Need some help from coaches.

[johnny1976]

Hi all,

I need some help brain storming for our hockey association for next year. We just had our end of the year mite coaches meeting last night. Every coach had the same concern that our association moved a lot of kids up a level just to fill out rosters. Just to give you a little back round on our association, we are one of the biggest hockey association in the united states with over 200 kids playing at the might level. We have 3 different levels that the kids are grouped in according to skill level or supposed skill level. I coached in the middle level last year and I will say without a doubt 70% of these kids shouldn’t have been at this level. I had kids that still used their sticks as a tripod, kids who couldn’t skate backwards, or stop and numerous other problems. We all felt that it hindered or top kids progression of skills. One of the coaches at the highest level said that his concern was the kids that moved up didn’t have the puck skills. Well I don’t know how a kid could get enough puck skills if kids couldn’t keep up.

So our coaches at each levels are meeting next month and brain storming so I would like to get some opinions from the other coaches on the board.

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[berto14]

At such a young age, I'd be hesitant to split the kids up TOO much, so I certainly wouldn't go with any more than the 3 divisions you currently have. I guess my only suggestion would be to adjust the number of teams in each division -- for example, if you currently have 3 divisions with 6 teams in each (18 teams total), perhaps have an "A" division with 5 teams, a "B" division with 6 teams and a "C" division with 7 teams. Same number of teams, just keeps the "better" players together without the need to simply fill out the roster with weaker players.

If you're simply trying to "fill out the roster", my only other suggestion would be to have more teams with fewer players on each team and add more teams to the weakest division.

 

[beth]

I was thinking the same thing as berto14 - that maybe you just need arrange the number of teams in each division better.

Also, maybe all the coaches could get together and just make a list of clear expectations for each division and when kids should be moved up.

Mites is tough because there's such a wide range of ability as a lot of the kids are just entering the program. Some 5 and 6 year olds can be a bit daydreamy, but skate well and a 7 year old can go from barely skating to awesome in just a few months because they have a little more focus. And then there seems to be a growth spurt in there too, so mites come in all sorts of sizes. It all seems to level out more once they're squirts.

But always the focus should be on fun and skills. To deal with any disparities on our mite team, we sorted them by ability/size at practice and ran stations that way. Then the more advanced ones could get more difficult versions of the same drills.

 

[Whiskeypete]

I was thinking the same thing as berto14 - that maybe you just need arrange the number of teams in each division better.

Also, maybe all the coaches could get together and just make a list of clear expectations for each division and when kids should be moved up.

Mites is tough because there's such a wide range of ability as a lot of the kids are just entering the program. Some 5 and 6 year olds can be a bit daydreamy, but skate well and a 7 year old can go from barely skating to awesome in just a few months because they have a little more focus. And then there seems to be a growth spurt in there too, so mites come in all sorts of sizes. It all seems to level out more once they're squirts.

But always the focus should be on fun and skills. To deal with any disparities on our mite team, we sorted them by ability/size at practice and ran stations that way. Then the more advanced ones could get more difficult versions of the same drills.

we are doing the same thing with the program i'm involved with. we don't have an in house league due to lack of ice time, the rink only has one sheet. after the travel teams Midget - mites, figure skating schools, sync skating and speed skating there isn't any time for an in house. what we do have is a LTP program that is solely focused on developing the skills the kids need.

imo moving kids up for the sake of filling out three teams doesn't do them any good. kids will become discouraged and lose focus. while they will advance their skills playing they need a foundation to start with and it sounds like they aren't getting the basics they need to start out.