Understanding the human mind; its potential and limitations

I traveled with Dan MacKinnon and Patrik Allvin to watch U-18 and European Pro games in Finland. With respect to my colleagues, they are two great guys, always looking to improve with a curiosity level beyond the norm. They are both great people to be around and have a chemistry that leads to bigger and better things for those around them; which ultimately leads to a better life for them. They have a selfless chemistry that leads to growth as a team; no different than a hockey team growing as a team. To be honest, my joy is going to be fm watching the two of them grow in their assignments with the PENS.

There are lessons to be learned here. Both have taken the time to figure out how life works. The Penguins are fortunate. I left Finland on a high. It was fun! Got home, had to regroup and run some kind of transition game to get me going on the 1,500 mile drive to PNS via South Bend and Indianapolis for games, hauling a trailer with my 75 Honda Gold Wing and an Elliptical work out machine. Doing all this with the current spin of the big club makes it a tougher trip. I’ve been in a spot where the team is trying its best, winning some and losing some, even though it’s injuries, and know full well the everyday burden. My only feeling is always, “KEEP THE FAITH”. Good people win out in the end.

I will always believe my eyes before my ears. We write what we see. This is always tough when players play poorly and well below their notoriety level. This is the only way to get an overall picture of the player, a history of expression of their skillset and mindset. Without an overall picture, how does anyone get the big picture? The toughest assignment is projection to age 25-26.

Bottom line, each player has some unique skills. Sustaining and building on the skills is all that matters @ this young age. It may come down to time spent in summers getting bigger, quicker, stronger, faster; which gives you a psychological advantage on your opponent in life. People and players are what they are. How do they improve on that? One answer to players converting during a critical moment is related to conditioning. Well conditioned athletes feel better prepared; have less anxiety, which leads to players being surer in a critical moment.

I read an article in the Pensacola News Journal related to adrenaline flow, stress and trauma. The article is entitled, “Military experiment seeks to predict PTSD.” PTSD is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They are running tests on soldiers before they ship them off to war. Their statement is “who and why certain war fighters exposed to bombings and bloodshed develop paralyzing stress symptoms while others who witness the same trauma shake it off.” Every aspect of life is trying to figure out the same thing. They are trying to understand the human mind; its potential and limitations. It could be some soldiers are in better shape than others and therefore feel stronger and surer of going into combat. Maybe if it gets figured out at the top level (war) the effects will trickle down to the sports and other levels. Hopefully everything will be figured out for all.

The number and amount of discussion over the past week is impossible to measure but possible to document. I was reading Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, while on the Stairmaster, after returning fm Finland. I found an interesting part in the book that got me thinking about part of my discussions with Dan and Patrik. How do we get to a level where players understand how to complement each other? Outside of a revolving door, much of this can be accomplished in practice.

Part of our discussion over the past week is finding long time partners to complement the existing stable of players. Everything seemed to work well in the playoffs but the future is the future. “Sustaining” what the PENS have accomplished under the new regime to date is a priority. Every team has a certain identity with a collection of assets. What assets are missing that would improve the current edition?

Go to page 225 of Blink and move on through the part “running out of white space”. This section of this book got me thinking about the Lemieux’s, Crosby’s and Malkin’s of the hockey world as related to elongated time. I have always been aware of elongated time but no one ever taught me how to teach it or expose it in young people. “Most of us, under pressure, get too aroused, and past a certain point, our bodies begin shutting down so many sources of information. We start to become useless.” Larry Bird would say, “The court would go quiet in critical moments and the players seemed to be moving in slow motion.”

Dan Bylsma and staff are fully capable of handling this problem and no doubt understand it better than I do. If there was ever a staff I believed in all the way through the system, this is the one. If there was a staff I would want my own child a part of, this would be the staff.

I thought about how we need to create situations in practice @ our camp that bring the pulse up to the point it reaches when playing in a game with star players. If we can, we will increase the chances of players converting in critical moments. Part of the process is exposure and awareness of how the mind works in a critical moment. We need to start measuring converted chances in practice; raise the level of expectations in practice, and provide them with the correct amount of repetitions (some say 10,000). I say as many as possible. Bottom line, once the critical moment is there, the pulse rate often times goes to a point where our mind shuts down in terms of thinking our way through the moment.

Recognizing and creating awareness of the role that time plays in a critical moment is essential to the finished product on ice. The players who struggle with elongated time see their moment taking much longer than it actually is; and by a considerable margin. They need to understand this, and reduce this time to convert in practice, or it will never happen until you find a player who sees the game quiet and slow in a critical moment. This is also related to my zero inhibitions comment as well as the words charisma, skill to express your skill, killer instinct, boldness, swagger and attitude. Mentors using the words “play free, have fun and express yourself, build on this if you start real young. If you start real young, you will not have a problem with critical moment execution.

The mind is more important than break outs plays, defensive traps, shooting, scoring, passing and receiving. Without it the other things don’t work.

Players need to be taught that those adrenaline rushes they have in critical moments are supposed to be quiet and give the appearance of the game in slow motion. Part of the process is training your mind to be calm while you are in a hurry to get the shot off. The human mind likes to do one thing @ a time so it’s understandable when people experience difficulties in adrenaline rush situations. This is why your feet stop when you are about to catch a puck. This is why defensemen, in tandem, struggle with keeping their feet and hands moving laterally to create an open passing angle. There are countless other examples. Squeezing of the stick is non-existent when you understand how the mind works. Preparation reduces anxiety. While complex, it’s also simple.

Players need to be taught to react quicker in practice during a critical moment. “Don’t just shoot the puck to shoot it.” What seems like a long time during a critical moment in a game is not a long time @ all. Focus and attention to detail are paramount.

We are fortunate when we see a player who is hockey strong and understands the game well beyond any information others attempt to send their way. When players understand the game, there is the danger of too much information dulling their minds. Spend your coaching time oiling the hinges on the doors to prevent squeaking, and get them out on the ice. The flip side is most great players have a huge curiosity level and have a way of absorbing everything thrown their way. Coaches only need to know the saturation point and only experience can help you.

Social net and a coping strategy complement critical moment execution. Support systems lessen anxiety which leads to perfecting execution. Success goes hand in hand with smarts. Living the game, and those you work with, complements smarts.

Expecting people and players to do something out of the ordinary in everyday work, and each shift on the ice, is a given for me; but only if the people and players you work with believe you share the same passion for life, people and work.

Years ago I expected our players to train in the weight room. When I was around that weight room, they all gave much more than they would if I just told them, “I expect you to be in the weight room.” I found the difference was as high as 20 out of 20 versus 2 out of 20. The show up statistic was a little higher during the season, if I was a no show, than during the summers. Mentors sharing passion raises the bar, extends to the staff and captains, and on to the rest of the team.

Lastly, the value of “skate through plays” was apparent and used with frequency by the Russian team. I learned this fm Igor Larionov years ago but find it difficult to teach because it has to start with squirts and peewees. If not, minds have to be reprogrammed and that takes repetitions (10,000?). If I was coaching I would take a real honest run @ it. While picks in the NHL were eliminated fm the game, subtle picks are not detected. They work and free up great players to do damage to the opponent.

“PRACTICE LIKE YOU WILL EXPECT TO PLAY AND IT WILL HAPPEN!

Life is tricky with few warnings of what’s in store for us. I wrote some reports on all of the games. Something seeming right @ the moment might seem wrong the next day. Being with people who are important to me is what helps me the most. Being alone isn’t all that bad when you have colleagues working toward the same goal; always having your back side as part of their daily schedule.


“Life is what it is. Tricky, corners so close to turn, barriers so easy to knock down, emotions easier to deal with once we understand how the mind works; no warning of what’s to come.

The truth remains; curiosity, knowledge and understanding are critical and have to meet somewhere, however,
Stay hungry and humble, because we never arrive.”

–ole gringo-

ã copyright Chuck Grillo, Minnesota Hockey Camps
24621 So Clark Lake Rd P.O. Box 90 Nisswa, MN 56468-0090
Phone 218.96.2444 Fax 218.963.2325 Email chuck@mnhockeycamps.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this blog, book OR template may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means without permission in writing from Minnesota Hockey Camps