Winter Olympics Part III: Ice Hockey

One of the most popular sports in the winter Olympics is ice hockey.  Until yesterday, it looked like the USA was in great position to win the gold medal.  But, things can change rather quickly in sports, especially when there are elite athletes competing.

In my motor learning class, one of the topics we have discussed recently are motor abilities.  A motor ability is a trait or underlying characteristic that a person possesses that allows them to be successful at a certain skill.  It obviously does not guarantee success, as many talented athletes have not reached their full potential, and many less talented athletes have done very well.  When you look at the sport of ice hockey, there are many underlying abilities that will help an athlete be successful in that sport, so let's discuss some of them.

In order to play ice hockey, a person first has to be able to ice skate.  In order to ice skate, one must have dynamic balance, or the ability to maintain their balance while moving.  This is even more difficult when skating on a thin blade on a sheet of ice.  Dynamic balance is an ability that can be improved some through practice, but some people just have better balance than others.  Another underlying ability necessary for hockey is control precision.  This is the ability to make rapid movement adjustments of control objects, such as a hockey stick, primarily using the large muscle groups.  Another important ability would be rate control, which is the ability to make continuous speed and and direction adjustments when tracking.  Hockey players obviously have to track the puck.  Other important abilities would include multi-limb coordination, reaction time (especially for the goalie), and response orientation.  Response orientation is the ability to quickly select a response from a number of alternatives.  Hockey players must quickly decide what to do with the puck during a game.

There are many other abilities that underlie hockey performance; these are just a few.  As you watch Olympic or professional hockey, you can see that these athletes possess many different motor abilities.