The Ride to The Rink: Pro-Level Thinking for Youth Players: Satoshi Takano’s Simple Hacks to See the Game Better

Hello hockey skaters and goalies around the world. Welcome back to another edition of

the ride to the rink. We have a fantastic guest here with us today.

Satoshi Takano, and he, like kids, listen, he's worked with pros. He has been

working with a lot of players at every age group on their cognitive development. He

is well known in hockey is someone who can help you become a better hockey player.

Now, I wish I could come here today and say we've got one topic like we normally

do, but me, Christie, and Mike have so many questions. I'm just going to go around

the horn here. Each one of us has time to ask one question of Satoshi. And kids,

really listen up. This is information that can really help you. We always talk about

those of you that listen to this show really, really care. We believe that. So this

one really is for you. But, Christie, take it away because I know we've got a few

questions in a few minutes. Satoshi, thank you for joining us on this episode of

Brides of the Rink. You know, our kids listening, of course, they all want to get

better at the game. Chase the puck and score, defend the net.

But there's another piece of the puzzle becoming a good hockey player.

And that's becoming a better thinker. Explain that to the kids. What does that mean?

Yeah, so its ability to really gather information, first of all, right? And then

process that information and then ultimately make a decision. So we call it SPDM, C

process, decide, and move.

And the, you know, I like the fact that this is it was the road to the rink

right to the ring yeah right to the ring right so if you uh as parents we all

kind of remember when we're going to a rink or a sporting event we were in the

car and and we didn't have a phone right so what did we do to kill time right we

looked at cars passing by we looked at the signs of those you know the stops or

um the license plates right um so sometimes just putting your phone down and letting

the kids go okay let's count how many red cars we pass by right how many uh you

know Ontario plates do you see uh what did that what did that Ontario plate say

whatever right so something that allows them to watch and I remember doing that all

the way you know to from Toronto to Windsor for four hours and uh and just you

know looking at how many Ferraris can we see. Those types of small games, like they

actually help with the activation of your brain to recognize patterns.

And when you're on the highway, they're going so fast. And so that's just a quick

example of ways that kids can improve their ability to think. That's great.

Yeah, I mean, I think in that same idea, Satoshi, you come home from school and

I'm a player and I'm talking to one of my athletes and I think one of the things

you talked about about a lot of the athletes that you see that go on to have

success, have this like burning desire and passion to get better, whether somebody's

telling them they'll get better or they just find, they want to find a way. So I

want to find a way if I'm an athlete, right? What can I do that's simple, that's

easy, that's effective that I can find, you know, right in my driveway right in my

backyard right in the garage yeah so um the one thing that i i always promote to

people is the switched on app so uh switched on is an app that uh that we also

own as well um it really emphasizes the ability to to create those stimulus that

you would need um so for example like in the space that we're in right now we

would put to put it in the far back corner and if they see something you you

know, blink red or green or yellow or have numbers or whatever, then you've got to

do something here on this side of the room. So you could do that in your garage.

You could do that in your basement. You can synchronize it with multiple devices as

well. So you're forced to look in different directions. So that's something that you

could do with your tablet, with your phone. It's compatible for Apple and Android as

well. So I would certainly start with that. And then incorporate some of the drills

that you would have been doing without it. And so whether it be stick handling and

you're just kind of scanning around and then you kind of shift and then you shoot,

those are simple, simple things that you could do and any team could do it as a

pregame warm up as well. Yeah, awesome. Satoshi, my question for you for the kids

is we talk all the time about the importance of what you do without the puck. And

you said in our big episode this week that 95 to 98 % of the game, you don't have

the puck on your stick. So that's a pretty broad spectrum of understanding.

For the kid listening, it goes, okay, coach, I hear you. I got to figure out what

to do without the puck. what is a first step, what is a first action they can

take independently to start working on that side of the game? Because it is as

important as you said. Yeah, I think the first step is to understand if that's even

true, right? Because a lot of players don't believe that. They believe that they

have the stick on, sorry, the puck on their stick for five minutes a game. Right.

Right. And that is not true at all. If you, if you had the puck on you're like

that long you would you would be in the NHL for sure um so that's the first step

is awareness that that the 95 to 98 % of the time you don't have it is true um

second thing once you kind of pass that gate is to then go okay um what are the

NHL players doing when they don't have it um so whether it be in the and I would

also always start in the defensive zone first right um to see what the wingers are

doing, what the other weak side D is doing, besides just covering the zone,

right? Where in the zone are they covering so that they could get themselves into

the right situation when the puck is coming to them? I would say in addition to

that, the ability to pre -scan before even touch the puck is critical. There's not

enough kids that do that today, And that can be a huge factor as to your success

or potentially even getting injured because you didn't pre -scan to see where,

you know, the defenseman is that might be pinching in, especially if you're a

winger. So the ability to kind of just build those habits is is very,

very key. You know, we don't cross the, we don't cross the road without looking

both sides, right? Like, I mean, even in life. So why in hockey don't they do

that? Right? So I love it. That's something that's important. Well, Satoshi, I think

that's a great building block for the kids. And kids, like, I'll say this to you

too, that, you know, I know not every coach that you have in youth hockey may see

that. I know not every parent may see that. But I promise you that if you work on

that side of the game, it will become obviously obvious to everybody,

right? And you look, like, I know what it's like when you're young and maybe you

create a great play and everybody focuses on the goal scorer or the big save,

whatever it is. I promise you, kids, that if you build this side of your game, it

will pay off and it will become undeniably noticeable, all right? And if you like

this quick conversation, kids, I would tell you, maybe listen to the long episode

this week. Satoshi just brought cold across the entire episode. But that's going to

do it for this edition of The Ride to the Rink. Satoshi, thank you so much for

joining us. Any parting words for the kids? No, just keep working hard for sure.

I mean, and I would say, you know, get obsessed with the game. The NHL is all

about a league of obsessions or obsessed people. So, You know, really pay attention

to where you're spending a lot of your time, being obsessed about something, and

double down on it. And whether that be hockey or something else, whatever the case

may be. But, you know, we'd love to see the hockey side more. And it's okay to

make mistakes. And so make as many as you can and pick yourself up and go, okay,

how do I fix this? Who can help you fix some of these problems? So It's just that

awareness and education. I think that's very, very important. You heard it from one

of the best kids. For Satoshi Takano, from Mike Benelli, for Krista -Berns. I'm Lee

Elias. Kids, remember, wherever you're at on your hockey journey, we believe in you.

You should, too. We'll see you on the next ride to the rank. Take care, everybody.