I remember watching the movie The Boys On The Bus over and over again when I was a kid—almost as if it was a Disney movie. The movie is about the Edmonton Oilers in the early and mid-1980s. I still remember one clip in which Mark Messier explains how he plays every game like it’s Read More…
Wayne Gretzky once said that he spent all day playing on the pond or backyard rink when he was a kid. I read this when I was younger and decided I needed to do the same thing. But when your friends go home and you’re still tooling around only because that’s what Gretzky would do, Read More…
Q: I coach a Squirt team and have a player who won’t pass, no matter what. The other parents are getting very frustrated. What is the best way to handle this? A: A coach will almost always have to deal with a player or two who will not move the puck. When dealing with younger Read More…
Coaches are teachers and have a huge responsibility. They can imbue—or not imbue—values that go far beyond sport itself. What are the lessons of sport and life that parents want their young athletes to come away with? Think about the athletes we admire so much—the names Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Michael Jordan, Cammi Granato and Read More…
For those of you who never played sports, team captain is not just an honorary position for the cutest, most-popular guy or gal on team. (Or for the coach’s son or daughter.) The captain and alternate captains have an actual job, defined by USA Hockey as the players who “shall have the privilege of discussing Read More…
From the dawn of youth sports, there has been debate over the qualifications an individual should have to coach a team. In a perfect world, a coach with intimate knowledge of a sport would be ideal, however, often this is not the case. The following article outlines the two most important traits a person should Read More…
Coaches can play many roles – including medic, psychologist, chauffeur and sometimes equipment manager to name a few. There are three key roles that define the philosophy, practice and impact of a coach. The coaches who confuse these roles can find themselves making serious mistakes. The coaches who manage these roles effectively are the ones Read More…
One of the key factors to keeping kids in youth sports is the element of fun in the activity. In this article, Executive Editor TK Stohlman and Jim Johnson, founder and director of flexxCoach, discuss how important it is for coaches to include fun in their teaching methods. Stohlman: It is interesting that the pro Read More…
The intensity and emotion of a close competition can easily carry over into post-game discussions. It is often difficult for coaches to stop trying to manage the game after it is over. However, post-game conversations are not a part of the game. After all, nothing that is said after a game can affect its outcome. Read More…
Youth coaches sometimes joke that the ideal youth team is a one full of orphans. Though this approach is one solution to problem parents, there are other practical ways for coaches to work with parents. One of the best is regular communication between coaches and parents. Everything a coach does with the team is in Read More…
