High Performance: Lessons from a Legend with Dan Pfaff and Fergus Connolly

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• What led Coach Dan Pfaff to become a High Performance Coach.
• Tips from Coach Pfaff's vast experience over multiple sports.
• How to communicate with a large team supporting your athlete(s).
• How Coach Pfaff would approach creating a program for Hockey Players.

Resources + Links:

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Check out Anthony's Books

Physical Preparations for Ice Hockey: Biological Principles and Practical Solutions

The Gain, Go, and Grow Manual: Programming for High Performance Hockey Players

Show Notes:

I have the privilege of taking a peek behind the curtain of how a High Performance Legend was made! In this episode, I'm joined by two friends and mentors, Coach Dan Pfaff and Dr. Fergus Connolly. Head coach at ALTIS, Coach Dan Pfaff has a long list of accolades to go with his experience having tutored 49 Olympians, 9 medalists, 51 World Championship competitors, 5 world record holders, and directed athletes to 57 national records across a multitude of events. Dr. Fergus Connolly is back for another episode with us here at HPH, and is bringing his perspective with decades in High Performance as a Performance Director, Author, Business Owner and consultant. Tune in to hear us dive into all things High Performance, and advice Coach Pfaff has for young coaches entering the industry today!

02:00 Did you always know growing up that you wanted to be a coach?

04:30 Learning to coach through the desire to improve in Baseball as a kid.

07:20 What were the advantages of not having technology at your fingertips as you began as a coach?

10:00 Benefits of perspective when some get stuck in being solely process focused or solely outcome focused.

12:15 Would you be as good of a coach if you were starting as a new coach today?

13:40 How would you filter the noise as a young coach today?

15:00 Lessons learned from coaching in different cultures around the world.

19:15 What are some of the biggest challenges working with medical personnel?

26:00 What are the qualities you look for when hiring Physical Therapists and ATC's?

27:50 Advice for balancing life and coaching.

31:20 Do you think your diversity of experiences in different sports has been a big part of your success?

35:40 When were you first introduced to a High Performance model?

39:50 Where does measuring and monitoring fuse with the art?

47:30 How do you communicate to all the members at (Altis)?

49:40 Reviewing film and miss-communication with a paralympic athlete.

56:15 Mistakes hockey players make with skates, and playing with equipment to affect biomechanics.

01:00:50 How would you make a program for a hockey player?

01:04:00 Where do you see the profession of High Performance going in the future?