TASK Sketch Design

08/05/2026

Inside the Constraint: Developing Coaches 4:8 is now live on The Coaches Site.

A huge thank you to The Coaches Site for continuing to give coaches a platform to challenge ideas, share experiences, and push the game forward.

This article explores a simple question:

What if coaches don’t develop through information… but through the environments they learn in?

Too often coach development becomes drill replication and system copying. But the game is unpredictable, dynamic, and constantly changing.

We don’t build adaptive coaches by giving them more answers.

We build them by designing environments that force exploration, reflection, and problem-solving.

Inside this article:• Why traditional coach education struggles to create adaptable coaches• The shift from instruction to exploration• Mentorship through guided attention instead of control• Why experimentation matters in coach learning• How Task Sketch was built to support ecological coach development

The goal isn’t better drills.

It’s better thinkers.

Because better coaches create better environments, and better environments create better players.

By Barry Jones

Inside the Constraint: Developing Coaches 4:8 By Coach Barry Jones - IIHF Level 3 High Performance - USA Hockey Level 3 Performance We Don’t Develop Coaches by Telling Them What to Do Coach development has traditionally followed a simple mo...

18/04/2026

Welcome to Task Sketch V9, the next evolution in designing ecological games for modern coaches. Built to create smarter, faster, and more representative training environments, V9 helps you turn ideas into action in seconds. Design chaos, shape decision-making, and bring your coaching board to life.

15/04/2026

🚨 Task Sketch v9 Has Dropped 🚨

This isn’t just an update… it’s a shift in how we design the game.

Introducing Task Sketch v9
Built for coaches who want more than drills, this is about designing environments that actually teach the game.

🔹 NEW: Cross-Ice Game Design for Every Zone
Create representative, game-like scenarios across the full sheet, not just isolated spaces.

🔹 Oversized Goaltending Net
Designed for attention + intention tasks
Guide perception, shape decisions, and influence outcomes.

🔹 5 New Small Area Games
More variability, more chaos, more learning.

🔹 New Toolbox Layout
Faster workflow, cleaner design, better ex*****on.

⸻

This is about moving from drawing drills → designing behavior.

If you’re serious about developing hockey IQ, decision-making, and real transfer to games…
Task Sketch v9 is your tool.

18/02/2026

https://youtu.be/0mSaWa9mKd0?si=Cp1XX9LA9Of0Uwqb

Neutral Zone Circle Game | D-to-D Connection and Cross Ice ActivationThis neutral zone game uses the center circle as the defending zone to develop puck move...

18/02/2026

For years, we’ve talked about “repetition without repetition.”

It’s become a catchphrase in modern coaching, especially within an ecological approach. But the truth is this, repetition without repetition only exists if the coach is actively designing environments that create it.

If the coach is not spending time problem solving the game through task design, they are not developing their craft.

Small area games are the most powerful tool we have to shape perception, decision making, and adaptability in today’s hockey ecosystem. Yet until now, there hasn’t been a tool built specifically for designing them.

That’s why I created Task Sketch.

Task Sketch is the first sketch tool built specifically for small area game design, connected to a digital ecosystem that allows coaches to learn, design, share, and evolve.

The physical stencil allows you to rapidly sketch and problem solve on paper. Embedded NFC technology connects directly to the digital platform, where coaches can:

• Learn how to design effective small area games
• Access a growing library of games with video walkthroughs
• Upload and organize their own designs
• Share with other coaches
• Build a personal coaching arsenal

You can build an entire practice in minutes. Identify the problem you’re trying to solve, select three or four games aligned to that problem, and your session is ready.

Task Sketch exists to support the coach as a designer.

Because coaching is not about running drills. It’s about shaping environments where players learn to solve the game.

This is just the beginning.

18/02/2026

Coach Barry working on some new tasks down at the rink using the Task Sketch.

26/01/2026

Welcome to TASK Sketch — a design tool built for coaches who want to create smarter, more effective training environments. TASK Sketch offers a simple, hands-on way to practise game design using ecological dynamics principles, supporting learning through the interaction of task, environment and athlete.

Connect to the TASK Sketch digital ecosystem to design, learn and share with the wider coaching community, bringing game-based learning to life across all levels of sport.

Available Packs:
• Single Pack – includes 1 TASK Sketch design tool, ideal for individual coaches.
• Club Pack – includes 10 TASK Sketch design tools, perfect for clubs, academies and coaching teams.
• Association Pack – includes 30 TASK Sketch design tools plus an interactive training webinar, designed to support coach education, alignment and large-scale implementation.

Link in bio

22/01/2026

Why I Built TASK Sketch 🧠🏒

Great Small Area Games don’t happen by accident.

Most coaches know what they want to train, but struggle with how to design environments that actually teach the game. That gap between idea and ex*****on is where learning is often lost.

TASK Sketch was built to solve that problem.

It’s a simple design tool that helps coaches practice building game-like environments, test constraints, and sketch ideas anywhere, rink-side, bench-side, or between sessions.

Because better environments create better decisions.
Better decisions create better players.

This isn’t about drawing drills.
It’s about designing learning.

https://www.thetwigshop.com.au/task-sketch-design



https://youtu.be/Whg9vsjTifg?si=WOWhmwlLYwJhiQb9

Designing effective Small Area Games isn’t easy. Great games don’t happen by accident, they’re built through intentional environment design, problem-solving,...