Hal Tearse
August is offseason
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
By Hal Tearse
Coach in Chief, Minnesota Hockey
Head Coach, Providence Academy Boys Varsity
August marks the official and only month that constitutes the offseason in a sport that officially is a winter season activity. The summer skills camps have concluded by the end of July and hopefully you are all reading this from your cabins, lake homes or somewhere on vacation.
The question that we have before us is does all of this training and rushing from one skills camp, to showcase tournaments, to another AAA team practice to other activities really make for better athletes and hockey players? There is mounting and compelling evidence from many professional areas that say the answer is no.
Several studies from Canada argue that the over-scheduled over-supervised activities of children are having a very detrimental effect on growing children. Evolutionary psychologist Don Fulgosi notes that “kids not allowed to play freely may not be socialized properly and are at risk for a wide variety of problems such as aggression, anxiety and depression.”
Also consider comments by youth sports consultant Elaine Raakman that “children involved in highly organized activities show a lack of initiative and are unable to function without being told what to do.” Is this what we want for our kids?
As I watch youth practices and even “development” camps, I see lots of kids standing in line and coaches supervising every moment. Even with many cross-ice games that we utilize in practices and should use in Mite hockey, kids want to be told what to do and coaches promptly tell them.
While running summer programs a few years ago I discovered that the players did not understand how to play cross-ice. They wanted me to explain it to me. I merely replied “How do you think it should be played?” It took them about 30 minutes to figure it out and a few sessions to really start having fun and through play, improving their skills. Coaches need to trust players.
Organizationally, we separate players by age for fear that some might get hurt. We identify our players by their birth year which is convenient and easy. However, this structure misses the reality that developmentally players fall in a range of four years plus or minus their chronological age. We should allow mixed ages based on each player’s level of development physically and mentally.
The new ADM model from USA Hockey stresses age appropriate development activities and correctly recommends weekly participation limits to avoid burnout on the part of the players, parents, and coaches.
I urge youth programs, coaches and players can and should go one step further to ensure that their kids have a great experience playing hockey and develop to their fullest potential. To do what is right for kids youth programs and parents should follow these guidelines:
Restrict organized team functions to a maximum of four times a week, including games at the Bantam/14U and PeeWee/12U levels. Three times a week of structured sessions for Squirts and Mites. Offer two unstructured, non-mandatory sessions per week that would consist of PeeWees and Bantams sharing ice and the only supervision is an adult to insure safety only. Let the kids decide what to do. Place four or more nets on the ice. Maybe some balls of various sizes. Limit the attendance per session to 35 skaters. Offer the same opportunities to the mite and squirt age levels.
On Sundays, local associations could schedule “Home Ice” events that involve cross-ice tournaments, no coaching and pure fun for PeeWees/12U and lower. Boys and girls should skate together. Let the players make the rules. Finally, offer open ice opportunities indoors and outdoors for kids to just play hockey on their own terms.
Youth programs need to also ensure that players are home early (before 9:30 p.m.) at least two school nights a week so they can study and sleep. After all, our kids need to get a great education because the reality is that fewer and fewer Minnesota kids are going to make it to Division I hockey, much less the pros, due to the expansion of hockey across the country.
To get a great education kids need to be rested at school so they can pay attention and learn. Hockey is a great game with an emphasis on “game.” School is for the game of life.
To create the right framework for growth and development, strict game limits should be imposed at each level in favor of quality practice sessions that emphasize skills and creativity, and unstructured sessions where the kids make the rules.
Do these ideas seem radical or preposterous? Maybe they do, but nearly all great players tell us all the time they spent alone or with just a few friends playing hockey, shooting pucks in the driveway, and making up their own rules.
As development experts have proven over the past 40 years, what really matters is time spent on the ice, not in the car, not in the locker room, not in the gym, not in the weight room and not in hotel rooms waiting for more games.
As the 2010 winter season approaches, parents and youth program directors should take a hard look at what we are doing and start to move in a player-friendly direction that will actually result in happier and more creative players who develop a deep passion for playing the game of hockey.
See you around the rink…
The right balance of skills
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
By Hal Tearse
Coach in Chief, Minnesota Hockey
Head Coach, Providence Academy Boys Varsity
Hockey requires many skills to be successful as a player moves from one level to the next. As youth players get older, it is important that they continue to develop all of the necessary skills to be effective players.
Often we see youngsters focus on one particular skill believing that if they perfect that skill set it is all they need to excel. Additionally, youth coaches sometimes fail to emphasize broad range skill development that will, over time, help players develop the habits they need for success.
The two skills that oppose each other are stickhandling and skating. It is really important that coaches and players focus on the important relationship between these two skills and find the right balance of each.
As players spend more and more time in off-ice programs, stickhandling skills have improved significantly. In fact, many players spend so much time working on these skills that they do not recognize that excessive stickhandling actually hurts their performance as a player and hurts their team play.
In recent years coaches have started talking about “over-handling” the puck. This term refers to players who are so intent on unnecessary stickhandling that they lose sight of the game around them and slow the game down offensively and more often than not, turn over the puck to the other team. Being able to execute cool moves like Alex Ovechkin is the goal for many players but mastery of the skills is elusive.
I have also seen research that indicates that skating efficiency decreases by as much as 35 percent at the pro level when a player has a puck on his stick. Then add excessive stickhandling moves which require more looks down to the stick and a youth/high school players have really handicapped themselves. An alert defender will simply focus on the mid-body area of the player and the stickhandling moves go for naught.
On the other side of the equation is skating skills. Learning to skate efficiently and correctly is also critical to success and not something that is focused on by the majority of players and coaches. By using quick feet, having good on ice agility to adjust to the puck and quickly evolving situations players will be more successful.
Youth and high school coaches should emphasize the importance of skating and carrying the puck in a ready position especially in the neutral ice and offensive zone. The puck should be on the forehand whenever possible and in a position to pass, fake, or shoot. Too much stickhandling and opportunities are lost in an instant.
To teach these concepts, drills designed to match skating, puck carrying and shooting should be used at all levels of the game. Add pressure as the players get comfortable with their skill sets and continue to challenge them to minimize stickhandling and maximize skating speed and efficiency. The combination of the two is very effective.
Attention to details and the small things make a big difference. Coaches need to stay vigilant in keeping their players focused on the important skills needed for success. A good balance of skill development throughout the growing years of a player is essential for a well-rounded player. Some skills are not as fun or easy to develop but time must be spent with those skills also.
Hockey is growing across the country and with the USA Hockey ADM program, Recruitment and Retention Program, and other initiatives, the competition for college hockey opportunities is becoming tougher every year. Youth and high school players who aspire to play in college or beyond need to be sure they are getting a the right balance of individual and team skill development.
Remember why they play
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
By Hal Tearse
Coach in Chief, Minnesota Hockey
With playoffs just around the corner, the season end is in sight for all but a few teams. It is also a time of year when winning seems to take center stage and the adults in youth and high school hockey take over the game.
Coaches and parents need to remember that winning is more important to you than the players. Yes they want to win but they also want to play. Short benches, lost goalie rotations and tactics designed solely to win can sometimes ruin a great season for many players and parents.
Youth hockey is about participation, fun, playing hard together, winning and losing together. In the big picture of a player’s life inside and outside of hockey it matters not who wins a district or regional playoff game. Yes, every team should make their best effort to win and in doing so they are winners. What matters is that whatever the outcome you do it as a team with all players participating.
Coaches will be tempted to shorten up the bench early and the parents of the top five players on the team will agree. This is morally wrong in youth athletics and good coaches will find a way to ensure all players participate in late season games and that the true spirit and meaning of team is consistent all the way to the end.
This is also a time of year when players are getting tired. The youth season started for many organizations back in early October and they have spent a lot of time at the rink over the past five months. In some cases, especially Bantams who skate later in the evenings, it is a good idea to shorten up practices and give your players an extra day off each week leading into playoffs. The coaches need some time off also to relax and focus on family and friends.
One idea for a team event is a team party to watch one of the Olympic Hockey games starting next week. Cancel a practice, order pizza and watch some great hockey with the kids and then hit the outdoor rink/pond and play pick up hockey for the evening. Here is the link for the schedule of the games: http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey.
“To win the game is Great...
“To play the game is Greater….
“To Love the Game is Greatest of All”
Help your kids love the game.
See you around the rink…
Second season begins when the tournaments end
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
By Hal Tearse
Minnesota Hockey Coach-in-Chief
The state high school tournament unfolds on the grand stage of the Xcel Energy Center this week, capping a 16-week high school season and showcasing some of the top teams and players in the state. The following weekend the Minnesota Hockey Youth and Girls State Tournaments begin, and at the conclusion, mark the end of hockey for the 2009-10 season. Or does it?
No, in fact these great events only mark the end of the winter season and the beginning of the second season that occurs from mid-March until mid-fall each year.
We are now playing hockey 12 months a year maybe out of necessity or perhaps out of fear that our children will fall behind the others if they do not continue to play year around. This phenomenon occurs most intensely at the youngest ages and as the players reach high school, the realization sinks in that playing all year long is not as valuable as the parents and players once thought.
As we discuss and debate the pros and cons of year-round hockey in Minnesota, the discussion has ended around the country with tryouts for many organizations beginning in mid- to late-April for the new season.
Here at home we talk about playing other sports, time off and family activities. Even our most recognizable hockey names in Minnesota encourage these ideas, yet many have their own children playing year around. The difference here is that there are a bewildering number of choices for parents to sort through for their aspiring youngsters.
The AAA offseason teams have proliferated the scene. Have you ever seen a BBB team? Or a non elite team? No, everybody is elite or AAA, regardless of ability. Sort of like Lake Woebegon where everybody is above average.
We have so many great programs and opportunities here in Minnesota for young players to consider. It is important for parents to take a deep breath and make sure to provide balance into your skaters’ life. Although the club programs across the country are mostly year-round, the balance is in built into their schedules so parents do not have to worry about keeping up with others.
It is also important for parents to remember that less than one percent of our players will have an opportunity to play Division I (scholarships) hockey after high school. That is only about 35 players per birth year, and the numbers are trending lower with the growth of quality development programs around the country and in Canada. The USA Hockey ADM and High Performance Clubs programs will cut into our current dominance nationally.
Hockey is the greatest game on earth but we need to make sure our children have balance in their lives, get good grades at school and have fun being a kid.
Ultimate “guaranteed to work” off-ice training
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
By Hal Tearse
Minnesota Hockey Coach-in-Chief
Off-ice training has become more and more common with hockey players of all ages as facilities are made available and trainers for hire flourish. As with all on- and off-ice training, the effectiveness is dependent on the athlete and the training environment.
Most agree that the long-term outcome for athlete performance depends primarily on the make-up of the individual athlete. Training regimens can certainly help an athlete do better but not that much better. An individual athlete can train to increase speed, quickness and strength. Game understanding seems to be more difficult to learn for some players, regardless of what they do on or off the ice. Perception and the ability to see the ice well do not seem to be able to be easily learned, especially as players get into their teen years and beyond.
Most coaches who have been at this more than few years have worked with kids who have spent an incredible amount of time and money on training programs and development camps with very little to show for it. This is not necessarily bad as there are many lessons they learn in the process even though they do not reach the higher levels of the game. Maybe some of the time could be better spent in other areas.
There is one area of off-ice training that each and every player can and should pay close attention to in order to ensure they have an abundant number of choices and opportunities as they get older. This particular training is available to every single player in the country and it is free. The program is called an “education” and it only requires time and effort.
The NCAA reports that there are $11 of academic scholarships available for every dollar of athletic scholarships and there are so many more academic opportunities for kids at all schools. Putting one’s eggs into one basket is foolhardy at best.
Many parents are of the belief that the goal is to get a college scholarship to pay for school. Even if your son or daughter were offered the opportunity to play in college, is it the right school academically? It makes more sense to identify the right schools in advance and work towards achieving the academic background necessary to attend the colleges of choice. I know many athletes from Minnesota who accepted athletic scholarships at schools they had never heard of a couple years earlier and then returned home after one year.
Very few college athletes have the opportunity to earn a paycheck in the pros. When their college careers are over they leave to begin their next phase in life. I have meet too many who have not prepared themselves for the adult stage of life by getting the education they need to be successful.
A few years ago I interviewed a former collegiate and European league player for a job at our company and his salary requirements were $100,000 a year minimum which was way above our starting levels. He explained that is what he was getting paid to play hockey and therefore believed that we should pay him the same. I politely explained to him that we do not play hockey at our company and he needed to start at the same level as everybody else. Essentially he had limited skills to offer and his education was thin.
Our world is becoming increasingly competitive and our kids will need to be well prepared to succeed. As good as the public schools are in Minnesota, many students have trouble passing the state math requirements which are actually pretty low to start with. Reading and critical thinking skills are also on the decline. Math, science, reading, writing and foreign languages (Canadian is not a foreign language) are all important for the future of this generation.
The admissions requirements at major universities like Minnesota have gone up over the past decade. Yes, top athletes at Division I schools can be admitted with lower than average test scores, but it is important to remember that essentially a scholarship means the player is an employee of the school athletic department. Sports come first, academics second. Division III hockey schools do not offer scholarships and correctly put academics ahead of athletics. The long-term goal should be a high quality education in order to be able to compete in life after hockey.
In order to get into a good college that fits the academic interests of a student it will require more than a little attention to school work. I have spent many years around the private and public schools in the state and know first-hand that many kids cannot qualify academically for the top private high schools, even with a public school GPA over 3.25. If a student athlete cannot get into a good private high school due to academic deficiencies in 9th or 10th grade, it is a very safe bet that the college choices available to that athlete are significantly reduced.
What a shame because academic achievement is available to all of our kids. It takes time and effort but every young person that tackles the challenge will be a winner. There are no tryouts, no cuts, no politics and no barriers other than deciding to accept the challenge of excellence and applying oneself to the task at hand. It likely means extra work outside of the classroom. It means dryland training for the brain.
When I talk to college coaches and junior coaches across the country about players the first question they ask is, “How are his or her grades?” You see, average grades and average ACT and SAT scores eliminates nearly half of the schools that an athlete can possibly attend.
All of those hours of extra training off- and on-ice for so little opportunity when a world of opportunity exists for those who accept the academic challenge. On the other hand, academic excellence combined with athletic ability opens the doors to so many more schools and the low numbers of qualified candidates means less competition for spots. Think of the tremendous lifetime opportunities available to athletes who attend Ivy League colleges and other top academic institutions.
Finally, it is important to remember that for 95 percent or more of young athletes, the athletic training will benefit them for only a few years, but a high quality education will benefit an athlete for a lifetime. Balance is the key. Train the body for sports and the brain for life.
Hit the weights and the books!
Prepare for the game of your life and more importantly the game of life.
