Last month, a Minnesota Hockey coach attended a speech given by USA Hockey Associate Coach in Chief Terry Evavold. That coach had a revelation about yelling that day—a revelation that might help other coaches from the old school:

“Terry, you really did a great job today and pointed out some painful things to me. When I got home I apologized to my son for being such a jerk about hockey. It was good to be reminded that it was his game not mine. He said, ‘That’s OK dad, I just wish you wouldn’t get so mad about how I play. You can tell me stuff, but don’t get so mad.’ That cut to the bone, I am now going to read all the USA Hockey materials available to enhance his positive experience and I will not interfere with his enjoyment of the game.”

“I came from yellers and jerk coaches, so I thought that’s how you do it. Before the season started, the head coach I am working with said, ‘We don’t yell.’ This was a new concept for me—so I adapted the positive model for everyone but my kid! Thanks for the story about your wife videotaping. This helped me reflect on my conduct with my son on the bench and in the miserable car ride home. I enjoyed every segment today and thought you and the other speakers did an outstanding job. I am sincere when I say starting today, I will do everything in my power so my son can now begin to have a great time in hockey.”

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Keith for sharing his experiences with us.

Q:

A: A coach will almost always have to deal with a player or two who will not move the puck. When dealing with younger players (U8 and U10), try the following:

• Use the teaching terms “puck movement” and “head man the puck.” These terms are imperative.
• Demonstrate and emphasize to all players that nobody can outskate a pass. The other team, however, sure has the possibility of catching a player who does not pass.
• Stress that holding the puck too long makes it easy on the defender.

• Sit with the player at the rink and watch a game together. Point out examples of good puck movement and poor puck movement.
• Review video with the team and show players the different results when passing and not passing the puck.

As you get to the U12, U14, U16 and U18 levels, be stern while continuing to stress the importance of teamwork and moving the puck. Try the following, in order:

• If a player at this age does not pass, the greatest card a coach holds is playing time.
• If it reaches a point where the player just will not listen, the coach must take away ice time.
• If that does not eventually work, have that player watch a game from the stands and write a paragraph or two on why it is important to pass the puck.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Angelo Ricci for sharing his 15 years of expertise as a hockey director in this article. Ricci is founder, head instructor and consultant for Ricci Hockey Consulting. With 20+ years experience as a skills and stickhandling coach, he conducts/oversees more than 40 programs year-round that develop over 1,000 players each year.

When it comes to practice outside the rink, there should be a reason behind everything you do. Are you shooting pucks from 20 feet out directly in front of the net to improve your accuracy? Your release quickness? Or are you shooting just to shoot because that’s what Brett Hull did?

A solid approach is to work backwards from a specific area at which you want to excel. For example, in a game situation, there are basically five different ways you can get the puck in the slot for a scoring opportunity. You’ll get more out of practicing these specific moves.

1. A pass from the corner on your strong side.

The ideal way to practice this shot is by taking passes on the ice. One option is a training product such as Tape-2-Tape to simulate catching or one-timing a moving puck. Your aim should be the quickest possible release to catch the goalie while he’s moving. Think about how the goalie plays this corner-to-slot pass. Frequently, the goalie is moving side to side and the five hole is open. Work on quick release and shooting specifically to the five-hole area.

2. A pass from the corner on your weak side.

Again, I am thinking about quick release and, optimally, getting passes from the corner to simulate game opportunities. In this instance, I have to work on my feet and body control to turn and get into a shooting position.

3. Skating across the slot on your forehand.

Here you have to shoot back across your body. The goalie is moving with the puck and the shooter, so the five hole again will be open as is the post he is moving away from. Practice shooting across your body and off the near post.

4. Skating across the slot on your backhand.

In this instance, practice turning and pulling the puck into your body away from the defenseman’s stick while changing the shooting angle on the goalie to shot release (Pavel Datsyuk is a master). Because this is hard to control, I would concentrate on pure shot velocity. You can use a shooting pad and position it diagonally so you have room to pull the puck into your body.

5. Moving north to south into the slot on a rush.

Again, practice changing the angle and imagine shooting through a defenseman’s legs as a screen. Ryan Kesler is the best in the league at this.

Most of your on-ice moves—tight rebounds, breakaways, tip-ins, backhands, passing, stickhandling—can be broken down into smaller pieces and practiced in this way.

• Choose an aspect of the game.
• Decide what type of player you want to be.
• Analyze the types of game situations that player gets into.
• Work backwards from there to develop specific training exercises, and you will get much more out of your practice time.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Brett Henning of Score100Goals.com for this story. Henning is the author of 7 Pre-Game Habits of Pro Hockey Players, and was a member of the Inaugural National Team Development Program and 2000 World Junior Team with USA Hockey. He played Junior Hockey in Canada and at the collegiate level for the University of Notre Dame. He was drafted by the New York Islanders before a back injury ended his on-ice career.

So who should be the captain? We turned to Captain D of CaptainDevelopment.com, a USA Hockey Level 5 coach, for help. His site covers everything from rotating captains to development and duties. Here’s an excerpt from his site:

Selection of Captains

Some coaches choose their team captains. Some have the players vote for captains. With older players it may not matter too much. In most cases (although not always) the results will be the same. Why is this? Coaches will choose players who’ve shown good leadership skills. Players also look up to and choose players who’ve shown these traits.

A successful high school coach had an interesting compromise. When asked at a coaches’ seminar how he chose captains for his teams he replied, “We have the kids vote—then the coaches count the ballots.” (He went on to say that in all the many years he had coached, the coaches never had to throw out the vote of the players. They always chose captains that the coaches would have chosen anyway.)

Location, Location, Location

One indicator of leadership potential is easy to spot. Note where players sit in the locker room.

• The player who sits in the center of the wall across from the door is likely to be a player who is confident, wants attention and is likely to want to be “in charge.” This can be good or bad since some players like this are “bossy” but lack the work ethic and/or respect needed. Keep your eye on these players to see if their confidence and work ethic are both strong.
• At the opposite end of the spectrum are the players who seat themselves in the corner behind the door. Although they may be very skilled players, they aren’t likely to be leaders.

Naturally, seating arrangements should not be used to automatically determine captaincy, but it is an indicator of players’ temperaments.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that choosing the captain is only the first step. Once chosen, coaches must work with team captains to help them develop and use their leadership skills. “However good a leader a captain may be, the key is finding what makes his teammates willing to follow.”

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Captain D for this story.

Coaches can inspire children to:

1. Think
2. Create
3. Experiment
4. Be artistic

Coaches can also demand that their athletes exhibit:

5. Honesty
6. Fair play
7. Courtesy
8. Consideration
9. Sportsmanship
10. Etiquette

These characteristics are all integral to winning. Unfortunately, coaches can also teach athletes to:

1. Fear authority
2. Obey without question
3. Perform mechanically
4. To do whatever it takes to win

I believe it is time to come down hard on negative behavior and poor sportsmanship. Young athletes must be taught that how they play the game counts. Then, regardless of the outcome of the game, they will be true winners.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Laura Stamm of Laura Stamm Power Skating for this story. Kelly Anton, managing editor of the Grow the Game initiative, condensed and edited this story.

The coach as teacher – Every coach is a teacher who provides instruction in sport-specific skills and strategies. The best coaches also teach positive life skills like healthy living, positive character, self direction, teamwork and leadership. Even when coaches are not teaching with words, they are teaching with action. Their athletes watch them closely and learn from what they do.

The coach as leader – Every coach is also a leader, whether they realize it or not. As a leader, it is the coach’s job to provide purpose, direction and motivation to the athletes on the team. Like teaching, some coaches are better leaders than others. The best leaders produce teams that get the most out of their talent and play with a high degree of spirit, honor and trust. Coaches who lack leadership skills usually have teams that under-perform for their talent.

The coach as competitor - The third role of a coach is that of competitor. We don’t talk about this role as much as the roles of teacher and leader, but the coach’s competitive disposition is always a factor. A coach with a controlled and positive competitive disposition can teach their athletes important life lessons about competing with honor. Coaches who lack competitive self-restraint can cause serious problems for athletes under their supervision.

Role Confusion

Most coaches who make serious mistakes are confused about their role priorities. They may have good intentions about teaching and leading for positive youth development, but when they get into competitive situations their own need to win over-rides their commitment to doing what is right for their athletes’ personal development. They make rash decisions aimed at winning in the moment without realizing or caring that they may be damaging the positive development of their own athletes. Their athletes see this for what it is, and revoke their trust in the coach as a teacher and leader. Then the coach wonders why the team plays tight under pressure and why the athletes don’t stay loyal to the program.

Taking Action

The truth is that few coaches are completely immune to the risk of putting their competitive instincts ahead of positive development of their athletes. The driving will to win can get the best of anyone. Positive competition is good, but we do need competitive self-restraint, which is simply the practice of putting the needs of our athletes ahead of our own need to win. We can accomplish this by:

• Reminding ourselves that as adults we are teachers and leaders of young people first and competitors second.
• Committing to make positive youth development our highest mission as a coach.
• Judging ourselves not on our win-loss record, but on the content of our athletes’ competitive character and positive development.

None of this means that winning is unimportant or not worth pursuing.  It simply means we will not compromise the positive development of our athletes for the sake of a scoreboard.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Elevating Athletes for this encouraging article.

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.

The intensity and emotion of a close competition can easily carry over into post-game discussions. It is often difficult for coaches to stop trying to manage the game after it is over. However, post-game conversations are not a part of the game. After all, nothing that is said after a game can affect its outcome. Conversations after a game have much more impact on the next practice or the next game. With that in mind, here are five suggestions for coaches for post-game conversations with players and parents:

1. Be patient - There will be plenty of time to address mistakes. Make a list of mistakes made during the game and then set it aside for review before planning the next practice or game.
2. Be positive - Allow the players to celebrate their good plays so that they continue to build their inner desire to improve.
3. Be communicative - Don’t shy away from players or parents after a loss any more than after a win. Changing parental interactions based on the outcome will leave parents assuming the worst about their child or the team.
4. Be objective – Before looking to player mistakes, first look to see if there were other things that could have been done better in preparation or motivation.
5. Be candid - If you made a mistake during the game, don’t be afraid to admit it. If coaches are honest about their mistakes, players are more likely to be honest about theirs.

Parents and players take their cues from the coach. A compliment helps reassure parents of their child’s potential and keeps them from focusing too much on their own judgments. It can even help shape parental conversations in the car on the way home. Good post-game conversations can do more to bring a team together than any conversation before a game.

Editor’s Note: A special thanks to Sports Esteem for this article.

One of the key factors to keeping kids in youth sports is the element of fun in the activity. In this article, Executive Editor TK Stohlman and Jim Johnson, founder and director of flexxCoach, discuss how important it is for coaches to include fun in their teaching methods.

Stohlman: It is interesting that the pro model is often win at all costs and the youth model is fun and broad based skill development. However, I am wondering if there needs to be an aspect of fun at every level or is it about the money and winning the more advanced you become? Do you think it is important for coaches to talk about fun and try to bring it into every level of play?

Johnson: I believe to do well in a sports you need to create a competitive fun environment at every level you play. My philosophy has always been to start and end every practice with a drill that really engages the players to work on something they like to do. This way they are working on a fundamental skill and start and end the practice with something fun. The point is to make it a learning environment, but make it fun for the player while teaching them to read and react to a situation. There is no question in my mind that at all levels if the manager or the coach does not make it enjoyable to come to practice, it is going to be a stagnant season for that team and player. As a coach, the goal at the end of a practice is that number one, the players have a positive experience and number two, they are excited to come back to the next session or game with the same passion, work ethic, and attitude.

Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Jim Johnson for this valuable advice.

Limited Plan… Limited Gain – The problem with this industry standard as it relates to youth and adolescent sports is it limits the potential gains made by a young athlete. It is not unlike running a business or corporation – when business owners take the time to organize their objectives and action steps for a given month or year, they almost always are successful at implementing the plan. Far too many business owners, trainers and coaches feel as though their actions during a sales drive, training session or practice will lead to positive change, when in fact it is the planning that occurs before these actions that accounts for the true gains

Become and Objective Monster – No one can learn how to create 6 or 12 month plans in a day. It takes time and diligent effort to acquire this skill, but your ability to get better over time will have a direct and positive impact on both your young athletes’ success rate as well as your businesses ability to attract new clients. Set an objective for yourself to create a system or plan that allows you to develop long-term and wide-focused agendas for your young athletes. Take several days or weeks if needed to create a system that is streamlined and easy to implement – although you are looking for a comprehensive system, the more basic you make it, the easier it will be to adhere to.

Action Steps – Start simple by taking a piece of paper to write out where you want your young athletes to be in four weeks. Create headings and then fill in each category. For instance, what skill sets are you working on now? To what degree of competency do you want an athlete or team to be able to demonstrate this skill set in one month’s time?

Create Critical Path – Once you have organized your thoughts regarding where you would like to be in four weeks, you must consider how you are going to get there. On the same or a different piece of paper, write out how many training sessions or practices you have with this athlete or team between now and the target date.  Date each training session or practice on your piece of paper and then use your skills as a trainer or coach, fill in the blanks. Compare where you want to be in four weeks with the number of training sessions or practices you have remaining. In order to accomplish your 4-week goal, what action steps along a critical path must be taken? This is the essence of how to develop a long-term approach to working with young athletes.

The End Result You Need – An amazing thing happens when you create objectives and critical plans. You start seeing results in your athletes and teams beyond what you ever-dreamed possible. Failing to plan is one of the biggest concerns facing this industry. It seems everything is taken on a session-by-session basis with no vision or thought to the long-term. It could be argued that individual trainers and coaches didn’t know how to plan for the future…well, now you do! Practice the skill of objective writing and critical path creation. It will take time to design a system that flows well for you, but it is more than worth it to your young athletes and teams.

Editors Note: Thank you to Brian Grasso of Developing Athletics for this article.