This clip from Pyry Lukkarila’s talk at TCS Live 2024 was interesting to me because it combined the importance of tactics and structure with culture. The Finns understand the fundamentals of how their national teams want to play. Players fit in, they know where to go on the ice, they understand the systems, but this is only one half of the equation.

“The war is never far away. Our culture helps that team first mentality.”

Men in Finland spend a mandatory six months serving in the military, and it’s through those shared experiences they fortify their belief in the power of the team. Military service demands structure, discipline, sacrifice, and the ultimate commitment. And that’s just before breakfast!

A team can compete without systems, but a team won’t execute systems without compete. It’s helpful if it’s in the DNA of an individual player, a unique human being, but it’s still something that can be taught.

Habits, from the coaches perspective, starts in practice. For the players it starts at home, but for our purposes it starts when we get the chance to communicate. Nothing is more important than practice. We can reinforce culture, habits, preparation, and commitment through our drills and how we communicate. Take care when you plan your upcoming practices and give yourself room to stabilize your habits and execution. But just remember that every one of your players has something going on in their lives, and it's up to you to find out if they're in control of those factors or not. If they are, then you can help them improve those factors. If they aren't, you can still help, just in a different way. 

Check out this snippet from Lukkarila's presentation and view the full video here a membership to The Coaches Site.