Heat McManus
Registered User
This is my second year assistant coaching at the freshman level a high school on Long Island. Our philosophy at this level is that every kid plays. We have try-outs, but do not cut any kids. While some people might criticize this as not being competitive enough it helps our program immensly.
1. We don't have enough interest in the area to dress a freshman, JV, and varsity team each yr. In our area a lot of kids start late and most elite kids are playing travel so HS is not as competitive as other areas.
2. Every player gets an incredible amount of experience playing in every kind of situation.
Some of the things we try to emphasize is defensive responsibility (weak side winger picks up the weak side wing), carrying the puck into the zone (rather than dump-and-chase), and developing maturity on the ice (walking away from altercations, not letting your opponent take you to the box).
So far I've seen a few kids start out as a player no coach would look at turn into real valuable player. I've also seen some horrible coaching at this level. How does it benefit your players to let them goal hang in the neutral zone for their entire shift?
I don't want to take any of the credit here, because I'm just the assistant coach and these principles were set way before I got here.
I was just wondering what some other coaching philosophies might be on here.
1. We don't have enough interest in the area to dress a freshman, JV, and varsity team each yr. In our area a lot of kids start late and most elite kids are playing travel so HS is not as competitive as other areas.
2. Every player gets an incredible amount of experience playing in every kind of situation.
Some of the things we try to emphasize is defensive responsibility (weak side winger picks up the weak side wing), carrying the puck into the zone (rather than dump-and-chase), and developing maturity on the ice (walking away from altercations, not letting your opponent take you to the box).
So far I've seen a few kids start out as a player no coach would look at turn into real valuable player. I've also seen some horrible coaching at this level. How does it benefit your players to let them goal hang in the neutral zone for their entire shift?
I don't want to take any of the credit here, because I'm just the assistant coach and these principles were set way before I got here.
I was just wondering what some other coaching philosophies might be on here.