Training with Hockey IntelliGym Presented by: Kevin McLaughlin, Senior Director of Hockey Development, USA Hockey Danny Dankner, CEO, Applied Cognitive Engineering (ACE)
Training Hockey Sense
The Big Picture Why Are We Here? Personality Maturity Competitiveness Team Work Hard Working Motivation Recovery from mistakes Physical Traits Speed Agility Power Fitness Athleticism Dietary discipline Fundamentals Skate Pass Shoot Plays Offence / Defense Cognitive Skills Awareness Reading plays Decision making Peripheral Vision Concentration Anticipation
The Need A good player plays where the puck is. A great player plays where the puck is going to be. Wayne Gretzky, Considered as one of the greatest hockey players ever
Why Train Hockey Sense? Better Performance Hockey Action Cycle Quick adjustment when entering a shift Reading the ice Recognize patterns on the ice Anticipation Planning (evaluating a few options) Fast decision making Execution General Skills Gain complete mental image of the ice (grow 'eyes in the back') Team play Adjustment to rapid situation changes Divide attention (e.g. skating while planning ahead) Coping with time constraints Cope with changing number of players Recognize opportunities (e.g. in shorthand/power-play situations) Concentration during a shift and throughout the game (long term attention)
Why Train Hockey Sense? Avoid Injuries Fact 1: Fact 2: Unintentional contacts accounted for 66.0% of overall injuries. Serious injuries (fractures, dislocations, concussions) resulted more often from unintentional collisions. Head impact severity decreases with heightened player anticipation of impending body contact, especially with respect to head impacts of moderate severity. Fact 3: Hockey sense training was found to reduce injuries by 17% and concussions by more than 25%. Sources: Darling et al. Intentional versus unintentional contact as a mechanism of injury in youth ice hockey. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2010 Mihalik et al. "Collision Type and Player Anticipation Affect Head Impact Severity Among Youth Ice Hockey Players." Pediatrics 125, no. 6 (2010); 1394-1401. NTDP Study, impact of hockey-sense training on injury rates
Hockey Sense Filling the Gap Physical Training Training Fundamentals Hockey-Sense Workout (Cognitive Skills)?
Hockey Sense Filling the Gap Physical Training Training Fundamentals Hockey-Sense Workout (Cognitive Skills)
Developing the Hockey IntelliGym T M
The Technology: Origins A DARPA-funded research utilized a cognitive training program for improving real-time decision making of pilots in the cockpit 30% increase in performance compared to the test group* Additional studies by NASA and the US Army Aviation Center substantiate these outstanding results * Gopher, D. (1990). The Skill of Attention Control: Acquisition and Execution of Attention Strategies. Gopher, D., Weil, M., Bareket, T. (1991). The Transfer of Skills from a Computer Game Trainer to Actual Flight. ** Hart S., Battiste, V. (1992). Field Test of Video Game Trainer US Army Aviation Center
Product Development Participants Co Eng Hockey Domain-Experts The Hockey Video-Games Experts
Actual Training Environment
Members Area Player Participation
Members Area Player Performance
IntelliGym Training Regimen @ National Team
Hockey IntelliGym TM Training Outcome
NTDP Case Study: Team Improvement NTDP - U17-2009/2010 season* 80% 70% 60% wins ratio 50% 40% 30% 20% 42% 10% 0% 8% Before the IntelliGym After the IntelliGym** * A total of 44 official games, sep-2009 to feb-2010 ** After completion an average of 10 IntelliGym training sessions per player and ongoing maintenance during the period
NTDP Case Study: Team Improvement NTDP - U18-2009/2010 season* 80% 70% 60% wins ratio 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 29% Before the IntelliGym 70% After the IntelliGym** * A total of 50 official games, sep-2009 to feb-2010 ** After completion an average of 10 IntelliGym training sessions per player and ongoing maintenance during the period
NTDP Case Study: Team Compared to Itself Wins Ratio Change Pre/Post IntelliGym Training Threshold 20% 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 18% 6% 4% 2% 0% 4% U18 2007/08 (NAHL) 7% U18 2008/09 (NAHL) U18 2009/10 (USHL) * Pre/Post Milestone: after completion an average of 15 IntelliGym training sessions per player
Injury Prevention Impact Post-IntelliGym Sample size: 869 reported medical visits
Initial Results in Ice-Hockey Four different IntelliGym-trained National Teams Two first USHL Playoffs A total of 13 gold medals out of 18 international tournaments 4 consecutive IIHF U18 World Championships titles
Under-18 World Championship Record Hockey IntelliGym training adopted by USA U17 and U18 National Teams Source: International Ice Hockey Federation http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/history/all-medallists/u18.html
Recognition The Hockey IntelliGym has been announced as the First Prize Winner at the 2010 Brain Fitness Innovation Awards Judges panel includes: Neurotechnology Program, MIT Stanford University Osher Learning Institute @ Berkeley UC Neuroscience Research Institute Intel s Digital Health Group American Society on Aging Alzheimer s Association International Council on Active Aging Barrow Neurological Institute
Thanks! Q&A Show reel and more info available at: www.thehockeyintelligym.com
Decomposing Hockey-Sense Hockey Action Cycle Quick adjustment when entering a shift Reading the ice Recognize patterns on the ice Anticipation Planning (evaluating a few options) Fast decision making Execution General Skills Gain complete mental image of the ice (grow 'eyes in the back') Team play Adjustment to rapid situation changes Divide attention (e.g. skating while planning ahead) Coping with time constraints Cope with changing number of players Recognize opportunities (e.g. in shorthand/power-play situations) Concentration during a shift and throughout the game (long term attention)
Decomposing Hockey-Sense The cognitive version Spatial Orientation Attention Control Spatial-Time Integration Spatial Anticipation Attention Switching Situational awareness Rapid patterns recognition Peripheral vision Visual Search Strategies Read and React Strategies Selection Anticipation skills Memory structures Data collection Visual search strategies Planning skills Dividing Attention Working Memory Prediction Skills Spatial Orientation Time Prediction Speed Prediction
The Science of Brain Performance Enhancement
Inspiration: Training Fighter Pilots Fighter pilots training concepts breakthrough in teaching instincts
Training Fighter Pilots Off-Air Flight simulator high-fidelity training environment Source: NASA, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA.
Low Fidelity Simulation: The Space Fortress Training skills - low-fidelity training environment Source: DARPA, Learning Strategies Project
The Technology: Origins A DARPA-funded research utilized a cognitive training program for improving real-time decision making of pilots in the cockpit 30% increase in performance compared to the test group* Additional studies by NASA and the US Army Aviation Center substantiate these outstanding results * Gopher, D. (1990). The Skill of Attention Control: Acquisition and Execution of Attention Strategies. Gopher, D., Weil, M., Bareket, T. (1991). The Transfer of Skills from a Computer Game Trainer to Actual Flight. ** Hart S., Battiste, V. (1992). Field Test of Video Game Trainer US Army Aviation Center
Terminology Cognitive Engineering a research field substantiated in the early 1980 s - deals with the study of brain functions and their enhancement for improving human performance in complex environments. Cognitive Engineering explores the way people perceive information, analyze it, make decisions and execute these decisions. The Brain Gym Concept - in many aspects our brain functions like a muscle. Its performance can be dramatically enhanced if properly trained.
Cognitive Simulation Mapping the cognitive skill-set of the specific domain (e.g.: Hand eye coordination, Attention, Decision making, Perception, Spatial orientation) Training the cognitive skill-set via Cognitive Simulation Training the brain s CPU directly!
Performance During a Shift The Challenges
Performance During a Shift The Challenges Main area of potential improvement Getting into shift Fatigue
Head-Mounted Camera Footage Player s first-person view Significance of video footage: Analysis of head movements Analysis of attention allocation Helmet mounted camera substantiate findings.
Hockey to Cognition Analysis
Hockey to Cognition Sample: Reading Plays Skill Hockey Reading plays is commonly perceived as the player s ability to understand and anticipate the following elements: 1. Position player, peers and rivals 2. Speed of other players on the ice 3. Puck location and direction 4. Intentions peers and rivals Cognitive Elements Time perception Spatial perception Movement perception Pattern recognition Working memory
Trainer and Cognition Analysis
Trainer and Cognition Data Acquisition IntelliGym Cognition Turning the ships invisible (with or without audio warning), will train players in recognition of movement patterns and in efficient use of working memory.
Actual Training Environment
Demonstrating Various Training Scenarios Clouds partial hiding Long threat Moving goals Spotlight
Members Area Team Participation
Members Area Player Participation
Members Area Player Performance
Measuring the Program Efficacy Measurement methodologies: ü ü ü ü ü ü Coaches Perspective Pre-post comparison Comparison of improvement rate of same team to previous seasons Comparison of improvement rate to other teams and previous seasons Championships outcome Comparing injury figures
NTDP Case Study: Team Compared to Other Teams Win Ratio Pre/Post IntelliGym Training Threshold NAHL 2008/09 USNTDP -60% -40% -20% 0% 20% 40% 60%
NTDP Case Study: Team Compared to Other Teams Win Ratio Pre/Post IntelliGym Training Threshold NAHL 2007/08 USNTDP -30% -20% -10% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
NTDP Case Study: Team Compared to Other Teams Win Ratio Pre/Post IntelliGym Training Threshold NAHL 2009/10 USNTDP -50% -30% -10% 10% 30% 50%
Best Practices (1/2) Training Regimen Twice a week, 30 minutes each training session Not more than one training session a day Ongoing, long-term training, similar to the weight room Scheduled training Not right before/after mental effort On-Ice Impact The difference on the ice is apparent after 8-10 hours of brain workout Tracking Execution and Progress Both the players and the staff can follow up on the players progress Online reporting system presents both compliance and performance
Best Practices (2/2) Environment Quite environment is better for training The program runs on both PC and Mac Internet connection required Securing Players Buy-In Pre-training info and expectation settings High involvement of top coaching staff Present the correlation between training and on-ice performance Optional: Publish scores on team boards Optional: concentrate on true wannabes and more receptive players Note: some players want to keep their training confidential