Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.

Each post that’s published here at The Coaches Site falls into a certain category. Culture, video, specific conferences – there are also tags that make the site easier to navigate, and these can get pretty specific. Practice planning, systems, forecheck – there’s a lot of ground to cover, and with the massive library of content we’ve got, it can get really specific. But there’s one tag that applies almost universally to everything here: Communication.

This is the third of a 6 part series called Training Camp Exceptional. Here’s the criteria we used:

Age Groups

As the range of contributing coaches demonstrates, we made a distinction between training camp and tryouts. This series is generally intended for junior hockey and older, though many elements will no doubt apply to U18 and younger.

Content

Each post will cover the bones of training camp, from the planning, implementation, and fall-out. Hopefully you’ll get some inspiration or knowledge to help you run your next camp.

• Training Camp Exceptional Part 1: Schedules, volunteers & extras
• Training Camp Exceptional Part 2: On-ice training camp options
• Training Camp Exceptional Part 3: Pre-game guidance and communication
• Training Camp Exceptional Part 4: Training camp evaluation
• Training Camp Exceptional Part 5: Exit meetings
• Training Camp Exceptional Part 6: Post-camp team building

“Our staff is in constant communication with all the players to reinforce our expectations as an organization and to implement small systematic and habit foundations.”

• Kris Mallette, Kelowna Rockets

Coach Mallette provides us with a strong foundation when it comes to communication – it’s constant, and it’s provided to every player. This is a tall task during a training camp in which a hundred athletes might skate through your doors, but it’s crucial because every player deserves a positive experience. This is also the primary foundation of my entire coaching philosophy: Seek Exceptional. The Seek Exceptional philosophy means you’re always looking for better ways to do things, you’re looking for exceptional people to run your program, and you’re seeking exceptional players of exceptional character to build your team. The most efficient way to find exceptional people is to talk to them and outline your expectations so there’s no guessing and there’s no grey area.

Removing Distractions

An important part of communication is increasing focus, and we can do that easily by removing distractions. I remember a training camp in which I had a yellow team skate out for warmup shortly followed by a red team. I could hardly tell what was going on I as watched from the press booth, so I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the players. Months later, one of the goalies told me he was colourblind. It’s not just the players who benefit from fewer distractions, but your scouting and coaching staff as well. When you remove distractions and build comfort in camp, the messages you deliver will have a greater effect, and in turn will lead to stronger performance when the moment counts.

But be careful. It’s easy to get excited before a training camp scrimmage when you haven’t had an audience of players in awhile. They’re usually pretty tuned in because they’re anxious and want to listen to every word (which might cause some of them to not hear a thing). Everyone absorbs information differently. You don’t want to overwhelm the players who hear everything, but you don’t want to underwhelm them either.

Be mindful of the environment. Be concise. Choose important and specific areas of focus that will encourage competition and confidence. Here’s a list I used at my last spring camp, the Logistics Olympics.

• Be early for everything
• Encourage your teammates
• Be aggressive at all times

As the circus master I didn’t know who was early and it wasn’t obvious who was encouraging their teammates. But what I really wanted to see – aggression without the puck – was clear, which was impressive considering the easily available distractions and excuses. This aggression away from the puck led to competitiveness and highlighted who had poise with the puck. Was this because the players were early or supportive of their teammates? Maybe. But it certainly didn’t hurt. It’s through this lens we can see how culture and communication off the ice leads to performance off the ice. Culture matters, and the message you deliver to players in training camp sets the stage for the season. I’d also argue that culture and communication matters well before camp starts.

• How organized is the schedule?
• When do you communicate with players/parents/agents? How much notice do you give?
• What is the tone of the communication you send? Professional? Optimistic? How’s your spelling?

Scrimmages & Exhibition Games

“Before a scrimmage the players hear from myself as the head coach. Depending on the point in camp, if I’m on the bench then I’m communicating with them then as well. If I’m not, then my assistant would continue to reiterate the same message and communicate what we are trying to accomplish each day leading up to the first exhibition game.”

• Scott Burt, Rapid City Rush

An important key repeated by the coaches I talked to was consistency, because you can’t always predict how fast a message will sink in. As Scott Burt says, it’s important for his staff to be on the same page and to reinforce the message. You can’t skip steps. For example, let’s say you want to build your defence with slick-skating puck movers. That’s great, but you need to get the puck back first. Hence my message in training camp that encourages two aggressive on the puck. Once I’m satisfied with that step, then I can encourage the D to make short passes in the D-zone. Let’s assume the forwards are coming back to connect with the D (another step), now we can teach slash support to the wingers and encourage the D to join the rush. All of this might happen in the span of a few shifts, or it might take a period, which is why it’s important to communicate those expectations in a way that makes it easy to absorb on both benches.

My former coaching mate builds on that step-by-step element by encouraging an evolution of focus from smarts to effort.

“We have smaller camps than most pro teams, but it’s important for everyone to get started on the best foot possible, so we start with the brain in intersquad games. It’s a long race to the championship, but some of the guys know they have to show something immediately. It’s invaluable to be on the ice in a competitive environment, feeling pressure, feeling the puck, and I want to see how players process the game. When we play another team, because we’ve been off for so long, I want to throw caution out the window and go hard. Short shifts, simple, go hard. Hopefully the smarts have been ingrained by that point. So training camp evolves from being smart into going hard.”

• Sven Butenschon, UBC Thunderbirds Men’s Hockey

There are plenty of approaches you can take when the competition starts in training camp, but one thing is for certain: you owe it to your team to communicate that approach and its benefits.