Many tryout camps are over and the coaches have made their final selections, now what?
Well, now the real work begins, teaching your players how to play hockey correctly and safely.
Coaches must plan for the full season, providing their players with specific and valuable hockey
information as well as running a multitude of organized on-ice and off-ice practices that will help
all players improve their individual and team skills over the course of the entire hockey season
so they can hit their peak at playoff time.
The second big challenge facing many coaches is molding 15 or more individuals with different
personalities, learning abilities and skill levels into a cohesive and successful hockey team.
Both of these challenges can be accomplished using two simple methods. Weekly off-ice
teaching sessions at a school gym or large hall and on-ice practice sessions using compatible
Assistant or guest Coaches at both venues. These two methods will develop your player’s
hockey skills as well as build team unity and spirit.
For first time Rep/Travel Team or House League coaches this can be a challenging time.
For players, this is also a challenging time as steady improvement on their basic individual and
team skills will determine how competitive your team will be throughout the regular season and
how far you will advance into the playoffs.
I have one piece of advice for the Head Coach. In 2005, one person cannot coach alone,
there is just too much teaching, coaching and practicing to do. You need an Assistant Coach.
A good early season starting point is for coaches to assess their team’s skills. Assess the
positive points and the skills that will require some work. Make a list, and then decide what is
the immediate priority and what can wait for a later time during the regular season.
Points to consider, what physical condition are your players in, can your team score goals,
can they prevent goals, can they pass the puck, are they good quick skaters or a bit slow of foot?
Do they understand the different forechecking and backchecking systems? What about their
positioning on clearing/breakout plays? Do they understand the difference between offensive
and defensive hockey? What should be taught first?
Depending on the answers, your practices and teaching sessions should be based on their
assessed needs no matter what age, or calibre of team or players you are coaching. For "AAA"
players or House Leaguers, if you keep practices fun ,everybody will have a good time and learn.
On our Hockey Made Easy web site we now have two e-book resources available for coaches.
The 26 page Seasonal Instruction Plan addresses specific hockey needs throughout the season,
from running a successful Tryout Camp, tips on evaluating and selecting players, composing lines
and defence pairings, to skills and systems that should be taught throughout the regular season,
to preparing your Team for the Playoffs.
The 50 page Coaches Practice Guide offers a series of drills and skills to teach during on-ice
practices over the course of the entire season. It includes a full seasonal practice plan with
conditioning drills, skill development drills, forechecking, backchecking and breakout drills and
goaltender skills and drills. It also includes 6 sample practices with specific activities and drills.
Both are written for coaches of players 5 to 12 years of age. These e-Books are most effective
if used in conjunction with the Hockey Made Easy Instruction Manual. Reference pages are included.
Simply go to www.HockeyMadeEasy.com and click on e-books, then review the Table of Contents
of both of these helpful coaching resources .
There is a saying in sports that "practice makes perfect" and this especially applies to hockey skills.
Players must attend practice regularly if they and their Team are going to improve.
Players must listen attentively to the coaches and do the drills to the best of their ability.
Practices are where individual skills and team improvements are made, not during games.
Practices prepare you for the next game.
Parents must ensure their child gets to practice or he/she will fall behind the other players.
Coaches cannot set lines or work on specific offensive or defensive plays if players don't
attend practice. I realize players love to play games but they rarely learn new skills in games.
It's the practices that prepare them for the games. So whether it's an off-ice or on-ice practice
it’s in their best interest for your child to attend every single one.
A final tip, “ players must listen to their coaches ”. They are the men or women who were
selected by your local Minor/Youth Hockey Association to be in charge of the hockey team.
They have the special training and completed the compulsory coaching courses to become
Head or Assistant coaches. They are giving a lot of their free time to help you improve your
game so please show respect to them and pay attention to what they have to say.
If these early season hockey tips were of benefit, please consider sharing them with others.
If you are no longer involved with Minor or Youth Hockey programs and would like your
e-mail address removed from our data base simply e-mail jshorey@hockeymadeeasy.com
with the e-mail address these tips were sent to and it will be dealt with immediately.
Good luck to all coaches, players and parents this hockey season.
Yours in hockey,
John Shorey
Author- Hockey Made Easy - www.HockeyMadeEasy.com