Great coaches can have a transformational effect on players

Illustration by Jennifer Marlin

The post Tearse: Youth Sports and Life Lessons appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Use the ice as a mirror

Hockey is a game of constant change in direction. Players must be proficient in turning to react quickly to changes in possession or the movements of an opponent. Yet, despite the importance of turning, many skaters are unable to turn properly even at low speeds. A correct power turn requires a skater to have a wide low base and the ability to use both the inside and outside edges simultaneously.

One convenient tool players and coaches can use to teach power turns is the ice itself. The ice acts like a mirror by providing a sketch of the movements of a player. Unlike the human eye, the ice doesn’t deceive. When performing a correct power turn, a skater should see two curved grooves in the ice, both properly spaced apart to indicate the skater was low and wide enough. The grooves should be clean and without distortion. A skater wants to maintain as much speed as possible – unnecessary digging into the ice slows the turn.

Imagine a player turning to the right. Most are able to properly hold the inside edge on their left skate (outside leg), but run into difficulty on the outside edge of their right skate (inside leg). Instead of holding the outside edge, they tend to chop or shave the ice with their inside leg. If we break down a turn, it’s the combination of a one legged inside edge hold with an outside edge hold – when turning right, for example, it is the left inside edge combined with the right outside edge. Players trying to turn sharp run into problems with holding the outside edge as opposed to the inside edge due to the relatively greater pressure exerted upon it during the turn.

Players and coaches can use the ice as a guide. Am I low enough? The answer will be determined by the distance between the two curves in the ice. Did I hold my outside edge? If you see a clear inside curve without distortions, you know you maintained your edge properly. The feedback is instantaneous and unbiased.

The post Levine: Executing Power Turns appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Youth hockey coaches have an incredible opportunity to have a positive impact on the lives of the young players on their teams. The coaches spend a considerable amount of time with their players and the players will learn not only hockey but many life skills and lessons from the coaches. The challenge for youth coaches is to deliver the right messages and model the right behaviors that will help the players grow as individuals and as players.

A goggle search of the word “coach” comes up with; “a person who directs players activities in a game.” Used as a verb, “to coach” means “to train.” Both functions of coaching require technical skills in the game, as well as skills as a trainer or teacher.

The first definition is really an illusion in hockey because when the puck drops at game time the coaches are not directing play on the ice ‐ although many coaches try to shout instructions throughout the game from the bench.

There is another way to perceive the role of a coach and that is to think of coaching young people as mentoring.

In the past when I’ve spoken at CEP clinics in Minnesota, and around the country, we discussed the difference between a coach and a mentor. When I brought up the idea of a mentor and asked the coaches to think of mentors that they have had in their lives a lot of smiles appeared and heads nodding up and down.

Bingo, the light went on. A mentor is someone who cares, helps, guides and teaches. Gosh that sounds like what coaches should be doing.

Checking again with Google and then to a Mentor website the following definition appears:

Matter of Trust. Mentoring is a structured and trusting relationship that brings young people together with caring individuals who offer guidance, support and encouragement aimed at developing the competence and character of the mentee. A mentor is an adult who, along with parents, provides a young person with support, counsel, friendship, reinforcement and constructive example. Mentors are good listeners, people who care, people who want to help young people bring out strengths that are already there.

It is hard to imagine any coach not agreeing that being a mentor is a good thing to be to youngsters but why when we hit the ice is it so hard to do? Is it because of personal ego or maybe the mistaken idea that the coaches job is just to win?

At the mite and squirt levels the atmosphere is pretty tame, but each year after it really heats up until bantams where the pressure to “win baby win” and the volatile nature of maturing young people collide. As the players move on to high school, the pressure to win moves to the top of the list with the parents leading the charge looking for scapegoats if the teams do not win, or worse yet, their child does not make the team.

It takes special people to balance the competitive pressures of bantam and high school players along with the mentoring the players need.

Mentoring activities include taking the time to get to know the players and what they like to do away from the rink. Taking an interest in them as individuals, their school work, and families helps to build the relationships it takes to successfully mentor/ coach a player. I believe that it takes entire seasons with a player to develop a good working understanding and trust in order to be effective as a coach.

Unfortunately, in our youth hockey system many of the players only spend one year with a coach before moving on. That means extra effort needs to be made to quickly build the trust and effective communication. Without these, a coach is just another loud adult to tune out.

Look for ways to engage every player on your team about something beside hockey. The effort will reward you and the players.

As you head to the rink each day, think first of being a mentor to all of your players and a coach second. By taking this approach you will leave a positive life‐long impression on your players, have more fun yourself and, although I cannot prove it, probably win more games.

The post Tearse: Coach or Mentor? appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The concept of gap control is very important for coaches and players to understand so that they have a common knowledge base when discussing individual situations that occur during games. In a broad sense gap control can be defined as the “distance to the nearest opponent.”

The easiest example of gap control occurs on a 1 on 1 situation with the puck carrier approaching a defenseman during an offensive rush. Coaches preach tight gaps to their players and defend the blue line. In practice youth hockey players have a very hard time maintaining a close/tight gap in the neutral ice area and typically will attempt to move to a zero gap when the play reaches a critical point in the scoring area on front of their own net.

A tight gap often is described as one to one and half sticks lengths from the puck carrier. How often do we see it in youth hockey? Not very often because the defenders lack confidence in their skating ability and are afraid they will get beat and then criticized by teammates, coaches and parents.

In reality, playing a tight gap in neutral is more desirable than retreating deep into the defensive zone and getting beat close to the net. If a defender gets beat at the center red line there is plenty of time and space for teammates to fill in up and the mere act of playing a tight gap sooner will slow the opponents attack allowing for more support from the defending team players. Coaches should think about encouraging tight gaps in the neutral zone area and make sure all players know that turnovers are more likely to occur and counter attacks will come quicker.

To be fair to defensemen, they do need to decide if they have a “contain or force” situation to deal with. In a contain scenario, with little or no support or if they are facing an odd man rush, larger gaps are warranted and the main objective is to protect the middle lanes and steer the play to the outside. If support is present a force situation presents itself and the defender can move to zero gap as quickly as possible to create a turnover.

The puck carrier/defender scenario is the most common thought of gap control situation but it is also necessary to expand the concept to scenarios all over the ice. We want zero gap in front of the net most of the time. Supporting forwards should be thinking about tight gaps in their own end of the rink until possession of the puck is regained. Then the other team should be thinking about tight gaps.

A back checking forward should be thinking about his gap with the opposing player and should try to get defensive side positioning with close to a zero gap. Cycling is designed to create gap and defenders can break the cycle by staying with their opponent on a tight gap.

With the speed of today’s game and lengthy periods of play without stoppage in play it is essential that as players transition from offense to defense and they maintain good gap control when the other team has possession of the puck.

Gap control applies all over the rink and is an essential part of defending and recovering possession of the puck in order to initiate an offensive play. Discuss the concepts with your team and give them permission to run tight gaps and force the play earlier. They will make mistakes but they will quickly learn how effective tight gaps can be.

A good example of all over gap control is evident when watching the Minnesota Wild and other NHL teams. Gap control is an essential element in playing defensively while trying to regain possession of the puck. When someone makes a mistake in this area you will see how it impacts the offense and creates opportunities. Talk to you players about gap control all over the rink.

The post Tearse: Understanding gap control appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

As coaches, we have a constant urge to take control, correct mistakes, and improve our players. When someone is doing something wrong, we want to intervene and demonstrate the proper technique.

In many cases this is what we are supposed to do. But when it comes to teaching teamwork and leadership, players need the opportunity to step up and take control. This often requires coaches to step back and give more ownership to their players, a tough thing to do especially when they are making some mistakes.

Our job as hockey coaches can be made even tougher because of the hockey culture we operate in. Coaches are supposed to design the rules and enforce them. But what is the responsibility of the player?

When one of his teammates is being bullied by another teammate or even by a non-teammate at school, should there be a rule (or rather an expectation) that he will step up and intervene? When a teammate is taking cheap shots in practice or constantly trying to check his weakest teammate as hard as he can, do others tell him to knock it off?

And when a meaningless personality conflict erupts, are the players expected to find a resolution? In all of these cases, do we really only expect the coach to do something?

Players do have a responsibility to protect their teammates and resolve conflicts amongst themselves.  Just imagine a bunch of a young peewee’s teammates telling a bully at school to stop messing with their teammate or a high school captain who doesn’t allow some of his senior buddies to try to check the weakest skaters as hard as they can at captain’s practice.

Of course, there are instances when coaches should step in, resolve a problem, and discipline their players. But in many cases, players can and should be encouraged to take ownership of a team problem.

They will often need some guidance as to how to do so, and even with advice may fail. But that’s okay.  Practice and a culture that expects players to take responsibility for their team will ultimately lead create better teams and hockey.

The post Teaching teamwork appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

I am not sure why this has become so prevalent. Last Sunday I was at a youth sports event, and as always, the sport does not matter. There were 6 year olds playing. One coach yelled at his player: “If you don’t want to be out here, I’ll get someone else in who does.”

I am not sure what bothered me more: the fact that nobody on this team thought this should be stopped, or more precisely, that this was obviously an every game occurrence.

Let me explain a couple of things about kids that I have learned from being a parent and a coach. Kids trust adults. Especially adults put in a position of authority. Trying to teach kids by yelling at them makes them feel awful. They live in the moment. When they feel hurt, they rebel, ignore, and/or shut down.

They are kids. The younger they are the harder it is to teach them “plays”. Just let them play everything and love to be active. You know how many times kids change their minds in a day? Besides, it’s like trying to herd baby kittens and puppy dogs when they are that age.

If you want to see kids playing well with no yelling, go to my website frozenshorts.com and click on videos. Scroll down to the Pop Warner video. These kids were given one minute of instructions and allowed to play. The officials were a high school volleyball player and a high school soccer player. They were out there for safety and to blow the whistle when the play stopped. These kids were averaging between nine and sixteen plays in a 20 minute half under their coach’s tutelage. In the second half they will run 21 plays! Watch them do cart wheels and summersaults.

They do not perform their best when they are constantly being told what to do either. Ever hear a two year old say this: “I can do it by myself.” When is the last time you were at a playground and you heard the children stop what they were doing to ask an adult to give them more structure?

Coaching is a very important part of youth sports. A wise man once told me, “Coach the kid, not the sport.”

Or, Coach Molly and Bo, not the x’s and the o’s.

This is what we do at Frozen Shorts. We use science, psychology, and data to teach all who will listen and want to learn that a safe, healthy, and happy child will play all day if you let them play for fun.

You see it’s not my job to decide when or even if the light goes on for those associated with youth and high school sports. My job is to just keep flipping the switch.

I am just the messenger, the truth was already there.

You can follow VJ on twitter @VJJStanley, Please like him on face book at frozenshorts, sign up for his weekly FREE newsletter at frozenshorts.com, or read other essays from VJ and watch related videos at frozenshorts.com

The post Let the kids play appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

As we enter the holiday tournament season it is important to remind coaches that they are obligated to ensure the safety of their players on and off the ice at all times during the season. The tournament weekends are especially busy with lots of teams, players, coaches and parents moving in and out of the arenas.

Players are required by coaches to arrive at a pre-determined time before their scheduled games or practices. This is the time when your responsibility and liability begins and it does not end until the players have completed the event and left the arena or are with their parents. This may seem like a minor point but you would be mistaken to believe that.

Years ago a squirt player was involved in an incident with his teammates and players from another team. The incident occurred in the locker room area. A locker room door was slammed shut resulting in the accidental amputation of a finger of one of the boys.

This preventable incident should have never occurred, however the coaches of the teams had already left the building before their players had exited the locker rooms. If the coaches had stayed with their teams until they had all changed their clothes and left with their parents, the young man would not have lost his finger.

I have seen several incidents in the past several years where players were injured while fooling around in the locker room. Again, the coaches were standing out in the lobby socializing while the kids are clowning around in the locker room. A player slips and falls hitting his head on the bench, and another preventable injury occurs.

Another phenomenon is an activity called “helmet boxing” or “locker boxing.” It is simply a fight between two players while wearing their helmets and gloves. The rules are simple; only blows to the head are allowed and the winner is determined when one player’s helmet comes off, he submits or is knocked unconscious.

This seems like a harmless game to adolescents but the dangers are many. The fights generally take place in the locker rooms where loose equipment and benches create hazards for the participants and cause injuries.

According to Kevin E. Gordon, MD et al. in the clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, May 2006 edition, “this activity is not limited to boys and serious injuries have occurred in young females participating in such activity.” The most frequent injuries suffered with this activity are concussions and hand fractures.

Since the activity usually occurs when there are no adults present, players suffering from concussions would not be diagnosed and could easily be put in grave danger by playing before he or she had recovered from the concussion.

So where do we go with these problems? Below are a few suggestions and guidelines to consider and follow to ensure the safety of your players.

• Recognize that you are responsible for the duration of the event and please treat this seriously. Be sure you arrive on time and are the last one to leave.

• A coach or designated parent should always be in the locker room when players are present. Not only is this to prevent physical injury but also to ensure that there is no bullying or verbal abuse occurring. This does occur if the kids are left alone for too long.Hockey is a team game and all players need to learn to get along, cooperate with each other and share common goals. You will learn a great deal about your players and team simply by watching them interact in the locker room.Your occasional interjection or comments at the right moments are teaching opportunities that you will not get anywhere else. It is also an opportunity for you to visit with individual players and get to know them a little better. By doing so you will find it easier to coach them as they know you are interested in them as individuals not just a jersey number.

• The last person out of the locker room should always be the coach. No exception to this rule. It just comes with the job. Make sure the room is as clean as, or cleaner than, when your team took possession and collect any left behind pieces of equipment or clothing.

The last thing any of us want is for our players to get injured, especially when supervision and awareness could have prevented the injury. The game itself causes enough bumps, bruises and occasional breaks.

Do yourselves and your players a favor and stay with them when they are at the arena. You might even learn a few things by just being in the locker room.

Have fun with your players and keep them safe!

Illustration by Sarah Huisken

The post Tearse: Prevent the preventable appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

What you say, and do, as a coach matters to your players.

There are 53.8 million kids playing sports in the United States and the most common phrases they all say to each other and their parents is, “Coach said….”.  Because kids pay close attention to what their coaches say and do, coaches hold great power to influence young people.

Research shows that in the hierarchy of adults coaches have the highest position in the minds and hearts of their players. Understanding this stature places quite a responsibility on youth and high school coaches.  What you say, and do, matters.

Coaches have a choice between being a transactional coach or TRANSFORMATIONAL coach.

Transactional coaches are concerned primarily about winning games. The inevitable results are, short benches, misplaced priorities, too many games and similar strategies that supports winning as a priority.  These strategies can be successful in the short run but they leave kids empty, uninspired, and looking elsewhere for what they need. The strategies also drain the depth out of a program as fewer kids develop the passion they need to sustain their participation and fulfill their potential.

Transformational coaches are concerned about developing the players’ minds, body and spirit. Transformational coaches  can  change the lives of their players in a positive direction and give the players the  skills they need to succeed in life  and not just  in hockey.

A transformational youth coach:

• Play all players regardless of game situations.
• Treats all players fairly
• Models sportsmanship
• Teaches respect for the game, teammates, officials and opponents
• Is patient and takes time with every player to help them overcome obstacles and build confidence
• Understands that to be successful a coach needs to teach each individual and the team as a whole.
• Has a strong set of values that guide their daily interactions with individual with players and the team.

A transformational High School Coach:

• High school is supposedly about winning! And yes winning is important. But high school coaches can also be Transformational and arguably their teen-age players are desperate for this type of adult in their lives. This age group is where coaches can make the biggest impact on their players.
• With all of the attention and pressure placed on high school players their coaches need to help keep them grounded and provide an environment in which they can succeed regardless of the final.

With all of the knowledge and resources we have about how to inspire and support our young people in in sports, it only makes sense that we not tolerate anything but a transformational approach to coaching. This approach can be hard and it can be challenging at times but the effort is worth it. Youth sports are called “Youth Sports” for a reason. It is about our kids.

Illustration by Jeran Schmidt

The post Tearse: “Coach Said … ” appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The final score of any game is the result of the actions of all players on both teams shift by shift. Most people will look at the final score to determine if the team played well. However the final score lost does not tell the whole story nor should it. A concept that we have used in our program the past couple of years is to discuss and implement “on ice effectiveness” ideas and ratings for each player.

On ice effectiveness is based on the idea that every player needs to contribute to the team effort in his/her unique way. There are many ways a player can have a good performance besides scoring goals. Here are some ways to think about it.

Goalies: Obviously they are there to stop pucks and defend the net. It is pretty easy for everybody to understand that. We can calculate save percentages and goals against. We can also track where the goals against are shot from. No mystery here.

Defensemen: The defenders primary responsibilities are protecting the areas in front of the net, deflect the attack out side, and regain possession and initiate the counter attack either by passing the puck up to the forwards or skating the puck out of the defensive zone. In recent years coaches have moved skilled forwards back to defense so that they can actually join the rush as the fourth attacker. This has mixed results.

Forwards: They are responsible for the attack and offense. Centers tend to be playmakers and highly skilled. They need to be good at face offs. Wings need to be good along the wall and in front of the net. They all need to be able to shoot and score. Their secondary role is to play defensively against the other teams forwards when possession is lost.

At the end of the game how would you be able to evaluate each player’s performance? Certainly not by the final score of the game and if we use only goals and assists then most players are left out.

There are other aspects of the game that all players need to focus on such as:

Giveaways, takeaways, blocked shots, shots attempted on goal, shots on goal, hits (for bantams and above) and penalty minutes. These are a couple others but these are pretty good indicators of individual game-by-game performance.

With bantam and HS players these stats can help players identify areas that need improvement and where they are strong. For instance defensemen especially want to minimize give aways. All skaters can and should block shots. On average it takes eight shots to score a goal so eight blocked shots saves a goal against. On the flip side if a wing never shoots or only occasionally shoots, the chances of scoring are minimal.

The players in our program have found these statistics and ideas very useful for them. It gives them areas to focus on and they can work towards improvement. For coaches it also provides them with an objective view of the individual performances during each game.

Feedback from the players is quite positive and in a team discussion they wished that these ideas were taught to them in youth hockey. I do not recommend extensive stats for younger teams but the ideas about becoming an effective players should be introduced at the squirt and pee wee levels.

By focusing on the things that make a player effective during games individual players are now in control of their performance regardless of the score at the end of the game.

Illustration by Mercedes Knapp

The post Tearse: On-Ice Effectiveness appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Hockey is a team game and youth hockey is for the enjoyment and development of all the players . At the college and professional ranks teams play 3 lines regularly and often times use the fourth line. In youth hockey the holy grail of “winning” is to often used to relegate the third line to the bench in many games.

When I coached Bantam A teams our opponents regularly shortened their bench early in the game. We beat a better team in the regional play offs a couple years because they only played two of their three lines. We changed our three lines every 30 seconds and wore them out. When we went through the post game handshake there were 5 cold dry hands. The last game of the season for them and the third line did not skate a shift. In another instance, the third line never played a shift against us in a scrimmage game, in October. In high school games I see opponents have left the third line sitting for entire games not to mention the fourth line. In Pee Wee B, our opponents routinely shorted the bench and in one instance, during the first period. Tournaments seem to bring out the short bench syndrome.

So what is this all about? Is it about winning? Perhaps or maybe it is about not losing. Perhaps the fear of losing is stronger than the joy of winning. I cannot actually understand what is so important that a coach needs sit a third of the team down in the important games. The impact on those players is devastating. Winning cannot heal the damage.

I am often told that the parents and players were told by the coach at the beginning of the season that this might occur and that everybody agreed to it. This is self serving for the coach because when would a parent or player speak up against a policy like this? After all, every parent and player thinks it will be the other kids who sit out. It is not until it occurs to them that the reality sinks in. By the time it happens, it is too late to object. The parents of the players who are getting the extra ice time are suddenly in favor of the short bench and will not speak up.

I know that there are two schools of thought about this. The first is that winning is the salve that heals all wounds. A player relegated to the bench during the championship run should be happy to be along for the ride. The second is that we play all season together as a team and as a team we will finish by playing together.

At the higher levels of hockey where it is a business and winning actually effects players and coach’s careers, player utilization is accepted by the participants. Players are delegated certain roles and they need to fulfill those expectations. In youth hockey, winning feels good but there are little other benefits other than adult ego gratification.

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 through out the season to improve their skills. A coach who starts the season by talking about skill development, teaching, self esteem, and having fun would not 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. In fact some players do not want to be put into the game in pressure situations. 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 is to those benched players is that they are being penalized for lack of talent and they are not really part of the team.

The game is for the kids, all of the kids. Research nationwide tells us that players would rather play on a team that wins 50 percent of their games than sit on the bench of a championship team with little or no playing time. The bottom line is that all of the kids want to play. Each year we lose 10,000 players nationwide as they move from pee wees to Bantams. Many cite the reason they quite because they are not having fun.

I can personally cite numerous conversations with pee wee and bantam parents over the past several years that told me that their boys had played for 5 or 6 years and they were about to quit because there is so much pressure to win and it was not fun. I received numerous emails this past season from parents upset that their child’s coach was routinely running a short bench. One instance was from the parents of a squirt C.

This is an issue that needs to be resolved at the beginning of each season. The parents and coaches need to all understand the policy. With a no short bench policy there are no problems. If your team is going to have a short bench policy, perhaps it is better to not have three lines but rather roster only 14 players. That would solve the problem. This one issue alone ruins the season for hundreds of kids and parents each year. Even in victory, it is hollow for the players who sat and watched their teammates play. I know several instances this past year where the teams had a problem with the policy in mid season and the teams fell apart for the rest of the year.

Parents of youth players should not put up with short bench policies. You need to get a commitment from your coaches at the beginning of the year that they will not shorten the bench. Be proactive about this issue at the beginning of the season because once the train leaves the station it is too late to get off.

(Illustration by Ann Macarayan ©2014)

The post Cold Dry Hands: The Short Bench appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.