Recontextualizing 'Failure'
An Open Letter to Players
Dear players,
I know you don’t read letters anymore, so here are some quick hitters to understand the truth about…
Failure.
The missed pass, the mishandled puck in traffic, not reading that you skated into a 1v3 and turning it over, not seeing that a side change pass would have turned a 1v2 into a 2v1 for a teammate…
All of it…
It is a step in the right direction. It’s information.
Not conscious information that you need to process, you’ll just be better in the next moment if you’re tuned into the feedback from your environment.
And if you are into reading, read this:
Bet on Player Development
“The tendency to judge a decision based on its outcome, rather than its quality.”
An open environment, game-based, free-play or CLA environment is going to put you in situations where failure happens. This is done on purpose and with purpose. You’re leveling up your videogame character.
The reason players develop inside of the CLA is in large part due to the truth of the Jack Butcher artwork above.
Coaches who use the approach have doubled, tripled, or 10x’d your failure rate compared to on-air flow drills.
Remember what Brice said in his tweet. Without room to fail, one’s perception will never change.
We’re after changing your perception. So failure is a must.
Fail to see the play this time, and you’ll see the play differently next time.
That’s learning.
Your job is to get to 200 first and climb from there. Have the courage to ‘go for it’ in your reps. Accept that failure will be there. Be willing to lean into it. And you just might start to love it.
The faster you climb these levels. The faster you grow.
Cheers for now,
Drew
P.S. We’re in the middle of a deep study of the OHL’s, Saginaw Spirit, if you’d like full breakdown videos of different concepts and principles, upgrade your membership today by clicking the button below:
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