The coaching staff led by Norbert Javorčík was supplemented by HDC Slovakia specialists not only in the field of mental preparation Slavomíra Gazdíková SportMInd HDTS but also professor Eugen Laczo as a professional consultant (fitness training, health condition, regeneration and nutrition) or Milan Kabát fitness coach or added Andrej Foltýn as physiotherapist.

Together with the head coach of U18 national team Norbert Javorčík, a plan of work and development of players from the professional hockey point of view was prepared, within the framework of fitness training and mental training of players and the team. Mental preparation was a very important area and coaching staff was given support mainly in the area of setting specific goals for the team and also individually for individual players.

Mental coaching belongs to the field of sport psychology which studies the behavior of athletes and examines what the top athletes do differently from others. As part of mental coaching, the coach also deals with training specific skills and habits that help athletes and teams achieve exceptional and stable results. The cooperation with the U18 Slovak national team was realized on several levels and in various forms. We worked on a strategic level on the preparation of plans and goals, we ensured individual development of coaching staff members and players, for example, we also carried out group development and teambuilding activities.

During the season we used personality testing of SportMind HDTS, thanks to which we introduced individual development and access to athletes and also evaluated their change and personality growth. We created individual areas of mental development that we needed to focus on and train with the team during the season. In group and individual training, we also addressed the following topics: How to set goals correctly and why; How to improve concentration; What to do with stress; How to strengthen self – confidence effectively; The power of effective communication; and other. We also cooperated closely with the coaching staff, where we adapted the approach of individual members, the environment in which we worked and also the individual activities that enabled us to test the trained skills in practice.

Of course, the top of the effort was the U18 World Championship in Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves. Before the championship, we also established cooperation with the Media Committee and prepared media training for players, where they learned how the media work in sports, what to watch out for, how to deal with social networks, or how to communicate effectively with the media.

Our goal was to prepare an athlete who will be able to cope with the pressure of the environment, the difficult situations hockey brings, who will know how to cope effectively with success and failure, will understand what teamwork is and will be able to transform into practical activities. For example, we also focused on real players' purposefulness and building healthy individual and team self-confidence. One of our goals was discipline, so that players understand the importance of disciplined play, but also behavior outside the ice and a professional approach to preparing, nourishing or functioning in their private lives. Our team was the most disciplined team in the World Championship.

During the World Championship we worked intensively to maintain the physical and mental condition of the players and to handle the difficult situations that the World Championship brought. The players performed selflessly and tried to improve constantly.