5 Ways To Develop Better Decision Makers In Hockey
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Design activities that don’t have pre determined patterns, outcomes. Try not to make the decisions for the player before the activity begins.
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Allow players to try things, fail and learn within the situation, in practice and in competition. In games your philosophy can’t change, the players still need to feel they have the green light to try things. You can encourage players to push past their comfort zone in practice but if your demeanor changes come game day you won’t see results.
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Scale the complexity of the activity. 1 v 1 <-> 5 v 5 this will allow you to create learning opportunities that fit the needs of the player. What you did in hs, college, pro isn’t what your kids need. Information, learning needs to be scaled appropriately.
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Ask the players why they choose a decision. Not just when it’s wrong! Ask them why they choose a decision when there was a good outcome as well. See the game through their eyes.
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Praise decisions not just outcomes. Sometimes the decision was correct but the player didn’t execute the technical component. You as the coach need to know the difference and be able to support the process.