Dan Bylsma’s Newsletter

A Feature of West Michigan Hockey Camp, Inc.

 DAN'S TIP  THIS MONTH'S QUESTION  HOCKEY CAMP  HONOR ROLL  COACH'S TIP  SAYING  DAN in the NHL BOOKS SUBSCRIBE

One of the great things about playing hockey professionally is that every September you get to start a whole new season. The page is clean. Right now I'm tied for the scoring leadership, the Ducks are tied for the league lead, and we're in the same position as everyone else for the Stanley Cup. Optimism is high - right up there with enthusiasm. It's a great time and the season hasn't even started yet.

For all of you it's the same thing. Perhaps you can add new teammates, a new coach, new team or a new league or level of play to the list. But whatever your situation, it's a new page in your life on which you can write a new story. And for the most part, the pen is your hands. That means no one else but you can write your story. And I think the most important ingredient in how your story will be written can be described in one word - attitude. I hope when you read the first paragraph of this section you got a sense of my attitude. I'm positive and upbeat about the new season. This is more than just how I feel; it's an approach to life. I think that attitude has more to do with the results of the season and the success you may enjoy in life than does circumstance. That means you can control how your season goes and determine how your life goes, regardless of your circumstance.

Let me explain. If you read the newspapers (especially the Detroit papers), the NHL might as well not play out the season. Detroit has picked up the Dominator, Robitaille, and Hull (in addition to Yzerman, Fedorov, Shanahan, Chelios, and Osgood and the rest of the Red Wings) and therefore has a lock on the Cup. It's as good as decided. The rest of the teams don't have a chance, right? Why bother? Let me tell you "why bother". There are 82 games in the season and Detroit isn't going to win all 82. As good as the media thinks they are, the Red Wings are going to lose some games. I guarantee it! And I want to be on the ice when they do. And I hope it's in Detroit when it happens. And if I can get everyone on my team to have that same attitude, I believe it will happen.

Having a great attitude can help you have a great season, too. And there's another season that's just starting and having a great attitude can help you there as well. It's the school year. The slate is clean, it's a new year, a new grade, a new teacher, maybe even a new school. Of the hundreds of kids who get my newsletter only 30 made my academic Honor Roll last year - that's not enough of you to fill all the slots that will be available in college hockey in a few years. At the beginning of this season, you all start with a clean page, you're all candidates, and it's up to you what story you will write. I hope you write the best story you can so you can look back on this school year and this hockey season with pride in your accomplishments.

Dan Bylsma

WE NEED SOME ASSISTANCE:  We lost part of our subscription list in a computer crash.  If you know someone who got the Newsletter last season, and isn't getting it this season but would like to... tell them they need to re-subscribe with their first and last name to newsletters@danbylsma.com.  Tell them the price is the same as it was last year.

Dear Dan:  I'm a great practice/shinny player. Nobody finds ways to score like I do.  But when I am in tryouts or a game, a lot is expected of me by my coach and myself as well, and I don't often live up to these expectations.  Because of that I get nervous and down on myself.  Sometimes I feel like the pressure is drowning me. How to you handle the mental part of the game? N.P.

Dear N.P. No less than the great 20th century philosopher Yogi Berra once said that "Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical".  I think Yogi would say the same thing about hockey.  Certainly the game is more than scoring.  Hockey is a game of mistakes and miscues and more often than not, a goal happens because someone made a mistake, not because someone played well. The extent to which you limit your mistakes is the real measure of how good you are and the contribution you are making to the team (at least that's what I try to tell myself).

So set four or five goals for yourself and then after each game try to evaluate how you did in achieving those goals. As a forward these goals may include: finishing every check, getting the puck out of the defensive zone every time it comes around the boards to you, winning every one-on-one battle in the corners, two take-aways, no give-aways, winning 60% of your face-offs, blocking out properly on every face-off, driving to the net, four shots on net, etc.

Then be self-critical about how well you accomplished your goals, not how many points you got. It's possible to have a great game and not score just as it's possible to play very poorly and score two goals. If you haven't scored in three or four games, take satisfaction from playing the game well. Believe me when I tell you that people who know the game take more notice of how you played the game than how many times you scored. As I said before, if you do score a goal, it's most likely because someone on the other team made a mistake. Your effectiveness in not making mistakes is just as important as lighting the lamp.

There is a hint here about why some guys who are tremendous goal scorers in youth hockey and college don't play pro. They may score a lot of goals but they make so many mistakes they effectively disable the rest of the players on their team and or they get to a level of play where their opposition doesn't make mistakes.

       Dan Bylsma

TOP  DAN'S TIP  THIS MONTH'S QUESTION   HONOR ROLL  COACH'S TIP  SAYING  DAN in the NHL BOOKS SUBSCRIBE

I hope you had a good time at camp, but I also hope you won't forget what we tried to teach you.  When you are warming up before practice or a game, remember to do the drills we taught you to accomplish these points.  Long strides to the side, right Daniel?  Keeping your head and chest up, Moose.  Click your heels - Matt , dragging your blades back along the ice - Jeremy. Arm swing forward and back like Ryan.  And remember if you think you're butt is low, Ben, it can go lower! Right?

If you didn't go to my camp and would like a pamphlet on how to do the video analysis we use at camp, it can be ordered on the web site for a $12.50 contribution to my Foundation.  Click here to see a more complete explanation of it.  A lot of kids and parents think it's a very important part of our camp.

Some of your parents have asked for the schedule of aerobic, plyometric and Eric Heiden exercises Mary Beth punished you with.  If you Email my father at jbylsma@jaybylsma.com, he will Email the schedule to you.  If your parents do ask for them and want you to continue with them, I'm sure they'd like to do the drills right along with you, mmmh?  Sure they do (and the sea is boiling hot and pigs have wings)! 

As a reminder for next year, the Day Camp will be held at the Walker Ice and Fitness Center again but the weeks will be July 22-26, 2002.  The Travel Skills Camp will be held at Griff's Ice House again but the week will be July 29-August 2, 2002.  Brochures will be sent out on or about December 17, 2001, and we will begin accepting registrations by mail thereafter and on January 1, 2002, on the web site.  Be on notice that the kids' sessions will fill by the middle of January.  Your parents snooze... you lose. So when you get the brochure... don't dally.

COACH TO COACH from Jay...

I participated in a coaches' conference in South Bend put on by Bil Murray and his super Think Hockey program. One of the featured speakers was an outstanding sports psychologist from New Brunswick - David Scott, Ph.D.. Dr. Scott is one of the most creative presenters Dan and I have heard. Spellbinding, funny, engaging, thought provoking - these are all words that come to mind in describing him and his presentations. I'd like to share some of what he said that I thought was particularly insightful for youth hockey coaches.

He emphasized enhancing your player's self-confidence. He reminded his audience that the power of negative thinking is the power to destroy. So in your pre-game talks and on the bench, avoid talking about what you're not going to do - focus instead on what you're going to do. For example, repeating "don't take any penalties" engenders negative thinking while "Play hard and make your checks cleanly" puts the same message in a positive spin and gives the player a good mental model vs. focusing on what not to do. He gave the example of a baseball coach going to the mound when his pitcher has a 0 - 3 count with the bases loaded. If the coach says, "What ever you do, don't throw a ball in this situation, one more ball will kills us. So don't throw a ball.", all the pitcher will think about is throwing a ball - and inevitably he will do just that. So, the coach shouldn't mention throwing balls, he should talk about throwing strikes so that's what the pitcher will focus on.

He talked about the importance of focusing away from mistakes and errors which may distract you from attending to more relevant clues and images. If your game plan is to start your breakout along the boards and Charlie starts out from in front of his net, has the puck stolen, and the opposition scores - it does little good to chastise Charlie by yelling "...how many times have I told you not to..." Frankly, Charlie's lost count of the number of times, he knows he made a mistake, he actually feels worse about it than you do, and more will be gained by focusing away from the mistake with a reminder that "we're going to try to start that breakout nearer the boards, right Charlie?"

Dr. Scott said that players compete the way they think or feel. So creating positive thoughts and good feelings about the game and about themselves will go a long way toward actualizing your expectations. So messages like "You can do it, you're at your best in this situation", or "you're at your best when the going gets tough" tend to be self-fulfilling.

Developing good habits in practice is important so the player doesn't have to think during the game. The game is for playing, for having fun, for being spontaneous, for doing what comes naturally - not for thinking.

And Dr. Scott left me with this aphorism that I think is worth copying and sticking to your forehead when you coach: "A word of encouragement following a mistake is worth more than a pile of praise after a success". Wise words I think.

                                          Jay M. Bylsma

THIS MONTH'S SAYING TO PUT IN YOUR LOCKER...

If you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.

                                                                                      Henry Ford 

Without a doubt, this was the most physically demanding training camp I've ever attended. Burning legs, hip flexor muscles on fire, and searing lungs were the order of the day, every day. It's a new coach and he wanted to send a message that if you weren't ready to work hard every practice, every game, every shift - you wouldn't be a part of this team. Instead of three hours at the rink - it was six. So as it turned out (as it usually does) being disciplined during the summer and working hard was a key factor in how well you did at camp. All the hard work I did on the Frappier skating treadmill paid off.

Let me tell you about one of the tests we had to go through - the skating testing. Each player had to skate from one goal line to the other and back (that's down and back) 3 times as fast as you could go, stopping at each goal line - that was one rep. Your heartbeat was then checked at the end of the first rep and again in 60 seconds. After a two minute rest, you go down and back 3 more times - and you do that four more times (for total of 15 times down and back - don't try this at home!). Each rep is timed for speed and your heartbeat is taken after each rep. Because you totally spend your energy on the first rep of three times down and back, the last rep is slower - for everyone. But the test was to see how much slower the last rep was than the first - and the smaller the time difference, the better your score. So the test was for speed and for your fitness and endurance as measured by the difference in the times of your first and last reps as well as your heart rates. I didn't have the fastest initial time, but 44 seconds was commendable and the time of my last rep was 49 seconds, a difference of only 5 seconds.  So all the hard work over the summer paid off. I could walk without pain the next day. One guy had to be taken to the hospital his leg cramps were so severe. And I was pleased that my scores were better than most.

Once the exhibition games started, the rigor of the training has tapered down because we had to play a game each day for several days due to the NYC attacks.

I think this will be a very good season to be a Mighty Duck. It appears we've improved in all aspects of the game. Goal tending will be stronger with the addition of Steve Shields who has recovered from his shoulder surgery. Our defense is much improved with the addition of Keith Carney (whose wife just gave birth to triplets - boys) and Jason York. Also several young guys have been impressive in the pre-season games. And of course, the penalty killing is top notch.

If you've read in either of our books about the mental anguish players go through in an NHL training camp, let me remind you it never goes away. You spend your waking hours wondering where you will fit in, what line you will play on, nagging doubts as to whether there be a spot on the roster for you, what does it mean that I'm playing in this game and not that one, with these line mates and not those. All this while there are ten or fifteen guys who are doing everything they can to get your spot. All you can do is reassure yourself that you've prepared the best you can, you've tried the best you can, and that your preparation and efforts will carry the day for you.

And in the middle of camp you witness the horrific sight of the World Trade Center towers imploding and you learn that your friend Ace Bailey was on one of the planes and suddenly, the pain in your legs and your spot on the team, which was the whole focus of your life, seems oh so trivial.  May God grant us His peace. 

Dan Bylsma

 A very special note of thanks to Stephen Jendro.  Stephen is the father of Ian (who attended my hockey camp - coming all the way from Washington State) and is the manager of MICROSOFT'S web pages.  He could see that my hockey skills exceeded my skills with computers, newsletters, and web pages and generously offered to help us create a better newsletter.  It was with his help, patience (like Job's), and perseverance that my father and I have been able to transform the newsletter into this new format.  It's easier to send and it should be easier for you to read and download.  Thanks, Mr. Jendro. Thank you very much.  You get free tickets and locker room passes when you can get to the Pond or when the Ducks play in Washington.

So Your Son Wants to Play In The NHL Published in 1998 by Sleeping Bear Press in the US and McClelland & Stewart in Canada. HC $24.95. The story of Dan’s journey from the ice rink in our back yard to the NHL. “This is the best hockey advice since ‘Don’t rile Gordie Howe’”. "This is more than a hockey book. It's a book about life and how to use simple lessons and values for success. …a refreshing straight-ahead approach that makes you feel that you've learned something." LA Times.  Autographed and personalized copies available at www.DanBylsma.com

So You Want to Play In The NHL Published in November, 2000, by NTC/ Contemporary/McGraw-Hill. Trade paperback—$14.95. Thirty-five questions that aspiring young athletes have and Dan’s and Jay’s alternating answers. Forward by Luc Robitaille. This book won’t help you play the game better, but we think it will help you live the game better. “I am making this book required reading for my team because it confirms everything I have ever said in the locker room and to parents.” Coach John M. You can read a chapter by clicking here.  Autographed and personalized copies available at www.DanBylsma.com.

Pitcher’s Hands is OUT!  Really out! (released) and you can get it at on line on the web site or at Barnes & Noble. Published in February by River Road Publications. HC $15.95. A historical novel about what it was like to be a kid living in the Great Depression. It’s a great baseball tale. “…a wonderful story – rich in historical detail, full of excitement, warmth, and humor – a story that readers of all ages will not want to end.” "These father-son authors... made a literary double play." Grand Rapids Press.  You can read a chapter by clicking here.   You can get autographed and personalized copies at www.DanBylsma.com.

Slam Dunks Are Not Allowed! - another historical novel is coming – this one about basketball and World War II will be released in early 2002. Many of the same characters you will read about in Pitcher Hands is OUT! – Scooter, Woody, Doolie and Dutchie - are now on the High School basketball team and are facing the reality of going off to war, a war that touched every family in America as well as Europe and the Pacific Rim.  You can read part of a chapter from the original manuscript by clicking here.

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AT www.DanBylsma.com

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