The Top Two Traits of Excellent Coaches
From the dawn of youth sports, there has been debate over the qualifications an individual should have to coach a team. In a perfect world, a coach with intimate knowledge of a sport would be ideal, however, often this is not the case. The following article outlines the two most important traits a person should have when taking on a coaching role.Although a coach can have a tremendous amount of knowledge about his sport, the two most important considerations for a coach are:
- Can he or she teach what they know?
- Can he or she motivate players to do what they teach?
According to the Wikipedia, “a teacher is a person who teaches; a person who guides, instructs, trains or helps another in the process of learning knowledge, understanding, behavior or skills, including thinking skills.”
Although a coach may have tremendous skills from playing sports, their ultimate success will come more from their teaching skills. Coaches who want to be successful must complement their playing skills with the necessary teaching skills. Otherwise, a coach who knows everything about his sport will often find himself losing to coaches who know far less if he cannot teach what he knows.
Editor’s Note: Thank you to Sports Esteem for this article.
How Does Your Player Deal With a Bully Teammate?
Last week we asked you to provide input regarding how your player deals with a bully teammate. The individual who offered the best answer would win $150 worth of NHL BladeTape from www.BladeTape.ca. Congratulations to Kelly for supplying the following winning response:Kelly said: This is my son's 11th year playing hockey. He has been on many different teams with many different players. He always has the same answer to this question - stand up to a bully and show him through your skills, not your mouth or fists, how a real teammate acts and how a skilled athlete works. Do it all with a grin and a laugh. He knows that a bully is just trying to get under your skin or trying to boost his ego in the wrong manner. Either way, don't let the end result be that he got away with it.
This year my son has a teammate that always tries to trip or hit others during practice. In the beginning, since he was new to the team, my son reacted slowly to his advances. He tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, thinking maybe the other boy didn't mean to do it. Once my son realized it was intentional, he smiled, beat him at the face off and left him in a whirlwind of wondering where the puck just went and how he just get scored upon. The bully came back for one more turn thinking that was just a fluke, only to realize the same end result. Skill and a smile speak for themselves, without a lot of dialogue needed. When a bully realizes that he is not being effective at bullying his own teammates because he keeps getting left in the shadows, he either stops trying or the behavior is very evident to the coaches and then it is their call.
A good teammate is one who doesn't give way to a bully, but demonstrates through his actions how to be the best player and teammate.
Editor's Note: Congratulations to Kelly for winning this week's contest. As a thank you for her answer, www.BladeTape.ca is giving Kelly $150 worth of NHL BladeTape. Do you want to win this week's prize? Be sure to click here for the latest Grow the Game contest.
USA Hockey Introduces 2 & 2 Growth Challenge
The idea of growing hockey on the local level can be daunting. Youth association growth by big numbers happens with small steps.The number of children between the ages of 4 to 8 playing hockey has been shrinking. Over the last 10 years, acquisition of new players has dropped from 47,752 to 39,212 in 2008-09. To add to the shrinking numbers, 43.1% stop playing hockey by age 9, showing that retention is as important as recruitment.
The 2 & 2 National Challenge is a call to action for local associations. USA Hockey is asking hockey associations to recruit two more players than last year. For example, if an association brought in 22 new 4 to 8 year olds last year, then next year they should aim for 24 players.
The second half of the challenge is to improve the retention of 4 to 8 year olds by two players. If a club retained 30 players from the previous season, next year they should shoot for having 32 hockey players back on the ice.
For more information on the 2 &2 Challenge program click here (pdf).
Should Parents Help from the Sidelines?
Parents are comfortable giving instructions to their child and this comfort naturally spills over into athletic competitions. However, when it comes to game time instruction, coaches, league staff, officials and sports psychologists all have one word of advice - DON’T!Although it seems like a good idea to yell “pass” or “hustle” from the sidelines, studies show that these instructions cause more distraction than help. These instructions interfere with coach-to-player and player-to-player communications and, more importantly, interfere with children’s ability to learn to think for themselves.
Kids are going to make mistakes while playing sports. But professional athletes do too. Michael Jordan missed three times as many game winning shots as he made and Joe Montana completed only about half of his pass attempts. Kids still learning their sport aren’t going to perform any better and there are many more games ahead in which to improve.
So what can parents do along the sidelines? The answer is cheering and not much else. Parents must let their kids play the game for themselves and develop their own experiences working with peers and coaches. If children make mistakes, learning to deal with those mistakes with their teammates and coaches is just part of the process of growing into a better adult.
Editor’s Note: Thank you to Sports Esteem for this article.
Get On-Ice Feel Off the Ice with FlyPuck
Developing stickhandling skills is paramount to excelling as a hockey player. However, on-ice practice never offers enough time to fully perfect these skills. The FlyPuck from HockeyShot.com is designed to provide on-ice feel off the ice. So does it live up to its claims? Here is our review of the FlyPuck:Overview: The FlyPuck from HockeyShot.com is a training puck that glides easily over concrete, asphalt and cement, enabling players to practice their stickhandling movement off-ice wearing shoes or inline skates.
How it works: The FlyPuck has been designed to offer on-ice feel off the ice. Available in three weights, FlyPuck gives you a smooth stickhandling feel and is designed not to roll over when at full speed.
Video: Here is a video showing the FlyPuck in action.
Price: $10.95 for 4 oz, $11.95 for 6 oz. and $12.95 for 8 oz.
Top Features:
- For off-ice use and training
- Each FlyPuck comes with an instructional DVD
- Puck will build game feel
- Puck slides and does not roll over
- Can be shot against nets
- Great for developing "toe drag" technique and various other deke and puckhandling skills
- Three puck weights - 4oz., 6oz. or 8oz.
Parent and Player Perspective: The FlyPuck is supposed to let you practice stickhandling off-ice on concrete, asphalt and cement. In fact, it works quite nicely in the house on carpet and hardwood floors, too—if you’re allowed to do that. It glides inside and out without tumbling, making it ideal for practicing stickhandling and new moves. Our Mite tester pronounced the 4 oz version “awesome” with the 6 oz version better for Squirt, PeeWee and Bantam players.
Final Period: FlyPucks have the smooth on-ice feel and performance for off-ice stickhandling training. It also comes with a free DVD with drills. For more information on FlyPucks visit HockeyShot.com.
Editor's Note: For a limited-time, when you use the code “teamcares″ at HockeyShot.com, you will receive 10% off any purchase.
Hockey Weekend Across America Presents Try Hockey For Free!
Hockey Weekend Across America has been a big success as a national platform to celebrate the game. In 2010, the event will have a stronger focus on growing the game.USA Hockey is seeking at least 200 rinks offering a free trial of hockey on Saturday, Jan. 30. All hosting rinks are required to hold the free trial at a consistent time of 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. local time. The final goal is to get as many first-time players on the ice and later transition them to each host site’s full-time programs. For more information, please click here (pdf). For more information about Hockey Weekend Across America, please click here.
How Do You Deal With the Pressure to Play Travel Hockey?
Last week we asked you to provide input regarding how you how you deal with the pressure of playing travel hockey. The individual who offered the best answer would win $150 worth of NHL BladeTape from www.BladeTape.ca. Congratulations to Bob Diamond for supplying the following winning response:Bob said: Pressure to play travel hockey is an issue that should really boil down to what your child wants. A parent needs to read the signs indicating that a child wants to play travel hockey. While a child will often need prodding to get ready and go to practice, the child who consistently does not want to go may not be suited for travel hockey.
With that said, sometimes, the kids who complain about doing things outside their comfort zone just need a little push to discover they enjoy whatever it is they are so adamantly opposed to doing. But, after a season of travel hockey, it should be apparent whether or not the child wants to continue with the sport at a higher level. I always make it clear to my son that he can play whatever sport(s) he wants and at whatever level he wants, but that he will participate in some physical activity to balance him as a person.
In his first year of Midget hockey, he decided that he didn't want to continue to play travel hockey despite his obvious skill level and the prodding of several teams trying to convince him that he "needed" to continue or he would fall behind. We laughed about the coaches who had told him this. I questioned, “fall behind in what?” I had never been a parent who thought my son was going to be an NHL player. My goal is to involve him in a sport he enjoys and allow him to grow and experience the life lessons that it can teach. Therefore, the level he reached would be a result of how much work he put into it. At that point he loved hockey, but just didn't want to have it take up so much of his life so he decided to try other sporting activities.
The following year the travel hockey flame was rekindled and he was more enthusiastic than he had ever been about playing. He still loves the game, and despite the fact I really believed he may be able to play at a collegiate level if he really wants to put in the work, he plays for fun and most likely will play for the rest of his life.
The bottom line is, a family should not be pressured into anything, especially when it comes to their children. Ultimately, they should have the biggest say in what they want to be involved in and at what level.
Editor's Note: Congratulations to Bob Diamond for winning this week's contest. As a thank you for his answer, www.BladeTape.ca is giving Bob $150 worth of NHL BladeTape. Want to win this week's prize? Be sure to click here for the latest Grow the Game contest.
Important: USA Hockey Announcement About H1N1 (Swine Flu) Virus
Below is an important announcement from USA Hockey about the H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus. Please read and then pass on to other team parents and volunteers:From USA Hockey: We’ve worked with our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Michael Stuart, to provide you with pertinent regarding the H1N1 virus, including recommendations to reduce the likelihood of spreading the infection. Specifically, USA Hockey recommends:
- Provide individual water bottles for players; do not share water bottles
- Regularly wash hands
- Clean workout gear for each practice/competition
- Keep gloves on during the traditional handshake with opponents
You should be aware that symptoms of the virus include: fever (102 degrees fahrenheit or greater), cough, muscle aches, runny nose, headache or sore threat, with the potential for more serious complications, including pneumonia.
Those affected by the H1N1 virus typically have been children and young adults.
Transmission of the virus may occur from the day before the onset of symptoms and during the five to seven days that the symptoms are present. Infected individuals should stay home until signs and symptoms have resolved, with no fever present for at least 24 hours. The 24-hour no-fever timeline should be achieved naturally, without the aid of fever reducing medications.
Additional information regarding H1N1 is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by visiting www.cdc.gov/H1N1Flu/.
USA Hockey Helps Squirt Players to Learn to Train
Keeping players ages 8 to 12 motivated to train can be a daunting task for even the most motivational parents and coaches. Additionally, the stress of regular training can be very taxing on growing bodies. Because of this, as part of their American Development Model, USA Hockey has created the Learn to Train program for this age group. The program creates guidelines and outlines special considerations to ensure that young players not only have fun while training, but are also doing so in a safe manner.
USA Hockey’s American Development Model has created specific guidelines for player developmental stages. The following article outlines the Learn to Train stage, which focuses on girls ages 8 to 11 and boys 9 to 12.
The objective of the Learn to Train stage is to refine overall sport skills and develop sports specific skills.
General Description of the Learn to Train stage - This is the period of accelerated learning of coordination and fine motor control and is the critical stage for the acquisition of hockey skills. At this stage participants are developmentally ready to acquire the sports skills that are the cornerstones of all athletic development.
In late specialization sports such as ice hockey, early specialization can be detrimental to later stages of skill development and refinement of the fundamental sports skills. Participants should develop a solid base in a variety of sports in each of the physical literacy environments (e.g. swimming, athletics, gymnastics & skiing/ skating). Club to club competitions should be introduced but they should not be the main focus of the program.
USA Hockey’s key focus for this stage:
- Continue to develop physical literacy
- Continue to participate in three complimentary sports
- Participants at this stage should learn solid basic skills in skating and puck control
- There is no need at this stage to specialize at a specific skater position, however goalies may begin to focus on their position
Editor’s Note: For more information on USA Hockey’s Learn to Train Stage, please click here (pdf).
