Coach Brooks: Development Of The 1980 USA Olympic Team

When Coach Brooks makes the statement “All Star teams fail due to talented individuals playing as individuals”, he suggests the team harness individual talent in a systematic approach so they can grow as a team, instead of individually. In making this statement Coach Brooks recognizes the talent of the team, however hocky is not an individual sport and to win and be successful everyone must work together. Where on player is weak another may be strong, a major component to Coach Brooks coaching mentality was to build team chemistry through resiliency and superior conditioning. He recognized his team was not technically as strong as the Soviet Union and to be able to beat the Soviets it would be a team effort not individual.

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Many major comparisons can be made between Coach Brooks coaching style in the development of the 1980 USA Olympic team and the development of Officer Candidates at OCS. Firstly, in indoctrination week at OCS Alfa Company built resiliency and came together though hardship in a stressful environment. Officer Candidates from all over the country, of all different ages, and all different levels of experience put differences aside and came together in an extremely short time to accomplish many small objectives. While accomplishing small objectives such as forming up on time, getting through the chow line efficiently and wearing the proper uniform are important, it does not take away from the main goal of graduating on May 12th as effective officers ready to serve the

After the 3-3 tie with Sweden months before the start of the Olympics Coach Brooks team was not focused. Team USA still believed that they could solely win on talent alone. Coach Brooks taught the team a lesson by having them stay after the game and skate sprints on the ice. This created an artificial stress by not only checking the team’s commitment but letting them realize that they have a long way to develop as a team to be the Soviet team. Another way the coach created an atmosphere of stress is by attempting to bring on an additional high-quality player onto the team mid-way through training while also trying to lessen the roster to twenty members. In doing this Coach Brooks put pressure on all the original team members, this inspired them work harder and sharpen their skills out of fear of being