A Global Hockey Challenge: Teaching hockey to an entire association
Teaching hockey with a consistent and deliberate curriculum to a large group of volunteer coaches challenges even the most organized and competent associations. Since 2004 we’ve had the great privilege of teaching hockey* and its intricacies to coaches in minor hockey associations in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, and now Mongolia. (Learn more about our hockey journey here). Every new experience brings a unique set of challenges and rewards. Many clubs throughout the global hockey community wish to have a consistent message, vocabulary, and teaching methodology throughout the ranks of an association.
*Note in this post we refer to ‘teaching hockey’ rather than coaching. The focus here involves ‘teaching’ intricacies, terminology, concepts, principles, and game awareness. Coaches must master the game in all its parts to truly ‘coach’ age appropriate and cohesive content to players.
Clubs yearn for a development plan that:
- facilitates teaching hockey to youth coaches
- creates consistency and progressions in teaching hockey through all age levels.
- develops common language, terminology, and structure so that a young player is not bombarded with new and foreign concepts every year.
Common challenges:
- Volunteer coaches come and go
- They have varying levels of experience, knowledge, and passions.
- Due to the nature of the volunteer coach position, a coach of one team has little time to worry about other teams. A coach has only so much time, energy, and resources available.
- Even full time hockey directors can’t possibly find the time to keep every coach educated and advancing on the exact same page.
- Coaching seminars run through the association can work, but finding a night in a busy week to get all coaches together has obvious challenges.
- Searching hockey terms on Google and YouTube is a rabbit hole to be avoided if you plan to stay on task.
We’ve spent years devising and mastering the solution to teaching hockey at an association level. If you can relate, please keep reading.
Teaching Hockey: Best Practices:
For years we have proposed that coaches should use outrageously expensive ice time for individual skill development, battle/decision making through small area games, and to a small degree (15-20%) for implementation of team play and strategy. However coaches should predominantly teach the strategy component off ice. We cringe when we see youth hockey teams stand around for 20 minutes of a practices listening to the coach talk about the breakout. (By the way coaches, they can’t hear what you are saying anyway, as you yell breakout instructions from one end of the rink to the other because the acoustics of an arena don’t t conduct 190 ft conversations very well.) I recently listened to Pierre McGuire of NBC discuss the outrageous misuse of ice time around the world. It sounded like sweet music to my ears. So where and how can we all learn the game?
Our Solution: The How to Play Hockey Partnership:
The feedback from our coaches has been absolutely fantastic. It’s a great resource to offer our entire association, it’s cost effective, and our coaches and members can access it on demand. – Sandi Wentzel, Whistler Minor Hockey VP
Coaches can teach terminology, systems, tactics, and theory off ice. However TIME remains the limiting factor. Players and coaches rush to and from practice and games due to the regular ebb and flow of family life. Fortunately our course www.howtoplayhockey.ca allows players, coaches, and even parents, to learn the game of hockey where they want, and when they want.
Dean Readman of the Vancouver Angels Female Hockey Association agrees, and has spent years with access to How to Play Hockey for his entire association.
The modules are easy to understand and follow. In order to maximize ice time, I request that girls on my team watch selected modules in advance of a practice so they understand the concepts in advance. This allows the coaches to use the ice time efficiently and also, to allow the girls to ask questions in advance if they don’t understand the drills. I would highly recommend use of this course. Dean Readman, Coach Vancouver Angels Girls Hockey Association
Teaching Hockey Made Easy:
With our course, players and coaches now learn the game through our 100+ video tutorials at home, in the car, on the bus, in the dressing room, and wherever else they choose to login to their course on any tablet, smart phone, or home computer but you can also use it for games with the help of sites as http://elitist-gaming.com and boosting for shooting games like Counter Strike from csgo boosting online. Coaches as far away as New Zealand have even broadcast our course on dressing room walls!
Every coach from Novice to Midget now has access to the same message, curriculum, and video tutorials. These tutorials explain, dissect, and debate a variety of principles, systems and tactics. As a result, when a coach talks about goal side positioning, defensive side positioning, or battling above the puck, his/her team has a chance to understand! The next time you see a coach using hockey terminology with a young player and you see smoke coming out the player’s ears, you may assume the terminology was lost on the player. Subscribing to How to Play Hockey will facilitate the flow of learning from Association to coach to player, and even parents. NOTE: Our individual course package is only $9.99 CAD/month.
Join associations around the world in creating a positive learning environment and a wonderful life experience for your kids. Check out www.howtoplayhockey.ca.
