Slumpbusting Strategies

[indykrap]

Hey all,

I've seen a lot of threads on here and on reddit about people going through slumps and thought it would be great to hear what everyone does to break a slump. I just got out of a mini one myself, and put a lot of thought into it.

Some of the things that helped me out were:

• Taking a week off
• Getting my skates sharpened
• Focusing on some self-care (foam rolling, good sleep, better eating)
• Re-taping my sticks (feels like a clean slate!) 

In the past I've done things like:

• find an easy, fun skate with friends to remember it's supposed to be a fun activity
• taking a refresher/tuneup with a goalie coach

I did this after a rough stretch and had one of the best games of my life after. What do you all do?

Edited December 5, 2024 by indykrap

[coopaloop1234]

 

Usually don't dwell on it too much or change anything I'm doing. As the years go by I just become less reliant on how my previous game influences my next one. 

In the past, I've always seen an inverse relation between 'trying to reset' and actually resetting. Once it becomes a focus, it ends up working against me and compounding the problem more. 

So a few drinky-poos, some laugh with the guys, and onto the next game. 

 

Though one thing I always avoid is the dreaded pick-up skate. The no defense, ankle bending, nonsensical plays, weak wristed shots, hour and a half of frustration is the absolute worse. 

The only time I play in pick up games is during the summer with a good private group that I play against all winter and even that is just a convoluted way for me to hang my jock strap up in the rafters. 

[indykrap]

Hah, reasonable. I was thinking even more of the lines of "I don't feel like playing" slump rather than "I'm playing badly". Which do tend to go hand in hand.

[coopaloop1234]

13 minutes ago, indykrap said:

Hah, reasonable. I was thinking even more of the lines of "I don't feel like playing" slump rather than "I'm playing badly". Which do tend to go hand in hand.

Ah, gotcha. 

Not something I'm too familiar with, but sometimes when my week only has one game, the break can be welcome. 

Edited December 6, 2024 by coopaloop1234

[Puckstopper]

Busting a slump is easy.  Go ugly, early.

[IpaddyTECH]

9 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Usually don't dwell on it too much or change anything I'm doing. As the years go by I just become less reliant on how my previous game influences my next one. 

In the past, I've always seen an inverse relation between 'trying to reset' and actually resetting. Once it becomes a focus, it ends up working against me and compounding the problem more. 

I really appreciate this perspective. I dabble in sports psychology there's a theory that the idea of slumps or how to get out of them, can actually reinforce them. It's complex but I'll try to not muck it up too bad. First, we have to define slump so let's just say it's "a certain long period of time where your play is unsatisfactory or below your potential". The not wanting to play slump is different as others have mentioned, though probably related. 

Anyway, the theory goes: the more you weigh and value your playing based on long periods of either success or struggle (rather than taking it one game at a time, or even one play at a time) the more sensitive you'll be to your bad games, thus making it harder for you to shake them off and more likely to play poorly. It isn't just watching out for slumps that reinforces them though, even slump busting can contribute. The more you convince yourself that you were indeed in a slump by doing slumpbusting, the more you become dependent on having to do slump-busting techniques to recover. When they work, it creates evidence for your brain to believe, "ah yes, I was in a slump and yes it takes a high level of unorthodox interventions in order to fix that" rather than "one bad game is just one bad game, the next game is a fresh start". Rather than fearing a slump, it's best to trust your training, try to have fun, and don't obsess over bad play (which of course none of us ever do haha, aka easier said than done). 

I can attest to this with a personal example at tournament last spring. It was my first official tourney in a long time after mostly playing pick up and I totally croaked in my first game. We lost 9-2, and I think my GAA was close to %50. Almost every other shot was a goal, it was the 2nd worst game in my entire life (once in middle school I had a 12 goal game, I still shudder). It was a night game and I hardly had any time to think about it before the next game early the following morning. With only a couple mild mental adjustments, I just tried to trust myself again and I ended up recording a shutout with at least 25 shots against and totally restoring faith in me for my teammates, and myself haha. This was such a positive experience for my goaltending because it irrefutably proved to my mind, that one bad game is just that, one bad game. One bad game doesn't have to have any impact on the next game. 

Don't get me wrong, all of the mentioned slump-busting ideas are actually great ideas, but I would consider them just helping training methods, that should be done semi-routinely anyway.

[indykrap]

On 12/7/2024 at 2:17 PM, IpaddyTECH said:

I really appreciate this perspective. I dabble in sports psychology there's a theory that the idea of slumps or how to get out of them, can actually reinforce them. It's complex but I'll try to not muck it up too bad. First, we have to define slump so let's just say it's "a certain long period of time where your play is unsatisfactory or below your potential". The not wanting to play slump is different as others have mentioned, though probably related. 

Anyway, the theory goes: the more you weigh and value your playing based on long periods of either success or struggle (rather than taking it one game at a time, or even one play at a time) the more sensitive you'll be to your bad games, thus making it harder for you to shake them off and more likely to play poorly. It isn't just watching out for slumps that reinforces them though, even slump busting can contribute. The more you convince yourself that you were indeed in a slump by doing slumpbusting, the more you become dependent on having to do slump-busting techniques to recover. When they work, it creates evidence for your brain to believe, "ah yes, I was in a slump and yes it takes a high level of unorthodox interventions in order to fix that" rather than "one bad game is just one bad game, the next game is a fresh start". Rather than fearing a slump, it's best to trust your training, try to have fun, and don't obsess over bad play (which of course none of us ever do haha, aka easier said than done). 

I can attest to this with a personal example at tournament last spring. It was my first official tourney in a long time after mostly playing pick up and I totally croaked in my first game. We lost 9-2, and I think my GAA was close to %50. Almost every other shot was a goal, it was the 2nd worst game in my entire life (once in middle school I had a 12 goal game, I still shudder). It was a night game and I hardly had any time to think about it before the next game early the following morning. With only a couple mild mental adjustments, I just tried to trust myself again and I ended up recording a shutout with at least 25 shots against and totally restoring faith in me for my teammates, and myself haha. This was such a positive experience for my goaltending because it irrefutably proved to my mind, that one bad game is just that, one bad game. One bad game doesn't have to have any impact on the next game. 

Don't get me wrong, all of the mentioned slump-busting ideas are actually great ideas, but I would consider them just helping training methods, that should be done semi-routinely anyway.

Reasonable point all around! 

[coopaloop1234]

On 12/7/2024 at 11:17 AM, IpaddyTECH said:

Anyway, the theory goes: the more you weigh and value your playing based on long periods of either success or struggle (rather than taking it one game at a time, or even one play at a time) the more sensitive you'll be to your bad games, thus making it harder for you to shake them off and more likely to play poorly. It isn't just watching out for slumps that reinforces them though, even slump busting can contribute. The more you convince yourself that you were indeed in a slump by doing slumpbusting, the more you become dependent on having to do slump-busting techniques to recover. When they work, it creates evidence for your brain to believe, "ah yes, I was in a slump and yes it takes a high level of unorthodox interventions in order to fix that" rather than "one bad game is just one bad game, the next game is a fresh start". Rather than fearing a slump, it's best to trust your training, try to have fun, and don't obsess over bad play (which of course none of us ever do haha, aka easier said than done).

Appreciate the more elaborated version of what I was getting at. It all makes sense. 

It's a similar thing as target fixation when driving/biking/skiing/etc. By focusing on the thing we want to avoid, all we do is end up crashing into it.