For the most part it worked, but I didn't have nearly enough preparation done for both my assistant coaches and the players. In spite of going through everything ahead of time and explaining how both the 1+1 and 1v1 worked, when I got on the ice, frankly, the coaches were worse than the players.

I went through the setup and did a demonstration in the dressing room of exactly how big the goal was to be and how the players go through it (the SERVE).

I guess they thought it was straight forward enough when I showed it to them in the dressing room that they didn't really pay attention and as a result, I had coaches setting up goals that were about 8 feet wide (one coach said he thought it should be like a soccer net!) and switching the serving player each time......frankly, it was a bit of a disaster, but I think it could work given the proper preparation.

I'm going to introduce it a bit slower. Next practice, I will set up a series of stations and one of them will be 1+1 segment where I can work with two players at a time until they all understand it....then I'll roll it out to everyone once they all know exactly what to do.

It wasn't a complete disaster. I did have 2 groups (4 players) who were able to do the 1+1 perfectly - both the serve and the mirroring, and that was encouraging. Interestingly, I've always believed that these 4 players were my 4 smartest players even though they're not my best skilled players. Not sure if there is any sort of a hidden message there?

I'll let you know how it goes next week.

And, FUNdamental Reader we will keep you updated on Coach Murray's progress!