So, you want to be an elite athlete, or you believe you are one already. You expect to be a starting player and play every minute of each game. Review the following game situations…
1. The other team is getting the ball and preparing to do a push-in, so you decide to talk to your teammate, Megan, about what courses she has chosen for next semester.
2. We are preparing to take a penalty corner and since you are not directly involved in the corner, you have a conversation with Barb from the other team about last season’s semi-finals.
3. You mistrap the ball at mid-field, it deflects towards their forwards, and they move towards our goal. You are sincerely unhappy about your mistake, so you quietly swear to yourself, glare at your stick, and start jogging back towards your goal.
4. A defender from the other team attempts a tackle and smashes your stick. The ball goes off your foot. The umpire makes a call for the ball hitting your foot. You start and continue a discussion with the umpire while the other team takes the free hit.
5. During a lull in the game, you run over to the sideline to wipe some sweat off your brow, have a drink of water and then run back to your position.
If you have done any one of these or similar things in a game (let’s hope never #5), then you are not performing as the elite athlete. For those of us who believe we do not lose focus during a game, we must measure how we perform in practice because what we do in practice, we do in games. Review the above situations again and you may have done every one of them (or similar ones) in practice situations.
How the Elite Athlete practices at Match Intensity
A field hockey game consists of fifteen-minute quarters at competitive levels. During the half-time, we only have time to get water, obtain physio treatment if necessary and receive brief coaching instruction. During the quarter breaks, which are shorter than the half-time break, we have time for a drink and very brief coaching instruction if any.
The elite athlete adheres to these Match Intensity practice maxims:
1. He warms up for practice just as though he is going to play in the finals of a major event.
2. The core part of practice is conducted at the pace of the game, so he does not take any kind of break during this period unless he has an injury. He has drunk enough water before practice starts just as you do before a game, has securely tied their shoelaces, is wearing their shin pads, and has their mouth-guard ready to use.
3. He only takes the scheduled breaks as per in the game.
During a Match Intensity practice, the elite athlete follows these specific maxims:
1. When a drill is completed, she leaves the balls where they are and immediately starts running, not a leisurely jog or walk, around the perimeter of the practice area while the coaches set up the next drill. She does not wait for her friends and there is no idle chit-chat with anyone during the run. Game focus in maintained.
2. If she mistraps a ball, or makes a bad pass, or the shot at goal is bad, or the ball deflects off the goalkeeper, she “sprints” the complete distance and gets that ball. Then, she sprints back to the end of the line of the drill with the ball. She does not get another ball from another group, does not mess up another drill group by asking them to give her a ball, nor does anyone give her another ball to keep her going in the drill.
3. If she mistraps the ball or makes a bad pass, she is out of that phase of the drill and goes back to the end of the line with the other players doing the drill with her.
Your team does not continue with an attack if you breach the rules or lose possession. Why should you and your group continue the attack in a drill if you have breached the rules of the game or failed early on at the purpose of the drill?
The real game is unforgiving when we make a mistake. The elite athlete learns this in practice.
“We all love to win, but how many people love to train?”, Mark Spitz, who won seven Gold Medals, Munich Olympics 1972
Peter D’Cruz is the founder of the Hockey Curriculum for Players & Coaches
