COMPLEXITY, CHAOS, AND IPADS
Hockey is beautiful game of speed, timing, efficiency, and skill played in an environment of organized chaos. Like every team sport, there are patterns that emerge from competitive play. Tactical packages and player responsibilities are part and parcel of playing and executing at high levels. The age-old argument still persists today: can one teach hockey sense? It’s a difficult question to answer. Chicken before egg, or egg before chicken? Certainly, tools such as video pose as powerful teachers in assessing and reviewing game trends in real time (ad hoc), and after the fact (post hoc). As a result, it is the hope that players improve their mental efficiency on the ice thus improving game time decision making skills.
For the younger demographic, heuristics also play a role. Veteran coach Dave King has stated that there are 4 “playing roles” in the game of hockey. The hope is that these roles engage young players to play with, and without the puck.
The 4 Playing Roles of Hockey
Offensive side of the puck:
You have the puck (puck possession)
You don’t have the puck --- you work to get open
Defensive side of the puck:
You’re the closest to the puck carrier
You’re not the closest to the puck carrier --- defending away from the puck
The Game
Hockey is a game that lives on the verge of complex and chaotic. It’s not a game like chess or baseball where there are fixed constraints, or boundaries imposed upon players. A hitter getting up to the batter’s box, has fixed constraints imposed upon him/herself. What’s the pitch count? What kind of pitch will be thrown next? Who’s the pitcher? What is he known for throwing? Swing, or pass? In addition, the game is not as fluid and there are many more stoppages during game play. Hockey, on the other hand, is much more fluid in nature with uninterrupted series of plays in which much fewer constraints are imposed. The Cynefin model beautifully displays these “worlds”. Hockey lives between the liminal space of complex and chaotic.
iPads
So…. what’s the big deal with iPads on the bench? Truth be told, I think they’re fine either way, but I can understand both points of view regarding using, or not using them. iPads enable players and coaches to watch what happened looking back at potential breakdowns, poor/good decisions, and game tendencies. They provide a narrative of past events (post hoc).
Start watching at the 7:00 mark
On the other hand, what happened is hindsight, and may not be relevant to what is going to happen in the proceeding shift. As Phillip Tetlock states “We have an uncontrollable need to believe in a controllable world.” Every shift in the game of hockey is an independent event with very few constraints. Failure to realize this is called the Gambler’s fallacy.
“The Gambler's Fallacy is a mistaken belief about sequences of random events. Observing, for example, a long run of “black” on the roulette wheel leads to an expectation that “red” is now more likely to occur on the next trial.”
Video explains what happened in the past, it doesn’t predict what will happen. Each shift is an independent roll of the roulette wheel. There are no “runs’ of black, red or green. iPads can be used as teaching tools in real time, but one needs to weigh the unintended consequences of using them. Here are a few:
Confidence
Thinking fast vs slow (Reflexive vs Deliberate)
Over analysis
Emotion
Each team, each coach and each player is different. At the end of the day, the choice to use this technology is theirs.
“History is not what happened, but what survives the shipwrecks of judgment and chance.” -Maria Popova
