The Importance of Failure in Hockey
In hockey, as in life, failure is not the enemy it’s an essential ingredient for growth. Though many coaches and players approach failure as something to avoid, rushing through drills to maximize variety in a practice session. However, this approach often misses the point when it comes to skill development. To truly master a skill, players need time to fail, learn, and succeed through focused, repetitive practice.
The Role of Failure in Skill Development
Failure is a natural and necessary step in the learning process. When a player struggles with a drill, their brain is actively engaged in problem solving, identifying errors, and adjusting movements to achieve the desired outcome. This process, known as error based learning, is well-supported by neuroscience.
A study by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke found that learning a motor skill involves neural adaptations that occur most effectively when errors are present. These adaptations help the brain fine-tune movements over time, leading to improved performance. If a player doesn’t encounter failure, their brain isn’t challenged enough to make those critical adjustments.
In hockey, this means that struggling with a new skill whether it’s stickhandling, edge work, shooting technique or learning systems is the first step toward mastering it. Coaches allow room for failure, frame it as an opportunity rather than a setback.
Repetition (Turning Success Into Habit)
Once a player succeeds at a skill after repeated failures, the next step is to turn that success into an automatic habit through repetition. This is where the concept of deep practice, popularized by Daniel Coyle in The Talent Code, comes into play. Deep practice involves isolating specific skills, breaking them down into manageable components, and repeating them until they become second nature.
In hockey, this could mean practicing a specific move like a tight turn or a toe drag hundreds of times in a single session. Research shows that this kind of focused repetition builds myelin, the insulating layer around neural pathways that enhances the speed and precision of movements. The more repetitions a player completes successfully, the stronger these neural connections become, transforming the skill from conscious effort to automatic habit.
Overloading Practices Hinders Progress
Coaches can sometimes fall into the trap of cramming too many drills into a single practice session. While this may give the illusion of productivity, it often leads to superficial engagement with each skill. A player might get a few repetitions of a drill before moving on to the next, but this doesn’t provide enough time for deep learning or habit formation.
Instead, coaches prioritize the drills that matter most for their players’ development and dedicate significant time to them. For example, instead of doing 10 different drills in an hour, focus on two or three critical skills and allow players to work through the cycle of failure, adjustment, and mastery. By simplifying practices, players have the opportunity to refine their technique, build confidence, and develop the muscle memory needed for in game success!
To build great hockey players, coaches and players need to shift their focus from avoiding failure to embracing it as a crucial part of the learning process. Skill development isn’t about doing as many drills as possible in a single session, it’s about doing the right drills and giving players the time to work through failure, succeed, and repeat that success until it becomes second nature.
By simplifying practice plans and emphasizing repetition, coaches can help players develop the habits and confidence they need to excel on the ice. Remember success is built on a foundation of failure and the willingness to persevere through it.
The video attached shows many of the players I train work through failure in order to succeed!
