I was whipping up a report for school on the human psychology, when it got me thinking about sports psychology. A lot of hockey players say its all upstairs, and that its essential to get focused before a game and be mentally prepared. Others have no problem going to a b-rods house for a little pregame action, then laughing about it through the pre-game warm up, and then score three goals.

But the fact of the matter is this is just one example of the mental aspects of our day to day hockey lives. I’ll never forget a goalie that was on my team in peewee, who insisted on eating an orange then rubbing the peel all over his face prior to a game… couldn’t play with out doing it. Another friend of mine, has a pre-game shit every game. For others it’s a pre-game chew, or a certain meal. Then there are the things we do on the ice, whether it’s a tap of our shin-pads or the order we stretch in, we are all different, but we all do something. We are all different, and that’s what leads to our reaction to different situations. Some people crumble under pressure, for others its those conditions in which they strive. For me a coach once told me “pressure turns coal to diamond” and I’ve always played in the big game with this in mind.

While doing the research for the paper I spoke of earlier, I came also came across some research that shocked me… Have you ever been on a roll? Felt like you were on a hot streak? Well Dr. Amos Tversky concluded after one year experiment, with the a professional sports team from 3 different sports -hockey, baseball, and basketball- that no such “groove” ever existed. That it was merely luck. So that 5 game scoring streak you were on, was just a coincidence. They say that a player almost never exceeds what is most probable. With that said, many people still dispute Mr. Tversky’s results… I think that it is extremely possible for a player to go on a streak.

Another thing that intrigued me, was a study Norman Triplett did on, why a cyclist races faster when near a competitor or in front of a crowd. I put this into the world of hockey and it all makes sense, do you find you skate faster when racing for a puck with a player from the other team, or when you’re by yourself? Do you play better in front of the big crowd? Well the reason is all scientific, its referred to as “social facilitation”. It’s a theory that states that when in the presence of a competitor, or in front of a big crowd, it motivates you or inspires you to dig deeper and work harder.

Another thing that caught my attention was the issue of “visualization”. In other words picturing what you want to do in advance, and finding it easier to accomplish. Some athletes swear that if they picture the big hit, or making the big deke that they do it. Although I’m the complete opposite, I can’t count the number of times I see a pass coming towards me, and I’m already picturing myself blasting it in the net, the next thing I know I’m fanning on it. So its hard to say whether it really works. Sure you hear stories of great players saying they always were thinking one step ahead…but I don’t think we get to hear the stories of the plugs who were doing the same.

One thing is for sure though, despite all the research I did, I still don’t know whether sports psychology is for real or not. However, even if it does work its certainly not more important than you’re physical game. So I’ll pass up a mediation session to hit the heavy bag any day of the week.

Kyle Park