I still remember that many years ago, my friend and I ran out of gasoline. Fortunately, there was a gas station not far from us. Although we all saw that it was only about two kilometers away, we decided to push the car to the gas station to refuel. What impressed me deeply was that it was a hot and humid summer night, when it was just the two of us. At first, we tried to push the car up. Once the car gains power, it seems to be less laborious. Until we met a hillside halfway, we tried our best to climb the hillside as soon as possible, but in the end we failed. The car slowed down and finally began to skid. I still remember that it was a depressing and smelly night. I share the above story with you, because I think this metaphor is very similar to us urging our children to play ice hockey. It will have a good effect at first, so parents will continue to urge their children to train better and hope that their children will make greater progress. But when children encounter bottlenecks, parents will feel that the previous methods are not working. However, because they can't find a reason for their children to stop, they often urge them to train harder, and the result is often counterproductive.

Children will not make progress, they may not want to go to the skating rink, and they will not make progress. It's like pushing a flat car up a hill. Parents will feel thankless, and the reality will make the little hockey players and parents feel depressed. Children will continue to disappoint their parents in the face of pressure, frustration and stagnation, but if parents do not take appropriate changes at this time, it is easy to worsen your relationship. When it comes to sports, we subconsciously think that technology is the most important. In fact, sports skills are only one of the important indicators to determine the level of athletes. You know, even if an athlete has strong athletic ability, it is inevitable that he will make mistakes or encounter adversity. Therefore, it is very important for athletes to maintain self-confidence in difficult situations. This is especially true for young ice hockey players. Whether their team is among the best in the league or not, self-confidence should be an important feature they must have.

Even for a determined player whose sports skills have not reached the top level, when he stands confidently on the court, he is one step closer to winning. In my opinion, all players should be full of energy, high morale and ready to go all out in every game. Without confidence, players are more likely to give up or lose their attention in the game. Therefore, it is very important for young ice hockey coaches and parents to provide athletes with an atmosphere conducive to enhancing their self-confidence. (The writer of this article is Tim Turk, who has more than 20 years of NHL coaching experience. He has been the shooting coach of many NHL teams, such as Montreal Canadians, Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes and Arizona Coyotes.

Zhao: Here are some ways to help young ice hockey players improve their self-confidence: (1) Let the players keep a positive attitude no matter what. There is no doubt that being positive can make people confident, but many coaches and parents often forget this. When an athlete makes mistakes, don't criticize him/her blindly-see their good performance and give suggestions according to their own mistakes to help them improve and improve. If you insist on criticizing him, please make sure it is constructive criticism, and don't hurt him mentally because of your criticism.