Now you are at the end of another hockey season (Southern Hemisphere) or you are at the beginning of a new season (Northern Hemisphere) and if it is your goal to improve your hockey game and enjoy it as a consequence then the notion of just turning up and playing without clearly defined playing goals can often lead to frustration and disappointment. Like your working career or education optimal hockey performance stems from optimal preparation. This Players Tips article looks at the implementation of self-evaluation of your hockey performance.
Self-evaluation process
Don’t rely solely on memory to evaluate your performance from a past hockey season. Using a self-evaluation tool measures your performance strengths, identifies your weaknesses and provides insight into your opportunities for improvement, whether it’s technical, tactical, physical or psychological. Then seek out the right plan or resource to coach you or for you to self-employ to improve.
Below is an adapted self-evaluation tool for you to utilise.
MY SELF- EVALUATION
:
Use the following graded system to evaluate your hockey performance
5 – Excellent 4 – Very Good 3 – Satisfactory 2- Fairly Poor 1 – Very Poor
Qualities:
- _______Visual Awareness – notice environmental information, pick up on cues, placement of team members and opponents when competing
- _______Confidence – trust in yourself and your skills
- _______Drive – motivated to consistently do your best
- _______Execution – follow through to completion
- _______Focus – Ability to maintain presence on the task at hand
- _______Position – knowledge about your role and responsibilities
- _______Team player – Putting the team first
- _______Commitment – readiness to do whatever’s necessary to excel
- _______Resilience – accept defeats constructive criticism
- _______Initiative. Self-starter. Do things before others.
- _______Coach-able –. Receptive to feedback.
- _______ Training – Train well with purpose
Improvement questions: use these to set goals for next season
- What’s your reason for playing in your sport? What do I value?
- Name 3 areas for physical fitness improvement to work on.
- Name key hockey skills that need to be improved
- Identify 3 areas of your mental game that you’d like to improve, e.g., self-confidence, game preparation.
- What was your biggest accomplishment last season?
- Do I balance my hockey time with other areas of my life?
- Do I give back to the game of hockey, e.g., coaching, administration, volunteering, participating in team/club functions?
Goals:
- What are your short/ long term goals for the new season?
- What do you need to do to implement the goals?
- What events do you plan to compete in next season?
Develop a baseline at the beginning of the season and then use the self-evaluation at the end of the season to see where you’ve made gains.
Source: various
