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A POST-SEASON REVIEW IS YOUR NEXT SEASON’S PREVIEW 

By Enio Sacilotto

We are at the end of another hockey season, and you are planning for next season. Moving forward is a good thing, but have you reviewed your last season?

It is every athlete’s goal to be consistently competitive and to improve. Continuously evaluating yourself is a crucial tool for you to sustain your competitiveness.  A  post-season review is your next season’s preview!

Mindful self-evaluation (review) is vital for the following reasons:

  1. Promote your Growth Mindset – finding ways to improve and not stay stagnant.
  2. Self-awareness in all aspects of your sport.  Your game performance, practice, skills, nutrition, mindset, time management, and physical fitness.
  3. Lessons Learned – It is important not to dwell on past failures, but at the same time, all elite athletes fail.  Accept mistakes and determine what you learned from your setbacks?
  4. Get honest feedback from yourself, your coaches, advisors and possibly your parents.
  5. Set your goals for next season and your summer training preparation goals.

Writing things down is essential in the review process. A simple three-step process called K.S.S. is an excellent tool to use to do for your review.  Be honest with yourself and ask the following questions:

  1. KEEP – What did I do well this season that worked for me and I want to keep doing?
  2. STOP – What didn’t work for me.  Is this something I should stop doing?  Why?
  3. START – What should I start doing that will positively affect my performance?

Once your review is complete, you can start working on your preview, based on your review (post-season-evaluation):

  1. Get your pen and paper ready.
  2. Start BIG, work backwards and then work small.
  3. Start with your dreams; who do you want to be? What do you want to have, learn, experience and accomplish?  When you close your eyes and visualize, who do you see? 
  4. Every day ask yourself; What actions that I do today will cause me to reach my dreams?
  5. Where do you want to be next season based on your review and your long-term dreams? What are your goals for next season? These goals are OUTCOME goals and are results-based. For example, to win a championship, scoring 25 goals, having a positive plus-minus stat.
  6. What do you need to achieve over the summer to prepare yourself to reach your goals for next season? These goals are PERFORMANCE goals. Performance goals are where you compete against yourself, setting self-standards that will help you reach your outcome goals.  Examples are; 1) I will gain 5 pounds of muscle over the summer, and 2) I will work on my visualization and mindfulness skills four times a week.
  7. Once you get to this point of the goal-setting process, you need to set daily PROCESS goals.  Process goals are the “small” daily steps that will get you through to achieve your Performance and, ultimately, your Outcome goal.  The focus is on your execution of skills and techniques.  Examples of Process goals are:  1) When I practice my shooting, I will watch my target and rotate my wrists.
  8. KEEP YOUR WORKSHEET VISIBLE, look at it every day and set DAILY process goals.

THE ONE PERCENT CHALLENGE:  Have you ever heard the term “Get better every day”?  Everyone talks about getting better every day, but how do you do it?  

You need to spend 1% of your day planning for success. Do you have 14 minutes and 24 seconds a day to invest in yourself to reach your dream? That’s your challenge!

Download this worksheet to preview next season, set your goals and make your excellence plan!

If you need any help with setting your goals or need any mental coaching, Coach Enio is available for you!