s thing is “Be the first second guy”.  Trotzy likes “Be heavy”.  Arny loves “Speed”.  Mullzy pounds “Outnumber”. Willy harps “Attack mindset”.  Howie likes “Join”. Shawsy loves “Eyes up”.  Andy talks about “Edge”.  The above is just a shortlist and we are truly grateful for the knowledge we’ve gained.

Our thing is “Get Inside”.

I mean everything about the game dictates it’s concept.

“Getting Inside”, a definition:

A player who achieves a medial position on an opposing player relative to the boards or the net.

That’s it. But what does it mean and why is it so important?

Tip # 1:  Possession.  Possession drives offensive attempts, scores more goals and wins more games.

At PS we use the word possession in our offensive and defensive language.  Think about it.  If you’re always on the inside relative to the boards or net, you’re always going to a) Have the puck b) Get to the puck first or c) Get to the area the puck is going first. It sure makes a tough night for your opposition.  Try being on someone’s back in any zone for a 45 second shift, it’s tough and utterly fatiguing.  What about for large percentages of periods or body of a game?  Even more fatiguing, escalating to draining… all the way to demoralizing, it’s complete defeat. Domination.

Get on the right side of “Getting Inside”.  But how? 

Tip #2: Movement pattern functionality specific to game application.  Remember the 3 results of getting inside above?  We work movement patterns to get inside with the puck, getting inside when racing to be first to the puck, and when we don’t have the puck but need to be inside to create space.  This is what makes PS coaches so good. They are Navy Seals with sticks instead of guns.  We work, we create, we train.  We are ALL in.

Situations are important.  That’s the macro.  Start there.  Remember the importance of layering from our previous post?  Layers separate the great coaches from the good ones.  We love to layer.  We have to in order to do our job at the highest level.  We start by setting situations for your athlete mentally, visually and practically.  Then we  focus on the movement pattern and sprinkle in the skill.   Layer the with, first to a with and going to, specific to the game application.  Ah-ha!  Magic.

Full disclosure:  There are many more layers, but this will get you started and hopefully some of this info helps you dive into the world of being a PS On-Ice Movement and Skill Specialist. A.K.A. Real-life hockey development weapons.

Remember context and you’ll be fine. Start with the macro and move to the micro. Challenge your mind to layer and most importantly choose coaches and programming that’s going to help your athlete have fun, increase performance and transfer to their game…

There’s a big difference between a soldier and a Navy Seal.

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