A massive flood in Rochester, MN in 1978, a little bed of frozen water in the backyard, and the development of a stanley cup champion. The flood led to changes in the flow of water in the city of Rochester and those changes ended up, in some small form, in the backyard of future NHLer Shjon Podein. A small mini-rink that was thin and long was formed and Shjon with his buddies would play for hours on this little ice sheet. As I discussed the rink’s shape and impact on his long-term development with Shjon, he remarked how it forced him to learn to protect the puck and handle it well. There wasn’t enough room to skate around an opponent. The rink’s shape created a recurring set of small area battles. It did so in a low-pressure, fun environment. In fact, the environment trained Shjon without him even knowing it. The implicit transfer of skills was only realized much later, looking back and connecting the dots, as we both sat and discussed hockey skill development.
This “ecological” approach to training focuses on understanding how the environment and athletes interact. Our more rigid deliberate practice oriented adult brains tend to focus entirely on how we can help our athletes learn the proper skills through instruction. Quality coaching is an important factor in a player’s development and is particularly crucial when learning proper skating form and as player’s get into the higher levels. But we miss out on major opportunities that have compounding impact over the years when we do not step back and consider the environment our athletes develop within, particularly in the younger years.
Consider Professor Jean Cotes research showing that most elite soccer and handball athletes in Europe grew up in close proximity to their clubs. This environmental factor – proximity to the training site – is likely a significant influence on the development of MN hockey talent. If you live on the West coast and have to drive 2 hours to get a decent ice sheet and pay three times the cost for the hour, it’s going to reduce your training opportunities. A seeming surge in hockey families from the coasts and high cost areas to MN seems to confirm what we all know – it’s just easier to be a hockey player here.
Walter Gretzky bought his son tennis balls – and he also put out sticks and pylons and a picnic table with targets on it to shoot at. As Wayne puts it, “the reason that my dad wanted tennis balls, was he felt like if you could control a tennis ball that’s bouncing on the ice, and control that with a great deal of ease, it was going to be much easier to stick handle and handle a puck that slides and glides across the ice.” Wayne “spent hours and hours stick handling with tennis balls and shooting tennis balls. It was just endless hours. And it never stopped.”
Pavel Datsyuk had a similar experience looking back on his development, although instead of the environment being crafted through additional resources, his development was aided by a lack of resources. As he put it:
“Speaking of it [lack of equipment], it had quite an impact on me. There were not many sticks back then and I had to be very economic with the use and that’s the reason why I never used a slap shot. In my style of play, I rarely even took a shot. My teammates would demand me to assist them in a scoring situation. I’m even a little happy that I did not learn how to slap shot because in modern ice hockey and ice hockey back then, that wasn’t too long ago, wrist/snapshot has a great value as you rarely have time for a wind-up.”
It is tempting to see professional athletes today and to simply think of all the deliberate training they endured. The countless hours they put in to hone their craft with NHL skating coaches, shooting coaches, video coaches, etc. The development of Wayne’s passion, his hands, his creativity, and his ultimate success likely rested heavily upon the countless hours he spent on the backyard rink with a tennis ball (and other implements).
Every parent should, when thinking of the training they help provide for their athletes, ask themselves, “What would Walter Gretzky do?” The answers just might create the environment some young athlete needs to become a great hockey player someday.
NOTE: creating environments that are conducive to athletic development allow for deliberate coaching to be that much more effective in the long-term. After a player has “messed around” on the pond with a tennis ball and their buddies for countless hours, teaching them stickhandling movements in a deliberate and focused manner should be far more effective and efficient.
AGE CONSIDERATIONS: in the elementary school years and younger, the environmental approach is important. Create the conditions under which your athlete will flourish and enjoy tinkering with athletic movements. As athletes get into middle school and particularly in high school, it becomes much more important to find quality coaching and training.
