Development of psychological character of an ice hockey player : handbook for coaches

Abstract

Ice hockey is one of the fastest sports in the world. It requires a lot from the athlete physically mentally and sport spesifically. Ice hockey coaching has taken more and more holistic approach in players development. Individual development and practice of own strengths and weaknesses is common feature in practising. However, child and youth players don’t always understand the mental prinsiples of practising. This thesis concentrates on development of ice hockey players character. In Finnish ice hockey community the importance of players character has been put on the pedestal. There are lots of physically and sport specifically talented players in Finland but their mental strengths often slow down their entry to elite level. The objectives of this thesis is to create a model how to develop ice hockey players character in different age groups. The aim is to produce instrinsically motivated, autonomus and passionate players. To support the model a handbook for coaches was created. The handbook introduces the characteristics of each age group and methods to handle the players. The handbook is intended to help coaches. It presents developmental phases of players in different age groups, preparedness of ice hockey players mental characteristics and ways to affect them. Lastly it brings out a model to develop players characteristics. The handbook is ment to help coaches that are at the beginning of their coaching career but it also helps to update the knowledge of more experienced coaches.