Growth Word Wall Skate
Mindset
Legend
- player
- coach / parent
- movement path
How it works
Introduce a growth mindset by teaching young players to replace fixed-mindset statements with growth-mindset phrases during a skating warm-up.
What you need
- hockey stick
- ice
Your focus
Mindset is shaped earliest by the language children use to describe challenges. Teaching players to say 'I cannot do this yet' instead of 'I cannot do this' plants the growth mindset seed at the most formative age. Simple language replacement during a physical activity makes the learning feel natural and integrated rather than like a classroom lesson.
Coach skates with players and randomly stops to say a fixed mindset statement: 'I can't do crossovers.'
Players must call out the growth version: 'I can't do crossovers YET!'
Repeat with 4-5 different statements across the warm-up.
At the end, each player completes one lap and says one thing they are working to improve, not something they can't do.
Helpful cues
- Yet is the most powerful word in hockey
- The best players were all beginners, they just didn't stop
- A growth mindset means mistakes are information, not failure
Adjust the challenge
Make it easier
Strip it back
Coach provides both the fixed and growth version, and players simply repeat the growth version.
UpLVL it
Add the next challenge
Players must come up with their own growth-mindset response to each fixed statement without coaching.No account needed
Build a practice plan
Add drills, keep the plan in this browser, then share a link with your staff or parents.This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.
This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.After every practice, UpLVL automatically surfaces the drills each player needs to work on most. See it for yourself.