Post by Brian on Jan 18, 2012 2:57:28 GMT -5
Welcome to my virtual locker room. Now that tryouts are over and teams have been selected, it’s time to settle into the fact that you have the next five or six months to get to know your team and their families. Hopefully tryouts went well and your son or daughter made the team you were hoping they did. For some, I know that’s not the case so I want to take a moment to tell you a similar experience that I had.
I had just moved back from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin and was excited to be the marketing and hockey director at a local rink. I got to know many of the people from the hockey association and they asked me to coach a team. I really didn’t care what level or tier I was selected to coach because I enjoy working on the individual skill aspects of team development and knew I could help the best and the worst become better. (I was given a peewee bronze team. Team #5 of 5.) Tryouts were easy, I didn’t have to choose anyone, the players that were left, were all mine!
I remember hearing some rumbling between parents like “my son should be on the #2 team” as I walked through the lobby to coach my first practice. I chose to ignore the comments because I was holding a parent meeting after practice to introduce myself and define the team rules. Before bringing the kids into the meeting, I met with the parents. After introducing myself and giving a brief history of my hockey experience, the first words I think I uttered were, “If you think your son is too good for this team, please quit, there’s the door. I don’t want to spend the next six months hearing about how your son should have made a better team.” I went on to explain that I would work to improve individual hockey skills before attempting to work on team hockey skills, laid out the rules and finished the meeting.
It’s kind of ironic that I uttered those words first. The fact is all of the kids that were given to me were pretty good and many of them likely deserved to be on a higher ranked team. As the season was winding down, we ended up taking 2nd place in NIHL. Then we got word that we qualified for the state championships. We took state one game at a time until we reached the championship. The kicker? To win the state championship, we had to play the peewee silver team from our association. This was the same team that was “ranked” higher than ours and the same coaches that “overlooked” the players on my team. With a 2-1 lead, my team was winning! As the seconds ticked down, the fans were so loud, you could not hear the buzzer and a goal was awarded to the silver team with less than 1 second remaining. After six long and agonizing overtime periods, Evan #17 scored the game winning goal. We were officially the State Champions!
The moral of the story: (The grass isn’t always greener on the “better” team.) If you didn’t make the team you were hoping for, step back, remember this story, have faith in your child, embrace your coach and enjoy the season for what it is. In hindsight, I had a core group of fantastic parents/supporters that made the season enjoyable, regardless of the outcome. Now, you may be saying to yourself…sure I can enjoy myself, but I want what’s best for my son, consider this: Evan #17 is now a leader on his D1 Minnesota Hockey Team and got there through hard work and dedication to constantly improve.
After winning the state championship, I went on to coach many travel hockey teams, therefore attended many hockey tryouts. As I end today’s blog post, I want to take a moment to give you a “coach’s perspective” of tryouts and explain how you can help your child become a “standout player”. It’s important for parents to understand this, so you can help your child develop the skills they need to make the team they desire next season. Most coaches select their team based on what they see during tryouts. Here’s how to be seen:
1. Skate faster than everyone at tryouts. The fastest skaters always standout because they are the first to find a loose puck and develop a play. Fast skaters also catch slow players while backchecking and stop a play from developing in the defensive zone.
2. When you get the puck, skate with it as long as possible, without losing possession. Next time you watch a game at the rink and you child isn’t on the ice, take notice of who you watch the most! You’ll notice that the majority of your time is spent watching the player with the puck!
3. Practice skating faster with the puck. It’s natural for players to slow down when skating with a puck. Some skate a turtle speed, so it’s easy for faster players to take possession. If you can outskate all of your teammates when you have the puck, you’re going to naturally stand out.
4. Improve your defensive skills. Most people think: My son is a plays wing, he doesn’t need to play defense. WRONG. If your team doesn’t have the puck and the puck in the offensive corner, it’s the winger’s responsibility to play defensively. Encourage your player to be aggressive in re-gaining control without taking a penalty.
5. Communication, communication, communication! When your child is at tryouts, it’s likely they are playing with line-mates they are unfamiliar with. A proficient on-ice communicator will help plays develop and make it easier to for other players to read and react to their surroundings.
Hope you enjoyed!
Brian
I had just moved back from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin and was excited to be the marketing and hockey director at a local rink. I got to know many of the people from the hockey association and they asked me to coach a team. I really didn’t care what level or tier I was selected to coach because I enjoy working on the individual skill aspects of team development and knew I could help the best and the worst become better. (I was given a peewee bronze team. Team #5 of 5.) Tryouts were easy, I didn’t have to choose anyone, the players that were left, were all mine!
I remember hearing some rumbling between parents like “my son should be on the #2 team” as I walked through the lobby to coach my first practice. I chose to ignore the comments because I was holding a parent meeting after practice to introduce myself and define the team rules. Before bringing the kids into the meeting, I met with the parents. After introducing myself and giving a brief history of my hockey experience, the first words I think I uttered were, “If you think your son is too good for this team, please quit, there’s the door. I don’t want to spend the next six months hearing about how your son should have made a better team.” I went on to explain that I would work to improve individual hockey skills before attempting to work on team hockey skills, laid out the rules and finished the meeting.
It’s kind of ironic that I uttered those words first. The fact is all of the kids that were given to me were pretty good and many of them likely deserved to be on a higher ranked team. As the season was winding down, we ended up taking 2nd place in NIHL. Then we got word that we qualified for the state championships. We took state one game at a time until we reached the championship. The kicker? To win the state championship, we had to play the peewee silver team from our association. This was the same team that was “ranked” higher than ours and the same coaches that “overlooked” the players on my team. With a 2-1 lead, my team was winning! As the seconds ticked down, the fans were so loud, you could not hear the buzzer and a goal was awarded to the silver team with less than 1 second remaining. After six long and agonizing overtime periods, Evan #17 scored the game winning goal. We were officially the State Champions!
The moral of the story: (The grass isn’t always greener on the “better” team.) If you didn’t make the team you were hoping for, step back, remember this story, have faith in your child, embrace your coach and enjoy the season for what it is. In hindsight, I had a core group of fantastic parents/supporters that made the season enjoyable, regardless of the outcome. Now, you may be saying to yourself…sure I can enjoy myself, but I want what’s best for my son, consider this: Evan #17 is now a leader on his D1 Minnesota Hockey Team and got there through hard work and dedication to constantly improve.
After winning the state championship, I went on to coach many travel hockey teams, therefore attended many hockey tryouts. As I end today’s blog post, I want to take a moment to give you a “coach’s perspective” of tryouts and explain how you can help your child become a “standout player”. It’s important for parents to understand this, so you can help your child develop the skills they need to make the team they desire next season. Most coaches select their team based on what they see during tryouts. Here’s how to be seen:
1. Skate faster than everyone at tryouts. The fastest skaters always standout because they are the first to find a loose puck and develop a play. Fast skaters also catch slow players while backchecking and stop a play from developing in the defensive zone.
2. When you get the puck, skate with it as long as possible, without losing possession. Next time you watch a game at the rink and you child isn’t on the ice, take notice of who you watch the most! You’ll notice that the majority of your time is spent watching the player with the puck!
3. Practice skating faster with the puck. It’s natural for players to slow down when skating with a puck. Some skate a turtle speed, so it’s easy for faster players to take possession. If you can outskate all of your teammates when you have the puck, you’re going to naturally stand out.
4. Improve your defensive skills. Most people think: My son is a plays wing, he doesn’t need to play defense. WRONG. If your team doesn’t have the puck and the puck in the offensive corner, it’s the winger’s responsibility to play defensively. Encourage your player to be aggressive in re-gaining control without taking a penalty.
5. Communication, communication, communication! When your child is at tryouts, it’s likely they are playing with line-mates they are unfamiliar with. A proficient on-ice communicator will help plays develop and make it easier to for other players to read and react to their surroundings.
Hope you enjoyed!
Brian