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The Hidden Side of Coaching

April 7, 2012, 10:01 AM ET [2 Comments]
Alan Bass
Blogger •"The Psychology of Hockey" • RSSArchiveCONTACT
If you know me at all, you know that I have a great deal of respect for Herb Brooks, the legendary hockey coach who led that young group of college kids to victory over some Russian team. Just another game, right?

However, the main reason that I admire him so much is more than simply creating the biggest upset in the history of American sports or winning three National Championships with the University of Minnesota. It was his ability to manage players, both individually and as a team, that ultimately led him to success in almost every place that he coached.

It is well known that Brooks gave his players psychological tests before ultimately choosing his team for the 1980 Olympics. However, contrary to the movie Miracle, these tests were not just a tool to see who would take it and who wouldn’t. (In fact, a little known fact that contradicts the movie is that Jim Craig, who initially refused to take the test, was told that by not taking it, he flunked it. He answered all 300 questions by the end of that day to avoid any further humiliation from the coach). The test was an in-depth psychological assessment to determine each player’s level of openness (a key feature of our personalities), their willingness to work hard, and most likely other important sport psychology aspects such as levels of motivation, arousal, and cognitive anxiety.

These tests allowed Brooks to understand each of his players, how they thought, what irked them, and what motivated them to perform at their very best. This is why Brooks chose so many players from the University of Minnesota and Boston University for that 1980 team – he was familiar with them and knew that he would have a better chance of understanding these players whom he had histories with in the short amount of time he would have with the team. This, along with his brilliant hockey mind, allowed his team to achieve ultimate success.

Most coaches, however, feel it is not important to understand the players as such. Today, many teams hold practice, perhaps have a couple meetings, and the players go on their way – with the coaching and management staff having very little face-to-face contact with the players off the ice and outside of meetings. Similar to a student who has a social life outside of their life in the classroom, athletes are different than the face they show when they go to work. A 1988 psychological study determined that only one of four college coaches accurately understand their players’ levels of anxiety and arousal – and we can assume it would be even worse in the professional ranks.

Understanding these crucial aspects to a player’s personality not only helps in dealing with them off the ice, but it sheds light on how a player will fit into a team’s atmosphere, their on-ice system, in addition to what situations they are best suited for on the ice (and what players they would fit best with on a line). Too many coaches believe in treating everyone equally, but as the great John Wooden used to say: “Some players’ lives have been shit, so I need to mix in some whipped cream. Some players’ lives have been whipped cream, so I need to mix in some shit.”

By learning about each individual player on the team, a coach’s chances for success can be raised exponentially. The best players don’t win championships. The players that best come together as a team do.

Alan Bass, a former writer for The Hockey News and THN.com, is the author of "The Great Expansion: The Ultimate Risk That Changed The NHL Forever." You can contact him at [email protected], or on Twitter at @NHL_AlanBass.
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