Developing Grit, News, Bantam, 2013-2014, AAA (Oakville Rangers Hockey Club)

This Team is part of the 2013-2014 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Oct 02, 2013 | kgordon | 1840 views
Developing Grit
In hockey, players need a hard edged approach to the game to be successful. The sport requires you to battle and overcome obstacles every second you are on the ice. Some players have a natural ability to elevate the level at which they compete. They develop a “tough as nails” attitude or “heart” so they will not be dominated or controlled on the ice and will battle as hard as they can to make a difference in the game. This is what I call grit (an indomitable spirit or an unwillingness to quit).


Now there is a difference between being a gritty player who will not quit and a fool who skates around the ice looking for someone to hit just for the sake of hitting. These players are not gritty they are hurting the team. A gritty player is a guy like Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins, Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning or Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks. If you watch these guys on the ice they are smart hockey players who when they get close to the puck battle hard and do the right things at the right time to make a play. Rarely will you see them get outworked. They may lose the battle, but they are not outworked.

This is the type of player that coaches want to work with. These are the guys who put in extra time with dryland training, or in practice. They ask questions from the coaching staff and want feedback on their training and games (and then they do something to improve from this feedback).

TIPS
1. Schedule some kind of competition within your training. It may be a race or two with other team-mates or it may be trying to beat your own personal best in a particular lift or exercise. Log these competitions in a notebook and watch your success grow.


2. Gritty players are not afraid of playing hockey at full speed and you can’t be either. When you are skating into the corner you can’t be thinking of losing the race to the puck or that the other guy is bigger than you are, or you’re finished. You have to win that race, get the puck and battle hard to get out of the corner to make the play. This has to be done every shift. On-ice and dryland sessions should convey this need to battle as often as possible so it becomes a natural event on this ice during a game.

These suggestions will help your game but without the desire to improve your performance it’s not going to happen. The bonus thing with learning to compete or develop your grit is that it will carry over into the rest of your life. Believe me, this is an asset!
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