The Importance of Long Term Planning
The most common problem facing trainers and coaches today regarding developing young athletes over time is the ability to plan long-term. The personal training profession is typically based on a session-to-session consideration – clients pay per session and trainers create training programs one session at a time. The same is true in coaching sports – most coaches script out one practice plan at a time, rather than create a relative flow for an entire month or even season. The following article by Brian Grasso discusses the importance of planning for the long term.
6 Ways Coaches Can Improve Team Performance
Youth coaches sometimes joke that the ideal youth team is a one full of orphans. Though this approach is one solution to problem parents, there are other practical ways for coaches to work with parents.
Work Smarter, Not Harder, on Your Backyard Drills
Wayne Gretzky once said that he spent all day playing on the pond or backyard rink when he was a kid. I read this when I was younger and decided I needed to do the same thing. But when your friends go home and you’re still tooling around only because that’s what Gretzky would do, you’re wasting your time.
10 Values Coaches Can Teach + 4 to Avoid
Coaches are teachers and have a huge responsibility. They can imbue—or not imbue—values that go far beyond sport itself. What are the lessons of sport and life that parents want their young athletes to come away with? Think about the athletes we admire so much—the names Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Michael Jordan, Cammi Granato and Michelle Kwan, come to mind. What distinguishes these great athletes from so many others? Think of it! Throughout good times and bad they have always played their game with class.
How to Handle a Player Who Won’t Pass
Q: I coach a Squirt team and have a player who won’t pass, no matter what. The other parents are getting very frustrated. What is the best way to handle this?
Captain Selection Secrets
For those of you who never played sports, team captain is not just an honorary position for the cutest, most-popular guy or gal on team. (Or for the coach’s son or daughter.) The captain and alternate captains have an actual job, defined by USA Hockey as the players who “shall have the privilege of discussing with the Referee any questions relating to interpretation of rules that may arise during the progress of a game.” (See the complete captain section on page 11 of the 2009-11 Official Rules of Ice Hockey book.)
Coaching Education Program Changes
Dear Minnesota Youth Hockey Coaches:
Communicating Effectively with Athletes
Coaches give a great deal of time and energy to providing a worthwhile life experience for young athletes. To optimize coaching effectiveness, coaches must be aware of the importance of skillful communication in achieving their objectives.
ADM Workshops for Long Term Athletic Development and Red, White and Blue Initiative
During November and early December Minnesota Hockey will conduct 12 American Development Model (ADM) workshops throughout Minnesota. Guy Gosselin, USA Hockey ADM Regional Manger, will lead the workshops and focus on sharing the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) principles and the implementation of the Red, White and Blue Hockey initiative. Understanding the LTAD principles is key to providing age-appropriate training for all of our hockey players. The Red, White and Blue Hockey initiative is a program designed for Mite/8U hockey players to increase player involvement, train them in ways that are appropriate for their age, reduce costs and, most importantly, do it in a fun manner so the kids come back.
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.
