Mental Training In Ice Hockey

Ice hockey is the fastest team sport. Its origins are difficult to track back, as games with sticks and balls have existed for a very long time and are considered the first steps towards developing the game of ice hockey itself. Early evidence in form of pictures and paintings of an alike game was found in Greece. Due to civilization leading the way of humans, the game moved up to the North, where colder temperatures were found. Soon the game was translated onto the ice, and the preform of Ice hockey game was invented.

Most historians agree that Canada, which is considered the Motherland of Hockey, distrib-uted greatly to the development of the sport by hosting many different tournaments on frozen lakes and ponds. 1885 was the historical year where the first North American league was created in Kingston holding a total of 4 teams. It only took a short amount of time for ice hockey to reach popularity across the country. Lord Stanley, an English Governor, created a silver trophy in 1892, for which the Canadian Ice hockey teams compete each year. The year 1892 does not only mark the important creation of the most famous trophy in hockey, the Stanley Cup, which is rewarded to the winner of the playoffs of the NHL (National Hockey League), which counts as the best and most competitive ice hockey league, but also it is the year in which the first female ice hockey game was carried out.

In the 1900s the first big competitions took place, such as the first World Championship in 1920, which Canada was able to win. In 1924, the first ice hockey competition was carried out at the Olympic Games, in which Canada was again dominating and winning the gold medal. With the rise of popularity and competitiveness of the sport, more aspects such as mental training were drawn into the sport. This led to a complex structure and increased difficulty of being an outstanding ice hockey player since the sport evolves around more than just the physical skills.

Definition of Mental Training

Mental training gets its origin from the Latin word “mental”, which means sense or mind. It is often associated with sports but has its crucial effects on every-day life as well. It is not, unlike many other aspects of life, based on skill. It has been proven to very effective as the human body cannot differ between physical and psychological aspects. In addition, it can store imaginations and create a new reality, which does not rely on actual reality. This is because the brain cannot contrast between reality and imagination. Therefore, it has the same effects whether one physically trains or psychologically imagines scenarios: the sub-conscious mind recalls reactions, that have been trained.

Persistent mental training evolves to a person gaining mental toughness. Mental toughness helps one to accept adversity in life, such as unfairness, death, or other setbacks. In every-day life, it is often expected to have some kind of predictable and fair way of living. Those who are successful accept the unpredictability of life and do not let unfair events take their hopes and dreams.

Mental training helps one to control the responses to external stimuli heedless of the cir-cumstances. A stimulus is something one perceives through the five senses of tasting, hear-ing, feeling, seeing and hearing. The response then happens based on previous experiences and often it results in being uncontrolled, such as saying something in a fight, that one re-grets afterwards.

Basic Goals of Mental Training

Mental Training can be beneficial in many aspects of life. One of the most significant is the self-regulation, that of thoughts, emotions, but also to correct daily mistakes and substance abuse. Addiction, sleeping disorders and often even breathing problems are psychosomatic diseases, which are created in the head and then have their impacts on the body. A psycho-logical imbalance leads to bodily tension and responses in form of pain. Mental Training can help to influence the mind and thus prevent those somatic responses and help to recov-er from them, once they already occur. Controlling the mind is crucial for sustaining a peaceful state of mind.

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Mental Training in sports

“Sports are 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical”- Yogi Berra

In addition to the basic goals of mental training, the performance of athletes is what can be hugely impacted by mental training. It is the theoretical opposite of practical training and can be performed regardless of the location or various of other circumstances, such as the financial means. Reaching a high level, most players are more the less equally skilled, but their mental abilities and mental toughness is what is the deciding factor of what evolves one to a champion.

Mental Training gets its origin from the eastern European countries, as well as North Amer-ica. It’s concept eventually arrived in Europe, but by then those countries who already uti-lized the mental aspects were superior to those who based their training only on the physi-cal side of it. Over the years, more and more studies have proven the benefits of it and now it is widely used already when the athletes are young. Theresa Hornich said in the inter-view, that already when she was 7 years old, that her mom asked her about her goals and ambitions before every game, which helped her to be eager to actually achieve them in competition as well. By consciously performing mental skills, physical abilities can be im-proved and refined.

Mental Training helps athletes with their mental boundaries, such as a lack of self-confidence, endurance, commitment or fears such as that of a loss. It can help to redefine the sport for them and show them what they are passionate about and why they put in the hard work. Athletes are surrounded by many different external stimuli, which can be over-whelming and reduce their performance quality. Mental skills can help cope with this prob-lem, as well as bolster their character.

Types of Mental Training

Visualization

Visualization is the usage of imagination to create pictures in one’s mind, which are based on previous experiences, memories, emotions and thoughts. Visualization changes the chemistry in the body, connects the mind and body and releases sources of energy to per-form in the best possible way. It can promote creativity, self-confidence and motivation, which can be deciding factors in maintaining a relaxed and clear mind in tough situations. It also has its benefits in reducing fear and nervousness.

A person can visualize to approach a goal, to put himself/herself into an act, or to recall positive memories. A good comparison is dreaming: dreaming is only a mental process, but it can show physical symptoms, such as waking up from a nightmare, and being bathed in sweat or shaking. This is the case with mental imagery as well: physical advantages are the result. The process of mental rehearsal is when one is imagining a skill or situation that will later happen, such as a save with the stick. Repeating this process helps one to be able to react better and more precisely in a situation.

Dissociation vs. Association

There are two basic ways of visualizing: the inner perspective, association, and the outer perspective, dissociation. Association is the more subjective visualization, as the action is performed by oneself with all senses to create the feeling of actually performing it and to activate the same muscles as physical training would. The more specific and detailed one’s imagination is, the better the results will be. This method is particularly suitable for practic-ing physical acts, such as improving specific situations as a goaltender. Association should only be used with positive performances and results. For negative and unwanted outcomes, dissociation is suitable. Bad performances from the past can be analysed and one is able to recognise the mistakes that were made and focus on avoiding them next time. It also strengthens self-confidence and helps to forget fear before new challenges, which helps to master novel tasks.