Brain Skills Training For Better Hockey Results!
For most kids, dreaming of making it to the NHL tops all accomplishments they could achieve. Although that dream may only come true for a small percentage, what if you could add a skill set to catapult you to greater potential faster and easier?
We all know the benefits of lots and lots of practice and being physically fit to play your game to its maximum performance levels. Now research shows that the mind is becoming the defining difference in success on the rink and off. It is tapping into the amazing potential of this organ and its intricate connection to the body that will provide the elusive edge.
The Mental Game Of Hockey
In hockey, the difference between being just good and being great, is how you can process information, anticipate the plays happening around you without compromise in your performance.
Hockey requires intense concentration and awareness of the puck and the players that are in constant motion in the visual area of the rink. Having peak visual skills not only enhance the player’s ability, it will help in reducing risk of injury.
Visual Training And Boosted Reaction Time
At Optimum Edge, we can provide mind skills that make the difference in your hockey performance.
Our sophisticated technology provides training to improve your focusing and tracking. The visual training skills trains the eyes to work in unison while tracking a moving object whether that is another player or the puck. This enables the player to change focus instantly as the distance of that object changes in relationship to their own position. This is important in both line plays and for the goalie facing the long shot.
Anticipation Timing is another skill enhanced by our brain skills training. Making the right move at the right time is critical to the success of the play. All too often there are unwanted consequences due to players being out of position or not anticipating another player’s reaction.
Concentration Under Stress is a critical skill for any sport, but for a hockey player, the distractions are immense. Players need to have the ability to concentrate on what they are doing on the ice and on the bench despite the distractions around them. Focus and concentration can be greatly affected when under intense physical exertion and stress but through our specific training programs, we can help maintain these high levels of concentration and focus required to be “on your game”. This helps the player find the “Zone” and stay in it longer.
Brain Training Technology For Hockey Players
We use unique high performance devices to achieve your advantage on the Ice.
The DYNAVISION, which is a visual reaction, computerized training system, works by combining your field of vision, reaction time, body movement and cognitive decision-making tasks all at the same time. These tools help improve results while helping the player put themselves in a better position to stay out of harm’s way.
Here’s What Division 1 Hockey Player Mike Santaguida Says About Brain Training:
“Hi Anne:
Everything is going great!
Totally noticing a difference on the ice it’s truly incredible. Able to track the puck tight around my body wayyy better, and that delay that the woman mentioned in the evaluation is totally going away as well.
Hesitating less, much more fluid and reactive on shots. Everything just feels much more natural now. I’m not thinking as much about save selection, rather just reacting, and I’m meeting pucks perfectly with all my limbs and stick. Hand eye coordination has gone up a ton. Depth perception is getting much better, still not great though so going to continue to work at that with the online sessions.
My peripheral vision and awareness is also much better. I’m able to track guys in my peripherals while focusing on the puck. I also noticed that on in tight pass plays around the crease I’m able to pick up the shooter receiving the pass much sooner as I follow the puck over to the guy being passed to. It’s allowed me to make great reactive saves in tight, and also drive my hands much sooner to where the shooters blade is positioned at.
Often times before I wouldn’t be able to pickup the secondary shooter quick enough on pass acrosses. I couldn’t pick them up quick enough in my peripherals as I opened up my head following the puck and pass which led to poor positioning and most of the time would end up scrambling after the first save.
As for the online sessions, I’m going to continue doing them over the next few weeks, and I’ve also got my goalie coach heavily involved with this stuff as well. He’s super into all the eye tracking stuff, and actually had an opportunity to meet with the people who created the envision stuff from Michigan. So he’s totally on board. I’m yet to show him the online sessions, so I’ll be doing that soon. Hopefully my team can buy me sessions going forward.”
Performance Improvements Specific To Hockey Are:
- Depth Perception
- Eye-hand coordination
- Concentration and Stress Management
- Anticipation Timing
- Focusing and Tracking
- Peripheral Vision Awareness
- Speed and Span of Recognition
- Visual Reaction Time
The computer tracks you progress and your score reflects your reaction time, accuracy, number of lights missed or hit and compares your score to other users making it a fun competitive training activity.
Our Brain Training Is Used In Both Professional and Amateur Sports
Dynavision is used extensively in training facilities for both professional and amateur sports. In particular, many professional NHL teams use Dynavision in their training routines, specifically the Ottawa Senators. Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, just to name a few
The fact that the Dynavision can be programmed to so many different levels means people of all ages and developmental stages and in every sport can use it. It has had a long history of over 20 years in the rehabilitation, vision training, Traumatic brain injury (TBI), and more recently has been used extensively in concussion base line testing, and return to play programs.
Bio and Neurofeedback has also been successfully used for peak performance applications. Users of neurofeedback utilize the system to gain a mental and physical boost. Their enhanced ability to both relax and focus means that they can “be in the moment” without stressing about what happened in the past, or what could happen in the future. In addition, the release of tension means athletes suffer fewer sore muscles and recover from injuries more quickly.
Stress is the biggest factor in lack of performance in any sport. The ability to remain calm, think clearly and make good decisions under stress will make the difference in obtaining great results.
Optimum Edge offers biofeedback and Neurofeedback training to ensure athletes can achieve their focus and mental composure. Numerous professional athletes use these techniques to achieve peak performance, including our own Canadian Olympic team.
We Can Help You Perform Better
We Can Help You Perform Better- Accuracy in shooting
- Difficulty in judging distances
- Inconsistent performance
- Problems staying focused under pressure
- Anticipation of the position of the puck in relation to other players on the ice
- Precision passing
- Tracking over longer distances
- Making good decisions
- Good stamina and keeping up with the play
- Multi-tasking
- Better reaction times
- Better decisions under pressure
These training sessions take little time or effort on behalf of the users and become a great opportunity to relax and enjoy a very pleasurable calming experience, reducing tension, increase awareness and maintain focus.
Want A Free Consultation?
We have programs to suit everyone. Our initial free consultation will be to discuss and evaluate your goals and recommend a training program to meet your needs. We have programs for one-on-one training, or we can provide a team approach. Whatever works, you will have a customized program to fit your needs and aspirations.