Elite Hockey Mental Training
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Good balance improves performance

Why balance is so important?  

Obviously, you need to have good balance to be able to perform well at any sport.  Balance is one of those things that most people just take for granted.  But, when balance goes on you it becomes a big problem fast!  Have you ever seen and elderly person who needs to hold on to everything around then and watch their feet just to walk in a straight line?  In fact, falling is one of the biggest safety hazards for the elderly because their balance starts to go on them. 

Just like the elderly, falling is a safety hazard for athletes.  Balance helps to stay upright and navigate your body around obstacles in your way (ie., other players).  Training yourself to have good balance helps to immunize your from body checks and other parts of the game that might push you off your feet.  Strong balance equates to strong performance.  Doing specific drills can improve your balance quickly.  

 

The 3 key reasons to love your cerebellum

Your cerebellum is the “little brain” at the back of your brain at the top of your spinal cord.  Athletes should learn to pay a lot of respect to their cerebellums, because this little brain gives you a great advantage in your game.  The cerebellum does a lot of really important things, but we’ll focus on just 3 of those things here.  They are the ABC;s of movement.

First, A stands for accuracy.  The cerebellum helps you to be accurate when shooting pucks, passing to your teammates, and skating in a straight line.  

Second, B stands for balance.  The cerebellum helps you to stay upright in your skates, do your edges, and stay on your feet when you get rocked by the opposing team. 

Third, C stands for coordination.  The cerebellum helps you to have the fluid and effortless looking movement that is the most obvious in best athletes in the world. 

As you can see, the ABCs of movement can are key to high performance as an athlete.  Just like the other parts of your brain, your cerebellum can be trained to perform better and better…with the right kind of drills and practice. 

What is Proprioception

Proprioception is a fancy word for how well your brain knows where your body is in space.  The joints in the body have a high number of receptors that send signals to the brain to help the brain know where each joint is at any given time.  

The joints are like satelites and the brain is like the GPS unit.  The better the connection between the satellite (joint) and the GPS unit (the brain), the better the brain will be able to predict and control movement.  The better your brain is able to control your movement, the better you will perform. 

The best way to do "proprioceptive work" is to know how you test individually on proprioceptive assessments, and to do drills that are specific to your individual strengths and weaknesses.  These drills then help the brain have better connection with the parts of your body that are slowing you down...so you can speed up!  

Build a better BRAIN

A well-trained brain is the "secret weapon" of every great athlete.  When your brain works well, your body works well and your mind works well.  The brain is the command centre for all things...including athletic performance. 

It was once believed that the brain didn't change much during one's lifetime.  That the brain you were born with is the brain you are stuck with.  That is no longer supported by current research. 

It is now common knowledge that the brain is like plastic in that it can actually change very quickly.  This concept is known as "neuroplasticity."  The brain not only can change, but it does change constantly.   Everything you do, every thought you have, every emotion you entertain, the food your eat, the exercise you do, every movement you make...changes your brain. 

Neuroplasticity is your friend, if you want to make your athletic performance better.  The more you do the right things in the right ways, the more your brain will change to support high level athletic performance. 

The brain can change for the better or the worse.  The athlete's focus is to drive plasticity in the direction he wants it to go.  That is, in the direction of high level sports performance. 

What is the most important thing you can do to improve your athletic performance?  We believe the answer is "build a better brain".  When we find a deficiency in the brain, that is a brain that is not functioning well in some area...we look for ways to stimulate and challenge that specific area to make it work better.  That's the reason why assessment and reassessment are so important in this work. 

Brains are like fingerprints.  They are completely unique to every one of us.  Our brains are the result of function, habit, and injury.  We need to focus on the individuality of people in order to properly train their brain. 

When you learn more about the way your brain works, specifically about the things that are less than optimal, you have a target for athletic training.  By focusing on the areas in which your brain isn't doing well and improving them, you will find that your athletic performance improves too.


Your Neural GPS Unit

Think of the brain as a neural GPS unit and the receptors in your body as satellites that send signals back to your brain.  These satellites send millions of signals to your brain every second.  If the signals are incomplete or mixed up, the brain will not be able to do its job very well, which could result in frustration, movement difficulty, poor coordination, pain, injury, and underperformance. 

These satellites come in three primary forms:  visual signals, balance signals, and movement signals.  The brain takes these signals and filters them through a complicated process and then creates a constantly updating 3D map of your body in relation to your environment.  The more complex the movement demands of your sport, the greater will be the demands on the neural GPS to keep up.  The better the map, the better the performance.  Athletes need a high level of integration of these systems to reach excellence in sports performance. 


The good news is that these systems can be trained and the brain has an infinite capacity to change with the right training.  You need to shake off outdated thinking that the only athletes to reach the top levels are those that have natural talent.  Great athletes are created, not born.  The truth is that few athletes are taught to move well.  To be great you must focus on foundational skills that many athletes were never taught.  Your body can only create as much power and strength as its mobility and stability will allow.  Lifting more weights or practicing harder won’t help you if your mobility and stability are off, even slightly.  Mobility and stability are created in the body by proper body movement patterns, strong visual skills, and strong balance. 

Excellence as an athlete is in the ability to move fluently, which is rooted in joint mobility, vision, and balance.  Athletes must be able to see well, balance well, move well, think well, and integrate well.   Integration involves everything from motor, vision, and balance to thoughts and emotion.  This creates the foundation for strong fluid effortless movement like you see the pros doing. 

We teach you to speak the language of the nervous system by using specific movements and drills that enhance the body’s signals to the brain and that integrate the information in a way that makes the brain supercharged.  We focus on the high speed network of the nervous system to get your body performing at the level you want it to. 


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Contact Information

  • Phone: (780) 874-0335
  • Fax: (780) 874-0336
  • 6209 - 44th Street
  • Lloydminster, AB T9V 1V8
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