March 29, 2024

Brain train: Hockey team to use computers for practice

A local women’s hockey club will be testing a video-game-like “brain gym” in the hopes of taking their game to the next level.

Simon Fraser University’s women’s ice hockey club, a grassroots team, only in its second season, that plays in a Senior A league in B.C., will be training with the IntelliGym program this summer to help players improve their hockey sense.

IntelliGym, developed by Israeli firm Applied Cognitive Engineering (ACE), is a six-week cognitive training program where players play game-like situations designed to improve perception and decision-making skills.

“It will really make a difference in making those snap decisions,” said Sarah Luong, the club’s vice president. “I think IntelliGym will help the players with just seeing the whole sheet of ice and the entire play when they’re playing a game.”

Luong said if they see great results, they would integrate the program into their training regimen.

Concordia University’s men’s hockey team will also begin with the program this summer.

Matthew Ross, a spokesperson for ACE, said IntelliGym was originally developed for fighter pilots and has been used by USA Hockey’s national team development program for more than two years.

“We push our body almost as far as where we can go in terms of (physical) training methods for the body, but we haven’t really tapped into how well we can do mentally,” Ross said.

According to USA Hockey’s website, the players on the under-17 and under-18 U.S. national teams who have adopted the Hockey IntelliGym have increased their number of goals and assists by 42 per cent after eight weeks of using the program.

Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver

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