Selling a 6am Practice

Being at the rink so early is akin to staying up past bedtime

As all hockey players know, being the first of the day to carve a perfect flawless sheet of ice is a rare and beautiful moment. It can only happen by being the first ones of the day on the ice.  This is what a 6am practice offers. There is no other time of the day that offers quite the same feeling.  The rink, minus the hum of the ventilation systems, is silent, empty & crisp. 

The kids arrive buddled up with toques & mitts like they're joining Bartlett on an arctic exploration.  Most show up already wearing half their equipment, this is something I actually recommned to the parents.  It helps make the 6am'er different.

For some reason, and I'm not sure why, all the kids stare at their skates when they hit the ice.  I suspect because their skates cutting the ice is so amplified due to the silence.  They seem to marvel at the sound. You'll see them skate around the rink practicing their C-cuts, just to make the sound.  Watch for it, you'll see what I'm talking about - it's fun to watch!

All that being said, trying to sell a 6am practice to kids & parents on a Saturday morning, in the throes of a Canadian winter is no easy task.  It's cold. It's dark. It's early. It's usually the weekend. 

So once again it comes back to fun.  If you want kids to show up at these early practices you got to make the 6am'er a different kind of practice.

Here's how I make my 6am'ers different

Get kids dressed in half their equipment at home

Put pucks out on the ice right away, our normal practice usually involves a skating warm-up without pucks.  Not for the 6 am'er.  They get pucks right away and I encourage them to just play around.  Try stick-handling.  Try shooting it hard off the boards to make a sound.  Try to raise the puck off the ice.  Try passing to friends.  Try shooting it the full length of the ice.  Try whatever you want ... just have fun & play with the puck.  Do whatever you want with it.  We do this for the first 10 minutes, and kids love it.  You'll often see them going for a drink because they're working up such a sweat having fun.

Team breakfast after the practice is a favorite of the kids.  We get 4-5 6am'ers in a season and we all go as a team for breakfast after practice.  We're typically there by 7:10am and the place is usually pretty empty.  Our team has the run of the place and management doesn't seem to mind, sort of :-)  The kids get a big kick out of sitting at the bar.    

My boy enjoys 6am'ers so much now he likes to get there extra early to have 10 minutes or so of alone time on the ice.

I hope this helps you with your 6am'ers.

Coach Chris

Kids Playing Goalie

Waddle, Waddle

Luke playing goalie

Kids getting a chance to dress up like a net minder is a great day.  For most kids, they are very excited about trying on those HUGE pads.  You'll see just as many pictures & video's being taken on this day as the day they nervously made their first steps onto the ice.  It's a fun day for the kids and the parents.  So that being said, you want the day to go as great as possible.

As with everything else I recommend for hockey players at this age - this MUST be a fun experience.  For example, my son was happy to get a chance to play in net(s) - but he was less happy about using the bulky block & scoop (trap), and equally less impressed with his shot using a goalie stick.  I told the boy he should try using all the equipment.  If he does and still does not like it, then we would try something else.  I have to be honest, he gave it a good effort, and I was proud of him trying - but, in the end, I just think the equipment we had was a little too big.  So I allowed him to wear his player gloves and use his regular hockey stick. Immediately his level of enjoyment & engagement shot up exponentially - and that's the main point of minor hockey.  He was smiling from ear to ear every time he shot the puck down the ice or tried to make a pass.  All of his saves (or attempted saves) involved him jumping on the puck with his knees, then getting up and slapping the puck down the ice or attempting to pass it down the ice.  He had a great day!

At the IP level, kids aged 4-6 years old, they all get a chance to play goalie.  In most minor hockey associations the kids must have at least 20 'ice touches' before anyone on the team is allowed to play goalie, and no one is allowed to be the permanent goalie for the season.  Once the kids reach novice (7 & 8 years old) most organizations allow a child to be the permanent team goalie, if that's what they want to play.

Obviously, even for your stronger skaters, skating with all this gear on is difficult.  During the practice I just have the kids try to keep up in the warm-up and get use to skating in all that gear.  Then I assign a coach to work with them.  The coach explains some of the terms (cross-bar, posts, goalie crease, etc.) and has some fun with the kids.  I always like to tell the kids to jump on their knees and I'll count how long it takes them to get back up.  Most 5 & 6 year old's get up in a long dragged out 2 seconds, while most 4 year old's can't get up on their own at all.  For my team this year, most of the kids were chatting about doing a 'butter-fly' save.  We modified this and had all of them practice the move, they loved it.      

I highly recommend that you seek out a volunteer to help manage the "who gets to play goalie today" schedule.  It doesn't seem like much, but there is a bit of work to it.  You have to ensure the kids (and more importantly, the parents) know when it's their child's turn.  You have to arrange for pick-up and drop-off of the goalie equipment, and then there's always the cases of things going wrong (e.g.) the child with the goalie gear doesn't show up.  Now the schedule has to be massaged again.  You'll have enough on your plate coaching, this can easily fall to another volunteers responsibilities.  Trust me, you'll be glad you did.  

Safety: When kids are putting the goalie pads on their legs, they need the help of a parent and usually lie out flat in the dressing room.  Please remind kids that they MUST have their hands protected with their hockey gloves while lying on the floor.  It only takes a split second for someone with skates on to accidentally walk on those tiny fingers.  Also, when I was a kid the pads were worn very tight.  You would usually lie on the floor and a friend would rip on those straps as hard as possible.  That's not the case anymore.  The pads are not worn tight, thus allowing the goalie to move into positions such as the 'butter-fly'.   

Lastly, when it's your little ones turn to play goalie, don't forget your camera and make sure you have lot's of memory available on it.

Coach Chris

Ensuring a Successful Hockey Camp

The Devil's in the Details

Hockey camp for 5 & 6 year old kids is a great idea, no doubt about it.  But no two camps are created equal, and it's all about the details.   

What I like best is that kids get to do other things during the day besides be on the ice.  I really like camps that offer fun games like soccer & red rover, as well as quiet time where the kids watch part of a movie or do some table activities.  I believe these kids have just as much (or even more) fun during the activities between ice times.  As I often mention, it's about FUN for this age.  If the kids are not having fun at the camp then everything else is lost.  You can throw as much skill development activity at them as you want, but if you want kids to be truly motivated to learn new skills, then you'd better make sure they're enjoying themselves.  So my priority when getting my son ready for hockey camp is about removing barriers that may impede fun, and adding whatever I can that will increase his chances of having a great day.

Part of the process to ensure a great camp begins by choosing the right camp.  This requires a little research, not a lot, but just a couple of simple 'temperature checks' to find out where I'm sending my son.  Primarily I speak to other parents that have had their kids attend the camp, an endorsement from another parent that shares my same philosophy plays a large part in my choice.  I also check out the camp's website, do a couple of Google search's to see if I can find any on-line comments about a camp or the lead instructor.  I'm looking for those that have experience instructing young kids.  It may be great that an instructor has had a successful career coaching Junior A hockey, but has he had any experience with 5 & 6 year old's, because that's a whole new ball of wax.

Once I've selected a camp I send out an email (or my wife does) to the parents of his friends.  Luckily at this age we are still able to pick their friends.  At this point he's now very excited to go to hockey camp and play with his friends.  Unfortunately, this is not true for all the kids that attend.  I've witnessed many tearful kids, early in the morning, standing in the hallways of an arena when being dropped off by parents.  Many parents are walking out the door saying "good-bye, have a fun day".  How's the kid suppose to have a fun day if you have not set them up for a fun day?  As it is with most things in life, it's by paying attention to the small details that creates a positive experience.  Some will say, "well, that's why they're at camp, to make new friends".  Yes, I agree, you want the kid to make new friends, and they're fast friends at this age too.  It comes easy to most of them.  They're very accepting of other kids around them, at this age.  But why not start them out on the day with a buddy or two, if possible?  It just makes good sense.     

Once at camp, they often give jersey's out to the kids on the first day.  There's usually a couple of different colored jersey's too, as it helps the instructors divide the kids up during activities.  My son has been at two camps so far, and he's loved them.  Both times we showed up early to ensure that my son and at least a friend or two get the same jersey's, securing them on the same team for scrimmages.  We've also arranged between ourselves and the other parents that at least one of us would come back to help the kids get into their gear and tie their skates.  The camp instructors do help with this, but with so many kids around it's tough for them to give a lot of attention.  And for some kids all it takes is for one piece of equipment to be slightly out of place and they're refusing to participate in the drills.  Remember they're only 5 & 6 years old.

Also sending the kids off with extra clothes, extra socks, a treat snack and whatever appropriate footwear they need for the day's activities.  I've see kids trying to participate in an off ice game of soccer while wearing rain boots on a sunny day.  How's this kid setup for a successful day if he/she cannot even participate properly.  Again it's about paying attention to the details of the camp.

Finally, I read through the rules of the camp with my son.  This is usually only a paragraph or two and it's unbelievable how much they understand.  I tell him, if he wants to have a really fun day at hockey camp with his friends, he needs to pay attention to instructions and play his hardest.  At this point there is very little 'pumping up' of the camp required.  He is ready to go and I know I have done what I can to help his day be fun.

As you can imagine, I have given examples from my experience with the camps, and all camps will be different.  The commonality is we all want to ensure our kids are going to have a great day, and that comes from the parents making sure they know all the details of how the day is going to roll out.  So ask lot's of questions, check it out on-line and visualize yourself being a 5 year old participating in the camp.

I hope this helps you in preparing your child for hockey camp.

Coach Chris
        

Team Budget - Yes, you'll need one

I've been involved as a coach the last two summers with kids U4 & U5 soccer and there was not even a hint of anyone mentioning a team budget.  The most that happened with soccer was each week a player's parents would take turns bringing a snack for the kids at the end of practice.  Typically we seen a large plastic container placed on the bench filled with sliced watermelon.  Sometimes 'jumbo freezies' or a Popsicle would be offered as well. 

But then you have minor hockey, well, that's a different story. 

Team 'swag' -  Hoodie's w/ Player No.

For an IP Hockey Team (kids aged 4-6 years old) in Ontario you'll need a team budget of about $1500.  Each team and each association will be different, obviously, but here's a good idea of the kinds of things that are typically expected ~ (roughly speaking):

• 2-3 Tournaments/Fun Days ($20/player)
• Name Bars ($8/player)
• Christmas Pizza Party ($8/player)
• Year end party/banquet with trophy ($25/player)
• Some kind of souvenir (e.g. toque with team name & number $10/player)

Plus there are extra things like, typically a coach has to purchase his/her own pylons.  I did not have the team pay for these because I figured I would keep them at the end of the season, as I plan to continue coaching.  Just for your own knowledge though, these 6 inch weighted cones are about $6/each at a sporting goods store and you'll need at least 10 of them for sure.  I found the weighted ones best as kids this age are constantly bumping into the cones during drills and these are much harder to knock over. 

This year we were extremely lucky, we managed to get 5 different sponsors to help with the expenses.  It's so great to see companies get involved with helping young kids participate in sports.

• http://soundgardenlandscape.com/
• http://kenritchiecontracting.com/
• http://www.jojospizza.ca/
• http://amberwoodchiropractic.com/
• http://google.ca/ 

I've asked the parents of our team to at least include these sponsors in any purchasing decisions they may make in these particular areas.  This seemed to be a reasonable ask that received a lot of accepting nods around the room.

I hope this helps you with your team budgets.

Good Luck!

Coach Chris  

Backyard Rink

13' x 23' Backyard Rink

Best. Purchase. Ever.

"No more pictures dad!  I'm playing hockey, this is serious."

For $99 bucks at Canadian Tire the backyard is transformed into our own personal rink to do whatever we want & stay on as long as we want. Oh and of course, there's always lot's of hot chocolate available.

This is the same rink I purchased last year, and planned a bigger one this winter.  But with our family growing again this year, time just ran out.  So NEXT year, I plan to make it twice as wide.  For a 5 year old though, he has great fun on it.

Tip - Do a big flood your first time, then only do very small floods the rest of the winter.  Just think how little a zamboni puts down.

Praise the Effort, Not the Result

The 3 Stars of Practice

Every weekend we have 2 practices, Saturday & Sunday morning.  At the end of practice on Sunday I always comment on how hard the kids worked at the practices and make reference to the drills telling them I was really impressed with how hard they worked on, say, cross-overs.  Then I pick out 3 individual players and make a special mention of something I noticed they worked really hard on and reward them with one of the three balls.  We all applaud and congratulate the player, I do this twice more. Every child in the room sits in complete silence, bursting at the seams with anticipation, waiting to hear if they've been chosen.

Smart Balls for stick-handling off the ice

It just so happens that my numbers work out perfectly that each child will be chosen as a star 3x over the course of the season.  I'm not huge on the 'every child gets a trophy' concept as I feel this can lead to an entitlement mentality.  But singling out a child 3 times over the course of season to praise them on something they've worked very hard at, is completely different.  If you cannot pick out 3 things each child worked hard at over a season then you're not looking hard enough.  

Remember these are 5&6 year old children.  I've given a ball to a kid for doing really good listening at both practices.  For kids at this age, I think even this can be a tall order sometimes.

Feel free to steal or improve upon this idea, I really hope it helps you with the practice - I know our players love it and carry that ball as if it were the biggest trophy in the world.

BTW - If you didn't know, Smart Balls are off ice stick-handling balls that give the same feel as a puck.  There are a lot of these types of products on the market, but I like these best because they can roll on many surfaces just as easy as the last.  They roll on carpet just as easy as hardwood. 

Coach Chris

Thanksgiving

Mock turkey legs from the Dollar Store

Trying to keep 4-6 year olds engaged and interested can be challenging no matter what you're doing. Throughout the season I do my best to take advantage of anything possible to change up the practice.

So to incorporate Thanksgiving into the practice I ran a drill using no pucks or sticks, just fake turkey legs. The kids loved it! Lot's of laughs and some really hard work on the drill. The kids without even being aware of it were practicing skating fast, crossovers, tight turns, and even dekes on the goalie (my team manager) :-).

The point here is that a coach should never just limit their props to pylons, nets, sticks, etc.  There's really no limit to what you can use, just ensure it's items that cannot hurt the players or damage the ice.  Take special care to ensure you're not using something that can fit through their cage/mask or something that they can become tangled.

Turkey Leg Drill

Feel free to take this idea, or build upon it.  Hope it helps keep the kids engaged!