Visualize Like Beth Harmon
Without the tranquilizers
If you’ve watched the popular series The Queens Gambit on Netflix, you’ll notice one thing Beth has in common with many great hockey players.
It’s a visualization practice.
There are 2 ways that Beth uses visualization. Both can be beneficial at different times.
Look Back at it
The first one is visualizing past games she played, replaying moves or entire matches in her head.
This allows you to take additional reps. You can learn from what you did, what your other options were, and what(if anything) you would change next time.
When you play a 1v1 situation in practice that you don’t execute on. Do you replay it mentally?
In practice, we should be looking for more reps any way we can get them. Taking an additional mental rep can improve your learning speed, awareness, and execution in future reps.
I find the best situation to use this replay skill is after reps or after games. Long bus rides home are a great time to reflect.
Look Ahead
The second one is visualizing future moves or games. Ones you have not played yet. These can be more creative in nature because you can use your imagination and think of things you haven’t done yet. You can fire and wire future plays in your brain.
I made this type of visualization a daily habit when I was playing. I would book 20 minutes a night laying in my bed imagining different scenarios.
I’ll give an example of what I would visualize on Thursday nights before a Friday game.
My Visualization Practice
I would close my eyes and imagine the entire day from 3 pm to the end of the 3rd period.
Starting there I would visualize:
making my pre-game meal if we were playing at home.
getting my suit on
walking to the car
I would hear the 3 songs I played on the way to the rink in my head
walking into the arena(smelling the smells, hearing the practice on the ice before our game)
all my pregame prep
getting my equipment on
walking out of the locker room all the way to the ice
During gameplay, I would see myself both in my own body through my eyes, and I would switch to watching my own play from the stands. (1st person and 3rd person POV)
I would visualize common scenarios that happened to me as a winger.
Collecting various breakout passes, making the next play to my center, zone entry plays, etc.
Key Points
Look for ways to get more reps.
Doesn’t have to be on the practice rink.
It could be watching your shifts in front of a computer.
It could be laying in your bed with your eyes closed running through common plays in the game.
Pro Tip:
Attach emotion to what you are visualizing. The brain typically used as an artifact of the past. Use it to map the future as well. Memories are a combination of thoughts and feelings. To build the rehearsal stronger in your brain, attach emotion to the thoughts you are visualizing.
Experience the joy in your head when you’re catching a puck in the slot and putting it into the back of the net. See it and feel it.
Experience the empowerment of helping a teammate regain his confidence on the bench.
Feel more emotions in your visualization, it might be the missing piece.
If you enjoy this newsletter and want to see more free content, consider ordering The Player Project: Mental Models for the Mental Game. Designed to help players and coaches improve their thinking. Get it Now