A Tale of 2 Teams: Can you do the "right" thing in the wrong environment?
Act 1: The Pain
I was a tier 3 junior hockey head coach for the last 2 years.
And made me question everything I believed in most days.
I had systems in place. I gave autonomy. I tried to teach behavior skills, mental skills, and other sports psychology tools that would enhance a player’s ability to be high-performing. I created a development environment.
I tried to provide an experience that rivaled what I believed the standard should be.
The players in tier 3 are “behind” their peers, they need a developmental environment that is on par with the U.S. National Team Development Program and other USHL clubs.
Why can't we provide that experience at this level of hockey?
Our players are the same age, they are playing junior hockey. That should be the standard.
So, the solution is to give that to them. Right? (cue Timon from the Lion King "WRONG.")
We can do it, we tried to do it and we learned a lot by doing it.
What Happened?
3 weeks into the season, leaders on my team were complaining about my best player because he, “pushed too hard at practice.”
They also collectively questioned why he got called up to the NAHL 29 days later.
I tried to explain what he was doing was going to make everyone better and that he would be doing a disservice to himself and everyone else if he gave less than his best. (The Playbook wasn’t out on Netflix at the time or else I could have taught them ubuntu.)
As frustrating as being asked why a player that was pulling his teammates up was getting called up to the NAHL, it got worse…
A week later, a group came up to me and told me they did not want to learn about behavior skills or mental skills training anymore because they thought it was a “waste of time.”
Players said they wanted that in the recruiting process, then they experienced the work for a few weeks and realized, “we don’t want this.”
What would you do?
I put my seatbelt on for precaution, it was going to be a bumpy ride.
Act 2: The Pride
Fast Forward: Same Process, New Result???
At the time of this writing, I am coaching a high school pre-season team in Michigan as I await another opportunity to coach full time.
Here’s what I knew going in:
The players come from a team that had no structure on or off the ice for years.
They won a single game last year.
They liked hockey from my initial observations.
They didn’t think this year would be any different.
I got that information in a few short conversations with players.
I was going to hold fast and stay true to what I believe in because I truly think it works.
I ran them through practice on the first day and just observed.
How they worked, how they talked to each other, if they got competitive in games, where they really struggled, where they had some competencies, etc.
They were bad, they didn’t enjoy being at the rink and they didn’t compete.
Same Intervention, Different Team, Different Results
After practice, I outlined a very simple framework that gives players the ability to set parameters on what is acceptable, unacceptable, and what would be considered elite in 2 categories: behaviors and technical-tactical skills.
I explained to them, in 6 weeks, I’ll be gone but this can still be “your team.” I’ll just guide you and keep us on a path for this to continue into your regular season. You have the power to make this better.
I gave players the ability to stop practice at any time we fall to an unacceptable standard that they pre-agree on so they can reset themselves.
And the last thing I said was, I am going to ask you to do things that you suck at, I don’t care if you mess up, mess up a little bit less tomorrow.
The next practice was a mess, but it was because they were actually trying it.
The practice after that, you would have thought there was a new team in their jerseys.
Team Transformed
I got to the rink yesterday 15 min before the skate and the entire team was on the ice walking through various breakout patterns and the communication.
The older guys were teaching the freshman. I didn’t tell them to do anything like that. I just told them a week prior, “this is your team, make the year what you want it to be.”
And they are not just running with it, they are sprinting.
I told them I'm sure this is what a proud dad feels like.
Sometimes the answer isn't making 200 adjustments because the last time failed. My assistant coach on that junior team would always say, " I think these ideas work, they just aren't working here."
Right Thing, Wrong Place
Sometimes life calls for you to adjust, but if you really think you have something, maybe you're just in a bad storm and you need to hold fast and stay true.
It could have been impression management gone wrong on day 1 with my junior team.
Maybe I could have presented to the team with more conviction.
Maybe I have a stronger group of peer leaders on this high school team.
Maybe one team didn't have the same readiness to change.
Maybe I recruited the wrong players.
Maybe I didn't have the collective trust of my junior team.
Maybe it was a great service but it was serving the wrong market.
Coaching is complex, it could have been a combination of many things.
The Lesson
Hold fast and stay true if you really believe in something. There were mistakes made, and I've learned and adjusted. But with certain systems, you might just need to try them again somewhere else.
Maybe you're doing the right thing in the wrong environment…