Has anyone here done the certification for USA Hockey coaching? What all is involved?
I have - I'm level 3 now, certified for mites/squirts/peewees. You have to sign up to go to a seminar which is about 6 hours or so, maybe? That part is for your level#, and it goes into more detail as you go up. You can only do one level a year. Then you have to complete an online module for each age group that you coach. You can do multiple age modules in a year. I did mites and squirts last year, peewees this year. The online module is really long and expect to take several days to complete it as you do it in your spare time.
You have to go to the USA Hockey website to find a coaching clinic near you at or before the start of the season. Depending on where you are, you might not have a lot of options, and if you only have one clinic for your level that year, you gotta make sure you can get to it that day.
The coaching clinics have always been worthwhile for me. You get to meet a lot of coaches in your area, and hear about things that worked well for them. I even took some of the things I learned from the clinics and applied it to the robotics team that I coach. You get a bunch of their resources for planning practices, etc., so part of the clinic fee goes to those sorts of things. Some associations will cover the clinic fees, so be sure to ask about that.
Coaching is really fun! You will have a great time!