BayToday Weekly Hockey Tip #4 – Clarity Is Power

Former OHLer and North Bay native Cassidy Preston runs a local hockey development program, Complete Hockey Training, and will be offering his experience, knowledge and enthusiasm in his "Weekly Hockey Tip." Preston played three years in the OHL for the St. Michael's Majors organization, where he won the OPJHL championship with the Buzzers, the Majors affiliate team, in 2006. Enjoy

Some of you might have heard this before. But how is it relevant to hockey?

Have you heard the expression a lack of focus? Has that ever been said about you? Well if you were not already aware, the best hockey players usually have the best focus. I found the key component to being focused is having clarity about yourself and your game. Knowing what you want and your plan to get it.

Personally, I play hockey to have fun. Might seem pretty obvious to some but I found once the pressure to succeed starts to build - especially playing at higher levels - it is easy for hockey to become less about having fun and more about succeeding. I think this can lead to less fun and even less success.

I’ve decided to share my current game plan for those who might be interested. Keep in mind I’ve had game plans for many years now and with a variety of changes from when I started to the present. I probably have more changes still to come. This is my plan I created to make sure I have fun every time I play hockey.

1. Focus on Playing my Game

I like to keep my Game within things I can control. I created a clear list of things that when I focus on I play my best hockey. The important part about step one is separating the things you control, like skating fast, from things you don’t control, like the referee making a bad call.

2. Celebrate when I play my Game

I find that having a little celebration after each shift is not only going to make hockey more fun, it also locks in what you want to be focusing on. The best part about this step is that if step one is a list of things you control then you can always have something to celebrate.

3. Empowering Thoughts

Those first two steps almost cover everything but I found that they go out the window so fast if you allow disempowering or negative thoughts to float around in your head. One example is instead of picking at all the things other players are not good at, try focusing on the things they are doing that make them successful and reflect to see if you are doing those things. The ability to produce empowering thoughts is the key to keeping you on course with your plan.

Again I encourage any comments, questions or specific things you would like next week’s tip to be on. Just email me at [email protected] or visit our website at www.CompleteHockeyTraining.ca