Over-Speed Skill Development
You Want to Really Improve from Practice?

By Jack Blatherwick

Two of the greatest coaches in our sport left us an important message regarding skill development. The process must be accelerated beyond the initial learning stages as quickly as possible.

Static, comfortable learning of simple skills like shooting, stickhandling, or passing is perhaps, an important first step; but we must raise the bar immediately and learn to fit those skills into the flow and speed and (read/react) situations of competition.

Anatoli Tarasov was the father of Soviet hockey from the early 50's - - Herb Brooks, of course, the U.S. coach of the "Miracle on Ice," the 1980 upset of the first Soviet Olympic team that Tarasov did not coach.

Brooks' message was articulated often when he discussed strategies for development of hockey talent, "You can't teach hockey from a book. The best coaches create learning environments using the spontaneity of competition, not sterile, isolated, static drills. The game teaches itself, but you have to be creative as a coach to use it."

"Then, each day you have to force your players into new situations, quicker decisions, uncomfortable speeds, difficult tasks." Every one of Brooks' former players knows what it feels like to be pushed out of their comfort zone. Each day of the season, Herbie raised the bar for skill development and conditioning.

Tarasov approached the same issue with different terminology. "Speed maneuver," is a concept he used often throughout his book, (Tarasov, Published by USA Hockey, 1997). Pushing Soviet players to perform all skills at an uncomfortably fast pace (out of their comfort zone), his approach was often unpopular with the athletes.

It's universal. Players want to practice comfortably - - to show off what great things they can do with the puck, but Tarasov believed the practice rink was not the place for showing off. Leave that for the Olympic Games.

"It was not just the crybabies who were complaining," recalled Tarasov, pointing out that he and his coaching staff were always prodding. And it wasn't just about speed. "We (coaches) were grasping at the depths of our profession, and we ourselves were taught by the game. From day to day we polished passes by one-touch. We thought up new complex drills for stickhandling, for 1-on-1's, and for attacking the net."

"It was not easy for the players to execute those drills, because time was strictly limited. No delays were allowed. Skate over to the opponent to carry out single combat with him, to steal the puck, to get off a pass, to receive and get around an opponent and get off a shot - - and to be able to do it quickly - - very quickly."

When the athletes complained, Tarasov barked back, "You find it uncomfortable? Difficult? It does not interest us coaches. The main thing is that if you master these new skills your opponents will find it difficult to play against you."

There it is.

That was their master plan for development, and this kind of training was the major reason for Soviet domination of international hockey for four decades. Practice your skills in uncomfortable situations, at higher speed than ever before, constantly adding difficulty to drills for stickhandling, skating, passing, shooting, and "combat" - - and this will eventually become your new comfort zone.

Practice frustration!!! What better way to build mental toughness?

Your opponents, on the other hand, will have to compete against you in a zone for which they are not prepared.

However, Brooks knew the feeling. He had played on U.S. National and Olympic teams for ten years, experiencing competition against the great Soviet teams in this elevated comfort zone.

Every international player from this period (1950'-80's) knew the feeling. The Red machine came at you with mind-boggling skills. Their sticks were like magnets for catching passes. Creativity and deception left you in a fog. They moved north, south, east, west in seeming chaos, finally coming together at your net, passing through the crease for a tap-in goal.

Skates and sticks moved like lightning, yet it never let up. They were so well-conditioned - - well prepared because of their superior training on-ice and off - - and they used each other in such a synergistic way, it seemed they had ten players on the ice at once.

So to prepare a bunch of college kids for the task of beating them in the Olympics? It made the old David-and-Goliath deal seem like child's play.

Brooks' concept in the summer of '79, was that you had to beat the Russians at their own game. You had to out-train them, out-practice them, out-think them. Well … at least you had to gradually work your way up into their comfort zone through months of practice and conditioning that got progressively more difficult each day.

You couldn't just concoct a grand defensive scheme, because they'd control the puck all day until you made a mistake or took a penalty. Then, when your weakness was exposed, they methodically picked you apart like piranha and left you bleeding to death.

All because of their preparation - - their training.

This is the important lesson from Brooks and Tarasov: the way you train determines what you'll be in the future.

You want your high school team to dominate the state tournament four months down the road? You personally want to play hockey at a higher level? Try practicing out of your comfort zone each day while your competitors coast brain-dead through another practice-as-usual. Shoot while moving at full speed. Pass, receive, pass, receive, and shoot - - all the while, skating faster than you've ever gone before.

Take pride in your passes. Make them deceptive and accurate. Shoot with a passion to score, don't just shoot. Practice your shots when you're off-balance, unprepared, or with someone hooking your arm. Shoot quickly off the pass without taking time to tee it up. Have someone feed you bad passes instead of perfect ones, some in your feet, some off the ice. Find a way to get your shots off without delay.

You will find it difficult and frustrating at first.

But never let up in practice. Focus on your final goal, and accept the frustration of practicing out of your comfort zone. Remember Brooks' and Tarasov's advice, because they developed hundreds of world-class players, "Practice this way now, so your opponents find it difficult to play against you in the future."

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