Are You Mentally Prepared To Excel As a Female Hockey Player?

By Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS

It's hard to stay 100% focused and motivated as a girls’ hockey player, especially when the season is so long, extending from September to April for many teams.  Couple that with the fact that tryouts and summer camps start shortly thereafter, and it is no surprise that players, coaches and parents are all a little burnt-out, worn-out and stressed-out by the end of the season.

But it doesn't have to be that way.  You can get through the regular season and playoffs safely and successfully if you have a plan in place that helps you to recover physically after a no-holds-barred playoff battle and stay laser-focused on your individual and team goals. Mental preparation and physical recovery are the two biggest keys to surviving and thriving throughout the entire season.

Let’s focus on the mental part of playoff preparation first.  Effective mental preparation comes down to having strategies in place that help you to get focused, stay focused and re-focus on your goals.  Avoiding distractions and staying focused on your game is especially tough during the playoffs - especially when you are playing the same team a few days in a row.

When it comes to getting focused, we tend to worry more about the outcome (winning the game), instead of the process of how we are going to win the game.   Instead of focusing on “having to win”, girls’ hockey players and coaches need to focus on “what it takes to win”.  Players should give themselves action-oriented key words to focus on like, “Keep feet moving”, “Battle for pucks”, “Head on a swivel”, “One shot at a time (goalies)”.  It is critical that players stay focused on the things they have control over, instead of the outcome of the game.

Staying focused during a playoff game is easier said than done with all the potential distractions on and off the ice.  Players can easily become overly focused on the other team’s players and plays, as well as the what the refs, coaches and fans are doing.  All of these are external factors that they have absolutely no control over.  Using the action-oriented key words that they identified before the game will allow players to stay focused on what they need to do to perform their best.  After all, the key to success is playing your game and not theirs.

Because of the high level of emotional and physical intensity of playoff hockey, the outcome of most games is completely unpredictable.  With the season on the line, girls hockey players and teams will do anything to “stay alive”, leading to long series’ with many up and downs.  It is critical that players and coaches have re-focusing strategies in place that keep them on track no matter what the playoffs have in store.  One great way to help the entire team stay focused on their goals is to create a playoff theme.  A team can choose a slogan like, “Whatever It Takes”, “Seize The Opportunity”, “This Is Our Time”.  I know it sounds “cheesy”, but having an easy to remember, inspirational theme can really help to refocus the group when times get tough.

The ability to maintain focus is an essential part of surviving and thriving through the entire regular season and playoff run.  Taking the time to prepare mentally will help girls’ hockey players and coaches from getting stressed out and allow them to perform their best throughout the playoffs.

© Total Female Hockey 2008

Kim McCullough, YCS, MSc, is a Athletic Development Specialist and founder of Total Female Hockey. In addition to training and coaching girls at all levels of hockey, from novice to the National team, Kim has also played at the highest level of women’s hockey in the world for the last decade. Kim’s female player development website features a state-of-the-art Complete Off-Season Training Program and her blog gives the coaches and parents of aspiring young players access to the most up-to-date tips and advice on how to help their players take their game to the next level. To learn more about female-specific player development, get your Free Report: The #1 Mistake Female Players Make in the Off-Season at http://www.totalfemalehockey.com