Kim McCullough
Three keys to getting quicker
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 07 February 2013 17:37
By Kim McCullough, M.Sc, YCS
Speed kills in girls' hockey. But speed isn’t just about how fast you can get from point A to point B. Your “straightaway” speed is important but it is just one small aspect of speed that you need to be working on. There are three types of QUICKNESS you must develop in order to perform your best during playoffs, tryouts and beyond. They are quick FEET, quick HANDS and quick RELEASE shooting.
So how do you know if you’re quick enough?
How early is too early?
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 31 January 2013 16:46
By Kim McCullough, M.Sc, YCS
How early is too early for a young player to specialize in hockey? In a sport that requires so much overall athleticism in addition to specific skills that aren’t replicated in any other sports, parents, coaches and players are often torn about when they should focus solely on the sport they love. Many recent books and articles have highlighted the “10,000 Hour Rule” which states that in order to become a master of your craft (in this case, hockey) you must accumulate at least 10,000 hours of deliberate practice time. Now 10,000 hours is a lot of time especially when you consider that most hockey players are only on the ice for an average of seven hours a week. So how would a young player looking to make it to the highest levels of hockey be able to accumulate enough hours to reach the top of their sport?
It’s all in your head
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 17 January 2013 17:01
By Kim McCullough, M.Sc, YCS
As a full-time hockey coach, I’m constantly looking for ways to give my teams and players an advantage. I recently read an amazing book by Carol Dweck called “Mindset “and I want to share a key concept from the book with you as I know it will help players, parents and coaches alike to take their mental game to the next level.
In “Mindset,” Dweck focuses on the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. In a nutshell, players with a fixed mindset think that every game they play has to be mistake-free. In their minds, anything less than perfection is unacceptable. They do not look at mistakes as an opportunity to learn, they look at them as a sign of weakness.
Why you need to change your mind
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 24 January 2013 16:12
By Kim McCullough, M.Sc, YCS
In order to overcome mistakes and enjoy long-term, consistent success in hockey, players must adopt a growth mindset. Players with a growth mindset see mistakes as an opportunity to learn and grow, while players with a fixed mindset think that every game must be perfect and view mistakes as a sign of weakness.
Making mistakes is inevitable and unavoidable in hockey. What makes the difference between good and great players is how they choose react to these mistakes mentally. Our mental TV is fully under our own control and players must learn how to change the channel from a fixed to growth mindset.
The No. 1 reason your backhand is bad
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 10 January 2013 17:30
By Kim McCullough, M.Sc, YCS
The backhand is one of the most feared shots in the world of girls’ hockey. Goalies hate backhands because they can be very unpredictable when done well and players hate them mostly because they aren’t very good at them. The No. 1 reason girls have such weak backhands is that they keep their top hand way too close to their hip.
What do I mean by that? If you are a righthanded shot, your left hand is your top hand. Most female hockey players (for some strange reason I still can’t quite figure out) hold their top hand very close to their hip. In this case of the righty, it would be on their left hip. This means that both hands and the stick are being carried very close to the body and that the stick is most likely no where close to the ice (but that’s another topic entirely).
