Under Pressure

Calm and cool under pressure. Your best hockey and lacrosse players have learned to deal with pressure. A team under pressure tends to make bad decisions. A player under pressure tends to lose focus and play reactive at times when it is best to create situations on the field or on the ice that allow you to control the ball or puck. Under relaxed conditions a skater's center of balance and stick work tend to be better than under pressure. Not all pressure comes from the opposing team. Some is self inflicted, some can even come from your own team, parents, fans, and even coaches. There are two kinds of pressure that I know of; good or positive, and negative, which is usually not good and counter productive. Either way, players and coaches need to deal with both. My best advice is to practice working through situations that occur under pressure or before pressure starts to build. Sometimes you need to defuse the situation, and other times you need to skate around it. Sure, there are lots of situation drills you can set up. Some are good, others tend to be useless. Most of this falls under mental toughness, not an easy thing to learn, teach, or practice. If you can smile under pressure, you're doing alright regardless of the outcome. Try to learn a little from each situation. Keep your head up and keep smiling. It usually drives the other teams crazy.



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Location:NY