SHAPING THE GAME: Play the game you want to play (1:7)

By Coach Barry Jones IIHF Level 3 High Performance | USA Hockey Level 3 Performance

Intent Is Shaped by the Game You Want to Play

Intent Is Not Abstract

In non-linear pedagogy, intent is often spoken about as something open, athlete-driven, or emergent. While that is partly true, it misses a critical point.

Intent does not exist in isolation. Intent is shaped by the game you want to play.

Every team, whether explicitly defined or not, is moving toward a particular version of the game. Fast or patient. Chaotic or controlled. Direct or possession-based. High pressure or layered containment.

That direction matters, because intent is not a motivational phrase or a cue shouted from the bench. Intent is the gravitational pull that shapes what behaviours become likely, repeatable, and reliable under pressure.

If intent is disconnected from the game model, learning fragments. Training becomes busy, athletes adapt inconsistently, and performance becomes unpredictable.

Intent Is a Design Decision

One of the most common coaching errors is treating intent as language.

“Play fast.” “Move your feet.” “Support the puck.” “Be creative.”

These are not intents. They are descriptions of outcomes the environment may or may not support.

In a non-linear framework, intent lives before instruction and before task design. It answers a more fundamental question:

What does the game demand of us when time, space, and certainty disappear?

Only once that question is answered does intent become meaningful.

If the intent is unclear, task design becomes generic. If the task design is generic, behaviour becomes accidental.

The Game Model Sets the Direction of Learning

The game you want to play determines what information matters, what decisions are prioritised, what behaviours stabilise over time, and what skills adapt under pressure.

You cannot ask athletes to switch identities on game day. The environment teaches the game long before competition begins.

Intent Is the Bridge Between Philosophy and Reality

Intent is not philosophical alignment. Intent is operational clarity.

It connects the coach’s vision of the game, the environment athletes train in, and the behaviours that emerge without instruction.

Intent Lives Below the Waterline

Athletes experience a clear problem, a game-like task, pressure that feels familiar, and decisions that resemble competition.

They do not need the full game model or theoretical justification.

That work lives below the waterline, where the coach designs the environment to quietly reinforce the game identity.

When intent is embedded correctly, athletes don’t need to be told how to play. They feel how to play.

Author Bio: Barry Jones is an IIHF Level 3 High Performance Coach and USA Hockey Level 3 Performance Coach. His work blends ecological dynamics, nonlinear design, and athlete-centred leadership to build adaptive teams that thrive in uncertainty.