Saul Miller

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article posted: 214 days ago I had a call from a reporter at the start of the NHL playoffs enquiring about the value of introducing sport psychology to a team in the playoffs. I explained that sport psychology is generally not something you introduce as people are entering into a very challenging performance situation (anymore than you would introduce physical strength training a few days before the big game). Ideally it's something introduced early in the season and supported with on-going "coaching" throughout the year. This provides the players an understanding of the necessary psychological skills and also gives them time to become comfortable applying them in the more pressure-filled situations. That's exactly what we did with SC Bern of the Swiss A Hockey League this year. Despite finishing at the top of the league, Bern had been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round in each of the two previous seasons. Larry Huras, the newly appointed coach (and someone well-acquainted with sport psychology as a performance resource) brought me in to work with the team. We scheduled a couple of weeks of sport psychology coaching early in the season and then followed up with another two weeks towards the end of the season to prepare the team for the playoffs"¦ and to deal with the climate of angst surrounding the team's recent playoff history. SC Bern swept the first two rounds of the playoffs and won the opening game of the final championship series against Geneva (for an impressive nine straight wins). Geneva won the second game of the finals tying the series at one game apiece. After the loss the coach thought it would be a good idea if I spoke with the team and reviewed with them a few things relating to focus, emotional control, and attitude (specifically, commitment, confidence, mental toughness and identity-"who we are") that we worked on during the season. I was working in southern California at the time so we arranged a videoconference in the dressing room prior to the morning skate before game 3. Because we had worked previously, I was comfortable talking with the team about things already discussed in both individual and team meetings during the season. According to the coach, the players were very positive about the meeting and receiving a "refocusing" message from someone they were familiar with. They went out that evening and dominated game 3, winning by a score of 6-2. SC Bern won game 4, then lost games 5 and 6 (each by a goal), creating a game 7 showdown for the Swiss championship. Again, Coach Huras asked if we could arrange a session with the team the morning before game 7. Again, we used a video conference hook-up and piped the message into the player's dressing room. Again, we discussed, focus, commitment, identity and mental toughness. The players were positive and responsive about the interaction. And again, the on-ice result was very positive. Bern won game 7 by a score of 4-1 to win the Swiss A League championship.

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