Jun 16, 2017 | mmodestino | 3918 views
COACHING PHILOSOPHY
Congratulations on being selected to the LaSalle Peewee AE
hockey team!
I'm excited
to be one of the
coaches for our
team this season.
COACHING PHILOSOPHY
• My coaching philosophy is to provide an environment that enables athletes to have fun, learn about being part of a team, while learning the fundamental skills needed to compete, succeed and enjoy hockey at a high level for a long time.
• To teach the fundamentals, I plan on following Hockey Canada’s player development pyramid to balance out the aspects of specific hockey development of technical skills, individual tactics, team tactics, team play and strategy emphasizing the need for players to give their best, in effort and attention at all practices and games.
• At the beginning of the season I will look at the type of team, players and skill level that is present in the players and build a plan that will focus on hockey skills to reinforce strengths and rectify weaknesses.
• I believe in providing the opportunity for all kids to be placed in critical positions and situations throughout the season and to follow fair ice time rules. I believe that in youth hockey there is no place for the short bench. A good coach can manage the players so that all of the skaters participate in the game. A good coach will spend extra time with the weaker players throughout the season to improve their skills. A coach who starts the season by talking about skill development, teaching self esteem and having fun would break his word by shortening the bench. The short bench is the easy way out for a coach who has not prepared his team properly. Does this mean a youth coach should run the lines 1,2,3? Well for the most part yes. I would suggest that a skilled coach can find a way to equal the ice time out. Will some players get more ice time than others? Yes. Are there specific reasons to reduce ice time for individual players? Yes there are (discipline or perhaps illness) but to relegate 5 skaters and a goalie to the bench for extended periods of time in order to win is not a valid reason. In effect, the message to those benched players is that they are being penalized for lack of talent and they are not really part of the team.
• As part of the Peewee program, it is important to engage the mental and emotional side of player development. This includes getting the players to set individual goals and formulating a plan to achieve those goals. Conduct on the ice and in the dressing room would also be regimented.
• In order to keep kids participating in minor hockey, I will encourage parents to use positive reinforcement with their young athletes. They should encourage them by emphasizing the positives when talking to their kids about the game. A great coach once said, “ always start the car ride home with ‘I love watching you play out there’."