Optimizing learning Environments Assignment
Riley Collins – 100712847
Concept – Task Constraints- Variation Within Drills
Topic- Ice Hockey Goaltending
I have been playing goalie in ice hockey since I was 6 years old. I started coaching goalies around 15 years old and I have had a part time job as a goalie coach for the past 5 years. Goaltending has changed drastically from the goalies playing in the 70s to todays elite goaltenders. Today’s goalies are significantly better than the old school goalies. This is because of multiple reasons such as equipment, better strength, and fitness and what I believe most to be important is how the position is now coached. 25-30 years ago, none of the NHL teams employed a full-time goalie coach (Loria, 2009). This is the top hockey league in the world. Imagine how little coaching younger kids were getting.
Goalie coaching in hockey is a rather new concept. There are now many goalie coaches all over the world with their own beliefs and strategies to help create the best goalie. However, one thing is for certain, goalies need variation when practicing. Going from practice to real game action is completely different for goalies if the drills are not done in the proper way. In games, goalies see all different types of shots including different angles, deflections, screens, speeds and heights, therefore the coaches must implement variation within practice to optimize their learning environment and have athletes ready for competition.
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Pictured is the comparison between what a goalie in todays NHL looks like compared to the 1970s. As you can see there are some clear differences. Left (https://allhabs.net/habs-history-part-7-1970-1980-farewell-beliveau-six-more-cups-four-storey-goalie/) Right (https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2021/06/17/who-will-be-the-toronto-maple-leafs-second-goalie-in-2020-21-exploring-the-trade-market/)
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If you were to watch an NHL hockey game and focus in on the goaltending position, you would have a new perspective of the position. Most people within the sport such as the “old school hockey guys” like to say things like “goalies just need to stop the puck” or “all they have to do is stop the puck”. If they were to analyze the position during a game these people would realize there’s so much more to it than that. For example, goalies need to be elite skaters within their crease performing various skilled skating movements to be able to get into position to make saves. Once in position, they need to have the hand-eye coordination, quick reaction and proper save selection capability to stop a high speed object that is 1” x 3”. If you want to play at a high level within the sport, you also need to be able to control the puck after making the save, meaning have good rebounds that don’t allow the offensive player a second chance at a scoring opportunity. Examples of a good rebound are being able to absorb the puck into your chest, making a glove save and holding the puck or deflecting the puck into non dangerous positions (the corners of the ice rink) with your blocker, stick or pads. All of this can be done in a controlled perfect world; however a goalie must also be able to account for distractions within the game such as screens, deflections and body contact.
It is extremely important that the goalie coach add variations, contextual interference, and a constraints-led approach during practice. From the explanation above we can realize how many variations a goalie could see within a competition. There are unlimited ways in which a goal can be scored in hockey therefore there are unlimited scenarios a goalie may encounter during a game. Drills that focus on movement before getting the shot or game situation type drills will help goalies develop the skills needed to make these types of saves within the game. Game situation type drills will help goaltenders develop an automaticity to situations they may see in a game. Drills involving the goalie standing in one position (top of the goalie’s crease) and the shooter standing in one position (between the circles) shooting repetitive shots may help to warm up a goalie, however these drills do not simulate game type situations for a goalie. Variations and constraints must be added to practice drills and scenarios to increase difficulty and create real game experiences.
There are no studies yet that specifically determine if adding variability to goaltending practice drills will enhance their performance in game play, however, there are studies in other sports that we can use to describe the same principles of adding contextual interference to drills to increase post test performance. A study by Pagano and colleagues found that pre-existing motor skills for a shuttle board task, when increased variability was implemented it led to better consolidation of motor memories (Pagano et al., 2021). To relate this knowledge to goaltending it is possible that by adding variation to simple goaltending drills it will help consolidate motor memories learned from beginner drills. For example, if we added some sort of crease movement before a goalie receives a shot, they will most likely improve upon their skills of making the save compared to when they were just standing still. In another study done by Buszard and colleagues that compared youth tennis skills, one group practiced with a low contextual interference (CI) while another group practiced with moderate contextual interference (Buszard et al., 2017). Although most of the statistics analyzed were similar, there was one key performance difference that was noticed. The moderate CI group were able to improve the accuracy of their serves during a transfer test (Buszard et al., 2017). By adding a different type of task to the skill being learned by the tennis players the experimenters were able to increase one groups serve accuracy over the other group. This can be related to goaltending. To help learn save selections as a goalie, either dropping to their knees which is a butterfly (also more complex ways in which a goalie can perform the butterfly, however I will keep it simple) or standing up to make a save. Say we wanted the goalie to work on making saves in their butterfly we can add a contextual interference of having the goalie always butterfly for a shot during a drill no matter the height of the shot. Based on what Buszard’s and colleagues study found the goalie will be able to improve their accuracy or save percentage while making saves in the butterfly position.
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Pictured is a goalie in their stance compared to a goalie in their butterfly. As we can see the butterfly covers more area down low and the stance covers more area up high. Left (https://seltytending.com/break-down/break-down-stance/) Right (http://www.francocanadian.com/)
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Although there haven’t been any studies specifically on the effectiveness of practice variability for ice hockey goaltenders, it is a well-known concept that goalies need to practice simple drills to gain the motor skills needed for moving within the crease and learn which save selections work most effectively in each area of the net. From there it is important to add variations and make the drills more difficult and realistic to game situations. For example, adding a player in front of the goalie as a screen or adding a task constraint that all shots must be absorbed into the chest (no rebounds). A practice plan for U10 (under 10 years of age) goalies developed by USA hockey shows exactly that. There are 10 pages of drills ranging from movement to shooting and a mix of both. For each drill there is a section that provides variations to the drill to increase the difficulty. Speaking from experience, a variation of a drill can be accomplished by simply changing the distance from or angle at which the shot is taken as well as changing the movement the goalie performs before getting to the final position for the shot. This is very meaningful because in a game situation the distance, angle, and height of the shot will be different almost every time.
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​Here is an example of a drill from the USA U10 goaltender practice plan describing the drill and the
variations that can be made.
Lastly, another study completed by Correia, and colleagues supports the importance of manipulating key spatial-temporal variables in designing game specific practice task constraints that induce functional player-environment interactions in team sports training (Correia et al., 2012). Correia and colleagues ran 80 trials with experienced youth ruby players. The task was 1 attacker vs. 2 defenders, and they recorded the outcomes (got tackled, scored a point, etc.). They found that the closer the attacker started to the defender the number of tackles made increased and the speed of all participants was lower. Based on the results, they suggested that it is important to add different spatial-temporal task constraints within a practice to optimize the learning environment for all different types of scenarios that could happen in a game (Correia et al., 2012). This can be related to developing a goaltender’s practice plan using this same logic. It is important to provide goalies different spatial-temporal task constraints in practice to develop their knowledge and skills of making saves at different distances and heights, meaning the puck being shot from short and far distances as well as high or low shots. For example, if a goalie coach does 10 drills in a practice all at the same distance and the pucks were being shot all at the same height there would be no task constraints for spatial-temporal skill of seeing the puck come from different angles, distances, and heights. This would develop a goalie who is good at making saves under those very certain conditions only. In an ice hockey game, nothing is certain for a goalie and that is why it is important to train goalies for a variation of shots and sequences through practice variations.
Variation when developing a practice plan or drills for ice hockey goaltenders is crucial. It will help to develop a goalie’s motor memory, automaticity when making saves and ability to react to different types of shots within a game. It will also improve their ability to read different plays and shots throughout a game. Ice hockey is a game of speed, skill and structure, but it also involves a lot of change, unexpected actions and other intangibles that can happen during a game. An ice hockey goaltender can not be trained as if they are just shooting free throws in basketball. They need to see multiple variations and train for game specific movements and shots to best prepare them for competition.
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References
Buszard, T., Reid, M., Krause, L., Kovalchik, S., & Farrow, D. (2017). Quantifying Contextual Interference
and Its Effect on Skill Transfer in Skilled Youth Tennis Players. Frontiers in Psychology.
Correia, V., Arauj, D., Duarte, R., Travassos, B., Passos, P., & Davids, K. (2012). Changes in practice task
constraints shape decision-making behaviours of team games players. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.
Loria, K. (2009, January 29). Goalie coaches are single-minded in their tasks. NHL.com. Retrieved March
4, 2022, from https://www.nhl.com/news/goalie-coaches-are-single-minded-in-their-tasks/c-406757.
Pagano, M., Stochino, G., Casadio, M., & Ranganathan, R. (2021). Augmentation of task-relevant
variability enhances consolidation of motor learning. BioRxiv.
USA hockey. (n.d.). Goaltender Practice Plans. cdn4.sportngin.com/attachments/document/8d1b-
1635239/10U_Goalie_Practice_plans.pdf.
