Halloween Weekend

What a great opportunity to have some fun with the kids.

We had practices this past weekend, the last weekend before Halloween, so the question was, "how can I incorporate Halloween into hockey practice and still teach hockey skills?"

 
 First thing I did was head to Dollarama and see what they had available for cheap, after all, I was using my own cash.  I had no idea what I was looking for, but figured it would hit me once I was in the aisles, and it did.  So I picked up a dozen 'Witches Hats'.  They fit over the pylons quite nicely, and the kids got a kick out of doing some relay races around the hats. 


Next I picked up a couple of these window coverings to hang from the nets.  As you can see the posters do not touch the ice, so I had a contest to see who could raise the puck off the ice and hit the poster.  This was a great opportunity to reinforce the technique for a 'flip-shot'.  It just so happens that at the 'Parents Meeting' I told everyone my stretch goal for the year with the kids was to have every player be able to get the puck off the ice.

 Lastly, I found this 'Franken-Bucket' in our 'Halloween-decoration-storage-box' that we take down annually to decorate the house.  It was perfect for holding candy that I had Luke pass around the room after practice.

All in all, this weekend cost me about $30, and well worth it.  I took a lot of satisfaction in the fun the kids had, and I know I made a memorable weekend for them all.  However small a contribution it was.

And I know it shouldn't matter, the kids are the #1 priority, but compliments from parents over the weekend about it all felt GREAT!!

If you're unsure about teaching the 'Flip-Shot, here's a great video clip from Hockey Canada that breaks it down.  Yes, it's a much older player, but the concepts are the same.  After just one short 8-minute session with the kids I had a few of them getting the puck off the ice.  I feel confident that we'll have them all raising the puck by the season's end.

Flip Shot

  

First Day - On the Ice

First day is all about FUN & Safety. Generally speaking, I wanted to get a sense for the kid’s abilities so I had a better idea what kind of drills to plan for week 2 and beyond.  Started out with basic movements during the warm-up (stick over their head, touch toes, knee touches on the blue line, jump the blueline, etc.) 

Priorities of the Day were ...

Learning kids names, ensuring proper equipment and comfort.

 

Checking mouth & neck guards; Length of stick (up to chin)

Reminding kids that gloves are worn at all times while on the ice.  I made sure they understood that if they needed help with the water bottles or their mouth guards or something else that the coaches were there to help them. There was no reason for anyone to take their gloves off.

Demonstrate and practice a proper hockey stance.  Some kids did not know how to hold their hockey stick. 

Told them they needed to take a knee when coach called them over.  No standing or skating around the coach. With kids this age, someone always spontaneously just falls over while standing in a group, usually taking a couple of bodies with them. 

Drills for week 1 concentrated on skating forward & stopping, making tight turns, backward skating and very basic skating with the puck.  We played cops & robbers a few times.  First the adults were the cops who had to catch the kids (no one allowed to skate outside the blue line) and put them in the net (jail). They always love this game.  Then we did the reverse with the kids the cops and the adults the robbers.

Scrimmage for last 10 minutes of a 50 minute practice.  We divided the rink into 3 cross ice games.  We had 4 real hockey nets from the rink on the ice for two of the games, and I brought along two pop-up nets from soccer for the third game.  I thought the soccer nets were a better alternative to pylons being used for a net.

First Day - Off the Ice

First day, here's the situation as I see it.

Most of the kids and parents are meeting each other for the first time. Many of the kids do not know anyone on the team, many have never played hockey (or any team sport), and a lot of the parents have not grown up playing minor hockey.

For myself, it's my first time as the head coach in minor hockey, most of my helpers have not been involved in minor hockey since they were kids, and every parent is watching/judging from the safety of the stands :-)

Knowing all of this, I can confidently say the first day is equally exciting and stressful for all involved.

And I wouldn't rather be anywhere else!!!

Here's what I did to create a great 'First Day Experience'.

Coach Chris
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Greeted each parent and child individually to learn names.  I find if you make an effort to remember the names, you’ll get most of them right away, don’t just let it slide in one ear and out the other.  Everyone’s favorite word is their own name.
 
Got Luke to hang jerseys on the hooks around the room, so kids could see numbers and choose the number they would like to have for the year as they showed up.  I know many coaches like to give out the jerseys before the first on-ice session, but I think the kids enjoyed trying to decide what number to wear.  However Ican see positives to both approaches.

Team Name Change.  This was a very fun activity, however it was kind of hard to facilitate.  But that was the fun, and point, of it.  After several rounds of voting we landed on ‘Lightning Sharks’.  BTW – about a third of the kids in the room didn’t know what voting meant.  Remember these first time hockey players are only 5 & 6 years old.  I had to explain if they liked a name they had to raise their hand.  Also had 3 kids raise their hands every time I read aloud the next suggestion, I guess they liked all the team name suggestions.  On 'Day One',  I had a piece of paper with the old name printed on on it and placed on the door.  On Day 2 however, I placed the sign below on our dressing room door.  Kids loved it!!

 
Team Handshake – had kids watch Luke & I do it first.  Then each kid had to go tell another kid their name and do the handshake.  Lots of smiles and lots of laughing going on, especially considering most of these kids were strangers to each other.  However, I find 5 & 6 year old's become fast friends if you create the right atmosphere. Big bonus here was the parent’s approval.  As I mentioned, a lot of these parents have their kids in hockey for the first time and it’s a room full of strangers.  But this one simple act had many parents smiling between their sips of coffee and nodding at me knowingly.  Big WIN!
   
Informed parent’s that I wanted to hold a ‘Parent Meeting’ next Saturday or Sunday, depending on time of practice. Would only last about 10 minutes. I had arranged others to be on the ice with the kids for the first 10 minutes of practice while I chatted with the parents.

Dressing Room’s #1 Rule. No one walks around in socks or bare feet. Keep your hands off the floor!  Explained that having someone step on your foot or hand with skates on isn’t something we want to happen.  We have a busy dressing room with 18 players, plus at least 18 parents, plus siblings, etc. 

Sport Goofy - Hockey Homicide (1945)

Just for fun, with the kids!

Hockey Homicide (1945)  

This is, without a doubt, my favorite Disney short.  My 5 year old loves it, and I'm sure your wee ones will too.  I've watched this video a hundred times, so it seems.  And I love the fact that Luke laughs his head off at it too.

Enjoy!

Coach Chris  

The Bench Staff

When I was growing up playing minor hockey our team had a coach and an assistant coach.  But these days all teams have a bench staff.  Starting right from Day 1 with 5&6 year old's playing their first year hockey, there's still a bench staff.  All bench staff are permitted to participate and make up your 'on-ice helper' staff. 

Believe it or not, I could make the argument that it's required more at this age than any other age.  These kids get DISTRACTED easily and you'll need all the help you can get.  

Below is the email I sent out to those parents that showed an interest in helping.  Please feel free to copy/paste any or all of this email, I hope it helps. 

For insurance purposes our association has limited the bench staff to seven people in total (some exceptions).  In my case, I had 13 parents ask to be involved, and now needed to somehow choose who would make up the bench staff.  I did not relish telling parents that wanted to participate on the ice with their kids, that they could not.  Here's what I did ...
______________________________________________________________________

Hi All,

If you are receiving this email, it's because you've shown interest in being an on-ice helper.  Thanks again to everyone for all your interest.  This proves to me that I have a great group of parents with me on this team.     

All coaches have now received clarity on this rule (on-ice helpers) from the league convener.  We are only allowed to have 7 helpers on the ice.  We were also told that the SMHA will be strictly enforcing this rule for insurance purposes, and there will be no exceptions.

***This does not apply to this weekend however.  If I asked you to help out this weekend, then help out this weekend. ***   

I have to say, I am very disappointed.  I was hoping to be able to juggle helpers around so anyone that wanted to participate could participate.  But unfortunately I have to submit names on a form shortly (coming days/weeks) and it will be a fixed list of insured people.

At first I thought, I'll make it easy on myself, I'll just pick the first people to offer, but then realized that's not really fare because not everyone is in a position to check their email anytime they want.  So, to be fare with everyone I decided the best way to move forward is to put the kids first, they are the priority.  Having enough people that can commit every week to every practice so we have enough to run drills is basically how I am deciding, and also if you have committed to do extra help by being an assistant coach, trainer or manager.  So all that being said, obviously we all have lives and things come up from time to time, but generally speaking, if you are going to be an on-ice helper that means you need to commit to every week.  So if there is an outside reason why you cannot fully commit, then I'd ask you to allow someone else to step into the spot.

Please email me back letting me know if you still want a spot or if you cannot commit.  If I still have too many then I'll draw straws or something.   

Here is what I have right now for the people allowed on the ice after this weekend, most teams will be a total of 7, we're allowed 8:

Head Coach - Chris (insured position)
Assistant Coach - Andy (insured position)
Trainer - Jim G (insured position)
Manager - ***OPEN*** (insured position) - if you commit to team manager, but cannot come every weekend I will still offer you this spot
Helper 1 - Nicole (insured position) - the only mommie that has volunteered :-)
Helper 2 - Jim L (insured position) - a very experienced coach that we can all learn from
Helper 3 - ***OPEN*** (insured position)
*Freebie - Darren (insured position) - Darren is permitted because he is also a novice assistant coach.  If you are helping on another team within our association then you are already covered by insurance.  Apparently that's an exception, even though they say "no exceptions".

I hope everyone can appreciate my position.
Chris  

My Introductory Email to Parents

Once I received my team roster from the league, along with parents email addresses, it was suggested that the Head Coach introduce himself/herself to the parents.  It was a little strange emailing all these parents knowing I had never met them. 

If it helps you, please feel free to borrow/steal any or all of this email.  See below. 

Coach Chris

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***Can you please reply to this email so I know you received it and it was not filtered to your junk mail***

Hi everyone,

I'd like to introduce myself as the Head Coach for your child's IP team for this season.  For those new to SMHA, and those returning, Welcome!

I am very excited to see/meet all of you this coming weekend. There will be ice time on both Saturday (8am @ JLA) and Sunday (10am @ GRC).  Also you will see our team roster.  Both of which I just received last night and have attached. 

At the moment I am currently looking for volunteers for the following positions - starting this weekend (no experience required):

1. On Ice Helpers (3-5) - these volunteers will help drive the on-ice sessions

2. Trainer - every team needs 1 for sure at every practice.  Our team last year had two, just in case someone couldn't make it.  This is sort of a First Aid person, SMHA will offer a 1 day training session.

3. Manager - will manage money for things like end of year banquet & trophy

If you are interested in helping for any of these, please email me back as I will be happy to have your help starting this weekend.

Please stay tuned for more information coming soon and I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call or email.

BTW - our team name is Blazers, but this can (and probably should) change.  I think it will be a fun activity for everyone.  So feel free to 'spit-ball' some ideas with your kids, then we can put it to a vote.  Our team jersey's are white with black and gold trim.  Similar to Pittsburgh Penguins.  My son has already had 3 team name ideas and is having fun thinking of new ones:

1) Lightning Penguins

2) Lightning Sharks

3) Hockey Zombies (don't ask)

Thanks! 

Coach Chris

555-555-1212

***Can you please reply to this email so I know you received it and it was not filtered to your junk mail***

So I've Decided to Coach Minor Hockey

Do you want to start coaching minor hockey, but are a little unsure about, well, EVERYTHING? That's how I felt when I said 'yes' to being a head coach this year for my 5 year old son's hockey team.  I've coached kids in soccer, U4 & U5, but coaching hockey is a whole different animal - especially in Canada.

Luke & I playing outside on the 'Rink of Dreams' - Feb,2011

That's also the reason why I decided to start a blog about my experiences.  Growing up, being at the rink was a big part of life.  A lot of fond memories and friendships were made both on and off the ice.  Now, being a father of 3 kids (1 boy & 2 girls) myself, I dream of creating similar positive moments for my children. To paraphrase Roch Carrier around his experiences playing hockey as a child in the 1940's, to bring his ideas into today's world, albeit much less eloquently, here's what I think - kids live their lives at school, at home, on play dates and in sport.  From a kids perspective, it is in sport, like hockey, where kid's REAL lives are lived.  

" - but our real life was on the skating-rink.  Real battles were won on the skating-rink.  Real strength appeared on the skating-rink.  The real leaders showed themselves on the skating rink." - Roch Carrier, The Hockey Sweater

Above and beyond anything I want to make hockey FUN.  I want practice to be fun, while still teaching technical skills and growing a team camaraderie.

Hockey Canada's Mission Statement. "Lead, Develop, and Promote Positive Hockey Experiences."

After signing up, I started onto the web, several times a day, for a few weeks, educating myself on everything I could find related to coaching young kids hockey. I sought out information anywhere & everywhere I could find it, to ensure I did a proper job by way of these kids.  Whenever I had a break in my day I would hall out my smartphone and do another search on whatever brilliant search phrase entered my mind; "First time hockey coach", "Hockey coaching excellence for kids", "best hockey dad coach ever", and other nonsensical phrases.  On that same smart phone I even started to keep notes about any tips I found.

Much to my surprise however, I found very little information for first time hockey coaches.  Especially first timers who were coaching 5 & 6 year old players.  Yes, there is a ton of information out there for coaching kids from about 8 years old and up.  There is no shortage of websites, drills, articles, advice, blogs, videos, books, seminars, etc.  But just nothing really around what I needed.   

I've spent my whole life playing the game, and still play in adult rec leagues today - but had never coached it before this year.  Even as a teenager, I use to help out at power skating, demonstrating proper skating techniques - but never coaching.  And I'm really glad I took a friends advice last year and asked to be an "on-ice helper" only, as opposed to jumping into the coach role right away. This first exposure to the whole minor hockey coaching thing was invaluable for my learning.  By taking on that role I was able to take part, but had very little responsibility.  It was a kind of 'fly on the wall' experience.

So now I want to share my experiences and help those that want to start coaching minor hockey, but don't know where to start.  I also greatly want to help, however small a contribution, to kids enjoying the game I love.

I hope you enjoy reading it and I greatly encourage any comments, ideas, or stories about your own experiences - this is a constant development of knowledge for me.

Coach Chris
coachchrishockey@gmail.com