HOCKEY MADE EASY- Early Season Tips for Coaches, Parents and Players
Minor and Youth Hockey, executives, coaches, managers, webmasters and other e-mail recipients.If you are working with players between 5 and 12 years of age, these early season hockey tips are for you. Feel free to post them on your hockey web site, or consider forwarding it to them or their parents if you so desire, but please credit www.HockeyMadeEasy.com for the information.
Thank you, John Shorey - Hockey Canada Award winner and Author of “Hockey Made Easy” Canada’s Best Hockey Instruction Manual.
Many Youth/Minor Hockey tryout camps are over and the coaches have made their final selections, now what?
Well, now the real work begins. Coaches must plan for a full season of providing players with specific hockey information as well as running a multitude of organized and challenging on ice and off ice practices that will help all players improve their individual and team skills over the course of the entire season so they can hit their peak at playoff time.
The second big challenge facing many coaches is molding 15 or more individuals with different personalities, different learning abilities and skill levels into a cohesive hockey team.
Both of these challenges can be accomplished using the following simple methods:
1. Holding weekly 1.5 to 2 hour Off ice teaching sessions in a school gymnasium or a large hall 2. Conducting challenging On ice practice sessions that duplicate game like situations3. Using a number of experienced Assistant or Guest Coaches to help you at both venues.
These above methods will develop your player’s hockey skills as well as build team unity, spirit and cohesiveness.
For first time Rep/Travel Team or House League coaches this can be a challenging time
as to what to teach and when.
For players, this is also a challenging time, as steady improvement on their basic individual skills, then team skills, will determine how competitive your team will be throughout the regular season and how far you will advance into the playoffs.
One piece of advice for all Head Coaches in 06/07, one person cannot coach by him/herself.
There is just too much teaching to do. You need a number of Assistant Coaches to help you
run practices and to help out on the bench during a game. Try to find the most qualified or
experienced hockey people to assist you, and you will find the job of coaching much easier
and still very rewarding.
Another tip for Coaches, a good early season starting point is to assess your team’s skills
during scrimmages, exhibition and early season games. Assess the Team’s positive points
and the skills that will need more work. Make a list, and then decide what the immediate
priority is and what skills, systems etc. can wait for a later time during the season.
Points to consider, what physical condition are your players in, can your team score goals,
can they prevent goals, can they pass the puck accurately, are they good, quick skaters,
or a bit slow of foot?
Do they understand the different forechecking and backchecking systems?
What about their positioning on clearing/breakout plays?
Do they understand the importance of the transition game and the difference
between offensive and defensive hockey?
And last, but not least, with the new rules regarding obstruction there are going to be a lot
of penalties called. You will need to spend some early time on practicing your Penalty Killing
and Power Play.
What should be taught first?
Depending on the answers, your on ice practices and off ice teaching sessions should be
based on their assessed needs.
No matter what age or caliber of team or players you are coaching, i.e. "AAA" All Star players
or Recreational House Leaguers, if you keep it fun, everybody will have a good time and will
learn how to play hockey correctly and safely.
On our Hockey Made Easy web site we now have three e-book resources available to help coaches
of 5 to 12 year old players.
1.The Seasonal Instruction Plan addresses specific needs throughout the season, from running
a Tryout/Training Camp, skills to teach through regular season play and preparing for the Playoffs.
2. The Coaches Practice Guide has a series of drills and skills to teach during on and off-ice practices.
3. The Coaches and Parents Teaching Guide used for both On ice or Off Ice Teaching sessions.
30 pages of information how to teach your players hockey skills with specific information and drills.
These are written specifically for coaches of Male and Female players in Initiation, Novice/Mite, Atom/Squirt
and Peewee. Simply go to www.HockeyMadeEasy.com and click on e-books to review the content of these
helpful coaching resources.
Also, during the month of September, we are offering all Minor/Youth Hockey Associations,
a combination package of the 200 page “Hockey Made Easy” Instruction Manual in CD format
including the 30 page “Coaches and Parents Teaching Guide” for your Association’s hockey
resource library to make available for your Travel or House League coaches, parents or players to sign out.
Or a Coach and his/her Team members or their parents can purchase their own 5 to 10 - CD copies for
their personal use.
We’re offering a package of either 5 or 10 CD’s during the month of September.
The cost of 5 - CD’s, including Air mail shipping to anywhere in North America is $75 Cdn or about $65 US.
The cost of 10 - CD’s including Air mail shipping to anywhere in North America is $100 Cdn or about $87 US.
I guarantee these CD’s will help your hockey programs involving 5 to 12 year old players or your money back
if returned within 30 days of purchase, less shipping and handling charges.
To receive this September offer simply go to www.HockeyMadeEasy.com and click on the
CD Logo located in the upper right corner and it will take you to the order page.
We accept Visa and MasterCard and your order is usually shipped within 24 hours.
Tips for Parents and Players
There is a saying "practice makes perfect" and this especially applies to hockey skills.
Players must attend practice regularly if they and their Team are going to improve.
Players must listen attentively to their coach and do the drills to the best of their ability.
Practices are where individual skills and team improvements are made, not during games.
Parents must ensure their child gets to every practice or he/she will fall behind the other players.
Coaches cannot set lines or work on specific offensive or defensive plays if players don't attend practice.
I realize players love to play games and hate to practice, but players rarely learn a lot about hockey during games.
It's the practices that prepare you for the games. So whether it's an off-ice teaching session or an on-ice practice
it’s in your best interest for your child to attend every single practice and to work on improving their skills.
A final tip, “ players must listen to their coaches ”. They are the men or women who were selected by
your local Minor/Youth Hockey Association to be in charge of the hockey team.
They have the special hockey training and completed the compulsory coaching courses to
become a Head or Assistant coach. They are giving a lot of their free time to help you improve your game
so please show respect to them and pay attention to what they have to say.
If you are no longer involved with Minor or Youth Hockey programs and would like your
e-mail address taken off our Hockey Tips data base simply e-mail jshorey@hockeymadeeasy.com
with the address these tips were sent to and it will be dealt with immediately.
Or please consider sending them to the hockey volunteers who took your place or hockey parents who might
find the information useful.
Good luck to all Minor/Youth Hockey coaches, managers, players and parents this hockey season.
Yours in hockey,
John Shorey
Author- “Hockey Made Easy” – Canada’s Best Instruction Manual
www.HockeyMadeEasy.com
P.S. We now have a number of free hockey tips available on our website and some of them may help you get to the next level!
Thank you, John Shorey - Hockey Canada Award winner and Author of “Hockey Made Easy” Canada’s Best Hockey Instruction Manual.
Many Youth/Minor Hockey tryout camps are over and the coaches have made their final selections, now what?
Well, now the real work begins. Coaches must plan for a full season of providing players with specific hockey information as well as running a multitude of organized and challenging on ice and off ice practices that will help all players improve their individual and team skills over the course of the entire season so they can hit their peak at playoff time.
The second big challenge facing many coaches is molding 15 or more individuals with different personalities, different learning abilities and skill levels into a cohesive hockey team.
Both of these challenges can be accomplished using the following simple methods:
1. Holding weekly 1.5 to 2 hour Off ice teaching sessions in a school gymnasium or a large hall 2. Conducting challenging On ice practice sessions that duplicate game like situations3. Using a number of experienced Assistant or Guest Coaches to help you at both venues.
These above methods will develop your player’s hockey skills as well as build team unity, spirit and cohesiveness.
For first time Rep/Travel Team or House League coaches this can be a challenging time
as to what to teach and when.
For players, this is also a challenging time, as steady improvement on their basic individual skills, then team skills, will determine how competitive your team will be throughout the regular season and how far you will advance into the playoffs.
One piece of advice for all Head Coaches in 06/07, one person cannot coach by him/herself.
There is just too much teaching to do. You need a number of Assistant Coaches to help you
run practices and to help out on the bench during a game. Try to find the most qualified or
experienced hockey people to assist you, and you will find the job of coaching much easier
and still very rewarding.
Another tip for Coaches, a good early season starting point is to assess your team’s skills
during scrimmages, exhibition and early season games. Assess the Team’s positive points
and the skills that will need more work. Make a list, and then decide what the immediate
priority is and what skills, systems etc. can wait for a later time during the season.
Points to consider, what physical condition are your players in, can your team score goals,
can they prevent goals, can they pass the puck accurately, are they good, quick skaters,
or a bit slow of foot?
Do they understand the different forechecking and backchecking systems?
What about their positioning on clearing/breakout plays?
Do they understand the importance of the transition game and the difference
between offensive and defensive hockey?
And last, but not least, with the new rules regarding obstruction there are going to be a lot
of penalties called. You will need to spend some early time on practicing your Penalty Killing
and Power Play.
What should be taught first?
Depending on the answers, your on ice practices and off ice teaching sessions should be
based on their assessed needs.
No matter what age or caliber of team or players you are coaching, i.e. "AAA" All Star players
or Recreational House Leaguers, if you keep it fun, everybody will have a good time and will
learn how to play hockey correctly and safely.
On our Hockey Made Easy web site we now have three e-book resources available to help coaches
of 5 to 12 year old players.
1.The Seasonal Instruction Plan addresses specific needs throughout the season, from running
a Tryout/Training Camp, skills to teach through regular season play and preparing for the Playoffs.
2. The Coaches Practice Guide has a series of drills and skills to teach during on and off-ice practices.
3. The Coaches and Parents Teaching Guide used for both On ice or Off Ice Teaching sessions.
30 pages of information how to teach your players hockey skills with specific information and drills.
These are written specifically for coaches of Male and Female players in Initiation, Novice/Mite, Atom/Squirt
and Peewee. Simply go to www.HockeyMadeEasy.com and click on e-books to review the content of these
helpful coaching resources.
Also, during the month of September, we are offering all Minor/Youth Hockey Associations,
a combination package of the 200 page “Hockey Made Easy” Instruction Manual in CD format
including the 30 page “Coaches and Parents Teaching Guide” for your Association’s hockey
resource library to make available for your Travel or House League coaches, parents or players to sign out.
Or a Coach and his/her Team members or their parents can purchase their own 5 to 10 - CD copies for
their personal use.
We’re offering a package of either 5 or 10 CD’s during the month of September.
The cost of 5 - CD’s, including Air mail shipping to anywhere in North America is $75 Cdn or about $65 US.
The cost of 10 - CD’s including Air mail shipping to anywhere in North America is $100 Cdn or about $87 US.
I guarantee these CD’s will help your hockey programs involving 5 to 12 year old players or your money back
if returned within 30 days of purchase, less shipping and handling charges.
To receive this September offer simply go to www.HockeyMadeEasy.com and click on the
CD Logo located in the upper right corner and it will take you to the order page.
We accept Visa and MasterCard and your order is usually shipped within 24 hours.
Tips for Parents and Players
There is a saying "practice makes perfect" and this especially applies to hockey skills.
Players must attend practice regularly if they and their Team are going to improve.
Players must listen attentively to their coach and do the drills to the best of their ability.
Practices are where individual skills and team improvements are made, not during games.
Parents must ensure their child gets to every practice or he/she will fall behind the other players.
Coaches cannot set lines or work on specific offensive or defensive plays if players don't attend practice.
I realize players love to play games and hate to practice, but players rarely learn a lot about hockey during games.
It's the practices that prepare you for the games. So whether it's an off-ice teaching session or an on-ice practice
it’s in your best interest for your child to attend every single practice and to work on improving their skills.
A final tip, “ players must listen to their coaches ”. They are the men or women who were selected by
your local Minor/Youth Hockey Association to be in charge of the hockey team.
They have the special hockey training and completed the compulsory coaching courses to
become a Head or Assistant coach. They are giving a lot of their free time to help you improve your game
so please show respect to them and pay attention to what they have to say.
If you are no longer involved with Minor or Youth Hockey programs and would like your
e-mail address taken off our Hockey Tips data base simply e-mail jshorey@hockeymadeeasy.com
with the address these tips were sent to and it will be dealt with immediately.
Or please consider sending them to the hockey volunteers who took your place or hockey parents who might
find the information useful.
Good luck to all Minor/Youth Hockey coaches, managers, players and parents this hockey season.
Yours in hockey,
John Shorey
Author- “Hockey Made Easy” – Canada’s Best Instruction Manual
www.HockeyMadeEasy.com
P.S. We now have a number of free hockey tips available on our website and some of them may help you get to the next level!
posted by YMH at
8:23 AM
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