Any coaches out there?

[Coach Craig]

What level will you be coaching this upcoming season?
When does the season start?
Draft or tryouts?
Tips on what you are looking for when evaluating players?

I will be coaching a Novice team (7&8 yr olds) in 2011/12. Season will begin about the 17/18 of September with evaluation skates followed by the draft on October 1st.

At this level I am mostly looking for keen kids at the evaluation skates. Attitude and desire to learn are the two top ideals in players. I have enough confidence in my coaching that if I can get a group of kids that want to be out at every practice I can turn them into a competent team in short order. I will also target kids in the draft that have parents that I know are solid people. Goals are to have a lot of fun and for the kids to develop their hockey skills. Individually if a player wants to compete for a AA spot in atom the next year, I need to do for that player what I can to have him/her prepared. Players that will be returning to novice the next season I want to make them leaders for their teams the following season if that is in their character.

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[Headcoach]

I will be coaching a Novice team (7&8 yr olds) in 2011/12. Season will begin about the 17/18 of September with evaluation skates followed by the draft on October 1st.

Good luck this year with your season.

Head Coach

 

[BLBarmada]

I aim to coach for the 1st time, at 17 it won't be easy but I intend to coach peewee A. Haven't heard anything yet though.

 

[Steelhead16]

I'm coaching a varsity high school team again this season. The team won the league championship last year. The team was led last year by probably the four best players in the league. All four are gone this season (2 graduated and the other 2 have moved on to the WHL and WSHL). This year will be very interesting. Over half the team is back and most have at least 2 years at the varsity level. That being said, a lot of last year was feed the 2 big scorers and let them go when the times got tough. This year it's going to take a total team effort and getting the kids to really buy into playing a system that might not be exciting but it will fit with the talent level we have. We can still win but it will need to look completely different than last season.

We have evaluations (can't say tryout anymore) but we basically already know 95% of the kids that will make varsity. There were a couple of kids on the jv team last year that I would love to have but they were really small last year. If a couple of them have grown it may change things.

I look for kids that are coachable first of all. I have one kid in particular this year that was a freshman last year and played on the jv team. He has always played on rep teams and all star teams but never really had much coaching. He is the most uncoachable kid I have ever had. He has an excuse for everything and every play is someone else's fault. Last year was the first year that he couldn't dominate the competition and he did nothing but b**ch about everyone else and refused to play any kind of a team game. He has plenty of talent to play varsity this year but we'll have to see what his attitude is like at the evaluations. I'm going to put him with kids that are better than he is and see if he picks up his game or points fingers. I hope that competition will bring out the best and not the worst.

 

[gojacketsgo61]

What level will you be coaching this upcoming season?
When does the season start?
Draft or tryouts?
Tips on what you are looking for when evaluating players?

I will be coaching a Novice team (7&8 yr olds) in 2011/12. Season will begin about the 17/18 of September with evaluation skates followed by the draft on October 1st.

At this level I am mostly looking for keen kids at the evaluation skates. Attitude and desire to learn are the two top ideals in players. I have enough confidence in my coaching that if I can get a group of kids that want to be out at every practice I can turn them into a competent team in short order. I will also target kids in the draft that have parents that I know are solid people. Goals are to have a lot of fun and for the kids to develop their hockey skills. Individually if a player wants to compete for a AA spot in atom the next year, I need to do for that player what I can to have him/her prepared. Players that will be returning to novice the next season I want to make them leaders for their teams the following season if that is in their character.

Is this going to be televised on TSN?



I'm going to be a random player coach for multiple teams consisting of 9 year olds. Meaning that, I'm just teaching them how to shoot and pass mainly. The main coaches do the skating.

 

[Malreg]

This year I'll be coaching Bantam CC and Atom CC(in Quebec it goes C, B, A, CC, BB, AA, there is no house, minor, or major like in some parts of Canada).

We're just about to make the final cut in Bantam, the season starts in about 3 weeks. We are going to have a very strong team this year, and anything less than a spot in the Dodge Cup(provincial championships) will be a let down. Last year 90% of the team was 1st year players, so this year most of the team is 1 year bigger, stronger, and more experienced.

Bantam double-letters is the first year that there is full-contact in Quebec, so last year with so many first years it was a learning experience. Our association does not have a Bantam BB team, so that makes us much stronger in CC.

The Atom camp starts tonight and I can't wait! That will be a much tougher year though... It's a generally weak age group for our city, and it will be the first time playing double-letters for almost everyone.

 

[Coach Craig]

Good luck this year with your season.

Head Coach

Thank you; looking forward to it.

Thanks to everyone who has shared.

 

[Coach Craig]

I look for kids that are coachable first of all. I have one kid in particular this year that was a freshman last year and played on the jv team. He has always played on rep teams and all star teams but never really had much coaching. He is the most uncoachable kid I have ever had. He has an excuse for everything and every play is someone else's fault. Last year was the first year that he couldn't dominate the competition and he did nothing but b**ch about everyone else and refused to play any kind of a team game. He has plenty of talent to play varsity this year but we'll have to see what his attitude is like at the evaluations. I'm going to put him with kids that are better than he is and see if he picks up his game or points fingers. I hope that competition will bring out the best and not the worst.

Solid strategy. It would be interesting to hear how this works out.

I had a kid one year while coaching soccer that just seemed unreachable. Had no idea how to approach him. Thought he was miserable/un-coachable. I thought I just couldn't find a way to reach this kid, but was pleasantly shocked at the end of the year when his father thanked me and told me it was his best season and that his son had a great year. He was a highly competitive kid that enjoyed scoring, but wasn't. In turn, he had become a solid defender and I guess he started to see the growth of his game as the season went on. His demeanor just never changes.

 

[customradius]

Asst Coaching my son's mite team this year. Starts in mid oct. USA hockey coaching regs have changed slightly, so sometime in the next month or two I'll have level II cert.

 

[Spartin03]

I am coaching 8th and 9th graders this year. This is a big year for them and this time is when players either start taking it seriously or they taper off and juts want to play for fun.

I am real excited to get going in the next week and a half, I have a few players returning from our league championship team (tryouts happened at the conclusion of last years season), but for the most part it is all new blood. I can’t wait to start giving them the knowledge I have about the game, and for them to bounce ideas off of me. I find this really helps with their focus and involvement at practices; I even pick one player for each practice to bring their own drill and explain it for the team.

The biggest thing I look for is natural skating ability. Players who are naturally gifted skaters translate to the up tempo pace a little easier IMO. It is one less thing these players have to think about if they are good skaters already. Second thing I look for is what the players do without the puck when they are playing. This helps me see where their hockey IQ's are at in their development, and also how they approach playing (are they more in your face grind it out, or are they more cerebral and play a chess match).

Can’t wait to get this season going!!

 

[Cams]

Getting back into coaching this year - houseleague peewee.

My daughter is 2nd year peewee, was AP'd from Peewee minor travel last year, didn't try out this year (financial more than anything else).

I will be an assistant, with possibly looking into being the head coach next season - depends how things work out. I love working with the kids, and am very knowledgeable, however - I really don't like the way Hockey Canada does their coaches clinics. I wish there was a way to get a certification without having to take their clinic(s).

Not sure "head coach"ing is for me or not, at least at a house league level.

 

[BLBarmada]

If someone hasn't gotten a team by now should the inquire about when the coaches will be chosen ?

 

[jntadt22]

This is my first time to the "Rink" part of HFBoards.

I've been in Fort Wayne, IN for 3 1/2 years and this is my 3rd year as an Asst. Coach with the same group of kids. Mostly born in 99, but some are 2000's and I think 1 '01 this year. Solid group of kids, but nothing like the level that I had coached with up in Michigan.

I was a coach up in Port Huron (Opposite Sarnia, ON for the Canadians on here) for about 8 years. Both as a Head Coach and Assistant. I like the idea of being an Assistant Coach as I get to just work with the kids and really don't have to deal with the Parental Political Bull *****.

We had picked our team in the Spring and are two weeks into practice for our season. I think our first scrimmage is on the 17th.

 

[Coach Travis]

I'm going into coaching my third straight season of Midget A here in Thunder Bay.

We have evaluation skates of 16 groups. We watch and scout them all. After the Midget AA draft, we get to have our draft, and then the Midget B teams draft.

It's a really fun processes. This year I'm putting way more time into scouting.

It doesn't pay anything but I LOVE it!