Parents: Watch Out For These Coaching Errors

Recently, I’ve had numerous hockey parents asking questions about what is right for their child. How they can best develop, and how they can reach the next level. Each of these questions, has come in reference to advice, or rules mandated by their Minor Hockey or Junior coaches, that the parent, and player, disagree with.

Strangely enough, a few reoccurring topics keep popping up, including two that made it into my inbox a few weeks back from separate parents. Although I’m no expert, I’m going to weigh in on three of these issues, or ideas, that honestly, I would classify as coaching blunders.

So, to the parents out there who have been asking, I’m going to give my take on these three topics. When all is said and done, sometimes, coaches are wrong, and parents need to just make the decision for their child based on research, and the facts that are out there. So here we go:

1. In season training

: Here are two ridiculous statements that I’ve heard recently. 1. “My coach said we shouldn’t be training during the season.” What the heck? Why? I responded. “They said we’d burnout or get injured.”

This logic is just wrong. If you want to be elite, in season training is a must. Get a trainer, get in the gym, and get working. In season is more about maintenance, mobility, and lower intensity/volume workouts, which will actually reduce the risk of injury, keep performance levels high, and with good nutrition, prevent burnout. While skill development, and playing hockey should be your in season focus, a training plan is crucial.

And here’s the second: 2. “If you want to train during the season, you should only be running.”

Again, what the heck? Wrong. Running, or more specifically speed training or sprints, and cardio exercises have benefits for athletes, but running should not be the only, nor is it anywhere near the most ideal in season exercise to focus on. Again, get a trainer that knows. Need a suggestion for one, email me at ian@cksn.ca. There are a few excellent strength & conditioning coaches in town who can help you improve, and there’s a few posers. Now on to blunder number two.

2. Restricting Outside Ice Time

: I’ll be specific here. There are coaches in town who are not allowing players to compete in high school hockey, or skate with other teams as an AP. On the high school front, in general, it’s a league that allows for skill development, and can be a huge confidence boost. Kids can play top line minutes in all situations, against older competition, something you can’t do anymore until you’re 16, or more frequently 17-years-old when you reach Junior. If a player is competing on a losing club team, high school can also allow them to experience winning, never something that hurts.

More ice time equals more time with a puck on their stick (something I’ll address in the next blunder). Seth Griffith played high school hockey and ‘AAA’ at the same time, now he plays for the Boston Bruins. That seems like evidence enough for me that at the very least, it’s not detrimental. Need more evidence? NHL, NCAA, and OHL teams all skate 6-10 times per week. NHL teams take a morning skate before a game, so there is no reason a teen can’t practice or play with a high school team and play with a club team the same day. After all, you don’t go to a tournament and send everyone home after the first game of the day for fear of too much ice.

If your child has an opportunity to develop their skill, and get on the ice, let them.

3. System, System, System

:

We’ve all had a coach like this. The coach recognizes a skill gap between their team and their competition, so they start working on systems to close the gap. The problem is, it’s the more skilled teams winning, and the more skilled players advancing, getting drafted, and getting recruited.

If your child’s coach is spending the majority of a practice working on powerplays, penalty kill, forechecking systems, or even breakouts, it probably means your child spends most of their practice standing in line, watching, and without a puck on their stick.

So what can you do? Sign up your child for a skills camp, get them involved in another program (re: high school hockey above), do off ice skill development, or talk to the coach. Systems are a part of the game and every coach needs them, but skill wins, and the majority of your practice at a Minor Hockey level, regardless of age, should be spent on skills, individual tactics, and team tactics, in that order, with systems eating a maximum of 10% of practice.

Well, I hope that helps. If you’re a coach, beware of these blunders. If you’re a parent, fight back. If someone tells your child not to train, or not to find more opportunities to put a puck on their stick, don’t be afraid to question, because they’re inadvertently stalling your child’s development

On the other side, I know and recognize there are some fabulous coaches in Chatham-Kent. If you have one, tell them thank you, because they need the positive encouragement, just like their players do.