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Are most varsity coaches involved with the youth hockey programs they represent?

wingnuts wrote:Are most varsity coaches involved with the youth hockey programs they represent?

As a member of the '99 state team for Elk River, I remember Mr. Sarsland skating with us all the way through Bantams, starting at ponies. He would attend our practices and coach us.

It was very important and instilled a pride in the program. The high school players would skate with us moving up through the program. We did the same as members of the high school team.

After varsity practice, coach stopped in PW B locker room before PW game to wish them luck. Many players made no idea who he was.

Not much involvement there.....

Not only does one of the coach's in Suburban East have nothing to do with the the youth program, he has nothing to do with JV, now that is development at it's highest. Oh ya, he only knows how to develop 1 line, so that would be way to much on his plate.

EROneSeven wrote:

wingnuts wrote:Are most varsity coaches involved with the youth hockey programs they represent?

As a member of the '99 state team for Elk River, I remember Mr. Sarsland skating with us all the way through Bantams, starting at ponies. He would attend our practices and coach us.

It was very important and instilled a pride in the program. The high school players would skate with us moving up through the program. We did the same as members of the high school team.

That's awesome. Too bad more HS coaches don't emulate this as it would make a much bigger diff in their programs I believe.

HS coach in the nrothern burbs wants nothing to do with youth program, even though he has brought the varsity to the big dance something like the last 6 years. You think he might want to at least work with the jr gold seeing some of those kids may want to tryout next year.

I don't understand coaches like that. You think they would want to be involved with the kids moving into his program so they have some kind of an idea what to expect at the HS level. Maybe a little to arrogant.

a coach will sometimes stay away from the youth programs to avoid dealing with the parents. associations need to be careful to walk a line

Maybe the coach has a wife, family and enjoys other interests. He gets paid to coach the HS team and that's were he should spend his energy. Many associations don't want the hs coach involved, if they do, he should be paid for his time.

mulefarm wrote:Maybe the coach has a wife, family and enjoys other interests. He gets paid to coach the HS team and that's were he should spend his energy. Many associations don't want the hs coach involved, if they do, he should be paid for his time.

Where is the line drawn between being involved and not involved? I can see that with a team sport like hockey, much like football/baseball/basketball, knowing what is coming up definitely helps. Having the younger levels know the basics of your system also helps out a lot. Mentoring the coaches and tweaking what they are doing will help the kids out. In many communities, the younger kids look up to the high school kids and having their coach there can help.

That all being said, mulefarm is right. Many have jobs in the community, or a teaching job. They are allowed to have lives outside of hockey/school. Many get involved in the grades/activities/lives of their players. Is it a high school Algebra teacher's job to check up on the 8th grade math students that will filter into them?

So, where is the line? Can a great coach exist at both extremes?

mulefarm wrote:Maybe the coach has a wife, family and enjoys other interests. He gets paid to coach the HS team and that's were he should spend his energy. Many associations don't want the hs coach involved, if they do, he should be paid for his time.

While I understand that a high school coach has other interests, they know going in that the job is a tough one. I for one would be wanting the kids being coached in "my" program to play "my" style of hockey. If I wasn't going to be heavily involved in the youth program I would surely have someone in the youth program teaching my philosophies. And I would definitely make it known that I was involved in setting the course. After all the kids coming in my program will affect my job status whether I like it or not.

wingnuts wrote:

mulefarm wrote:Maybe the coach has a wife, family and enjoys other interests. He gets paid to coach the HS team and that's were he should spend his energy. Many associations don't want the hs coach involved, if they do, he should be paid for his time.

While I understand that a high school coach has other interests, they know going in that the job is a tough one. I for one would be wanting the kids being coached in "my" program to play "my" style of hockey. If I wasn't going to be heavily involved in the youth program I would surely have someone in the youth program teaching my philosophies. And I would definitely make it known that I was involved in setting the course. After all the kids coming in my program will affect my job status whether I like it or not.

In a perfect world, there's no doubt the high school coaches would like to see the youth teams playing their style of hockey and playing with their philosophies; however, youth hockey coaches and high school coaches don't always see things the same way. Add in a few large egos and an inability to communicate and change, things aren't going to be so perfect.

HShockeywatcher wrote:

mulefarm wrote:Maybe the coach has a wife, family and enjoys other interests. He gets paid to coach the HS team and that's were he should spend his energy. Many associations don't want the hs coach involved, if they do, he should be paid for his time.

Where is the line drawn between being involved and not involved? I can see that with a team sport like hockey, much like football/baseball/basketball, knowing what is coming up definitely helps. Having the younger levels know the basics of your system also helps out a lot. Mentoring the coaches and tweaking what they are doing will help the kids out. In many communities, the younger kids look up to the high school kids and having their coach there can help.

That all being said, mulefarm is right. Many have jobs in the community, or a teaching job. They are allowed to have lives outside of hockey/school. Many get involved in the grades/activities/lives of their players. Is it a high school Algebra teacher's job to check up on the 8th grade math students that will filter into them?

So, where is the line? Can a great coach exist at both extremes?

I think a good coach can do both - be involved enough to inspire the younger players to look forward to their high school hockey careers, but not to the point of stepping on any toes of the association. Attending a few (not every) PeeWee/Bantams games, talking with the boys as a group, either in the locker rooms/ or on the ice at practices (with the encouragement of their coaches), and maybe even inviting them out for a practice with the high school team. Getting facetime with the younger players and giving them insight as to how hard they will have to work to make the high school team can be a real positive connection between association/high school.

I know at Blaine, coach Aus runs the summer STP program from the high school team all the way down to squirts. I believe the squirt STP program is a newer addition within the last few years. He also helped with the youth tryout process, I'm not sure of his involvement with that anymore but he used to watch a lot of the Bantam games too.

shoottowin wrote:

HShockeywatcher wrote:

mulefarm wrote:Maybe the coach has a wife, family and enjoys other interests. He gets paid to coach the HS team and that's were he should spend his energy. Many associations don't want the hs coach involved, if they do, he should be paid for his time.

Where is the line drawn between being involved and not involved? I can see that with a team sport like hockey, much like football/baseball/basketball, knowing what is coming up definitely helps. Having the younger levels know the basics of your system also helps out a lot. Mentoring the coaches and tweaking what they are doing will help the kids out. In many communities, the younger kids look up to the high school kids and having their coach there can help.

That all being said, mulefarm is right. Many have jobs in the community, or a teaching job. They are allowed to have lives outside of hockey/school. Many get involved in the grades/activities/lives of their players. Is it a high school Algebra teacher's job to check up on the 8th grade math students that will filter into them?

So, where is the line? Can a great coach exist at both extremes?

I think a good coach can do both - be involved enough to inspire the younger players to look forward to their high school hockey careers, but not to the point of stepping on any toes of the association. Attending a few (not every) PeeWee/Bantams games, talking with the boys as a group, either in the locker rooms/ or on the ice at practices (with the encouragement of their coaches), and maybe even inviting them out for a practice with the high school team. Getting facetime with the younger players and giving them insight as to how hard they will have to work to make the high school team can be a real positive connection between association/high school.

Well said. I like the idea of the high school coaches inviting youth players to practice with or watch the high school practices. Hopefully it has a positive effect on the program as a whole and pushes both sets of players to work harder.

South Metro HS coaches at this particular school (school not mentioned)are very involved in both the youth programs and the JV program. They have for the most part brought in their coaches at all levels of the "A" programs as well as the JV program. They work with the kids (as much as the rules allow) throughout the summer and attend the youth games when timing permits. They have been doing this for a couple of years now and the results clearly show - HS program in the top 20 (never close in the past), Bantam in the top 10, PW in the top 10 and squirts as well. Obviously the kids and parents need to want this but these particular coaches have made a big difference.

Edgy wrote:South Metro HS coaches at this particular school (school not mentioned)are very involved in both the youth programs and the JV program. They have for the most part brought in their coaches at all levels of the "A" programs as well as the JV program. They work with the kids (as much as the rules allow) throughout the summer and attend the youth games when timing permits. They have been doing this for a couple of years now and the results clearly show - HS program in the top 20 (never close in the past), Bantam in the top 10, PW in the top 10 and squirts as well. Obviously the kids and parents need to want this but these particular coaches have made a big difference.

I love to hear that. Unfortunately, our association and high school are treated as separate entities and the high school coaches have no say-so as to what goes on with the youth coaches. And I agree, it is ultimately the high school coaches program. IMO our teams will struggle until egos are set aside and our association and its coaches start working with and supporting the high school coaches visions. And it's not that our youth programs are having a lot of success, especially with the bantam levels. Something needs to change. And I believe you hit the nail on the head. Continued luck with your success. Your program seems to have gotten things right.

Liphshaye wrote:Unfortunately, our association and high school are treated as separate entities.

Lipshaye, That's funny our Varsity and JV are treated as separate entities, it is all about the Head Coach and his Ego, he only pays attention to the first line, so by the time you get to JV. In his eyes they are non existent.

You can also have a high school coach who is involved, but to a detriment to the association.

Picture a coach that adopts a partial ADM philosophy of skills, skills, skills only and convinces the association board and HOC of this philosophy, Absent are team play concepts. He then sits idle while the association teams lose most of their games, but consoles the association with the promise of the kids learning team play when they get to high school. The fact that the high school plays a weaker schedule than the association, allows the high school to win a few games and then the coach looks like a savior.

Outoftowner - I certainly can understand how that could happen. In our case, once the new coaches arrive, both the HS program as well as the youth programs started playing significantly tougher scheules - and in all programs with a focus on making the program (ie team) better. Sounds like that is not the case in your program.

Edgy wrote:South Metro HS coaches at this particular school (school not mentioned)are very involved in both the youth programs and the JV program. They have for the most part brought in their coaches at all levels of the "A" programs as well as the JV program. They work with the kids (as much as the rules allow) throughout the summer and attend the youth games when timing permits. They have been doing this for a couple of years now and the results clearly show - HS program in the top 20 (never close in the past), Bantam in the top 10, PW in the top 10 and squirts as well. Obviously the kids and parents need to want this but these particular coaches have made a big difference.

I smell former Jefferson players at Prior Lake

Liphshaye wrote:

Edgy wrote:South Metro HS coaches at this particular school (school not mentioned)are very involved in both the youth programs and the JV program. They have for the most part brought in their coaches at all levels of the "A" programs as well as the JV program. They work with the kids (as much as the rules allow) throughout the summer and attend the youth games when timing permits. They have been doing this for a couple of years now and the results clearly show - HS program in the top 20 (never close in the past), Bantam in the top 10, PW in the top 10 and squirts as well. Obviously the kids and parents need to want this but these particular coaches have made a big difference.

I love to hear that. Unfortunately, our association and high school are treated as separate entities and the high school coaches have no say-so as to what goes on with the youth coaches. And I agree, it is ultimately the high school coaches program. IMO our teams will struggle until egos are set aside and our association and its coaches start working with and supporting the high school coaches visions. And it's not that our youth programs are having a lot of success, especially with the bantam levels. Something needs to change. And I believe you hit the nail on the head. Continued luck with your success. Your program seems to have gotten things right.

I smell Jefferson and Kennedy

Crusty wrote:HS coach in the nrothern burbs wants nothing to do with youth program, even though he has brought the varsity to the big dance something like the last 6 years. You think he might want to at least work with the jr gold seeing some of those kids may want to tryout next year.

I don't understand coaches like that. You think they would want to be involved with the kids moving into his program so they have some kind of an idea what to expect at the HS level. Maybe a little to arrogant.

I agree with ICEE's comment too.

In my opinion this coach has brought personal/internal politics to this team. theres been no flow to their play. Seems he is banking his name on certain kids, not the team. look at this year, what coach goes into a locker room and in front of the whole team and says that the juniors and seniors on the team that they are not as good as the sophmores and their jealous(what a way to divide a team up). Why did he select them then. Or goes in to the locker room and during a game and kicks over the garbage can and calls the team a bunch of P@@@sys then tells them to pick the garbage up, but yet at his parent meeting he gives the speech about excpecting the kids to be respectable, set the example.
The HS coach has 4 assistants, you would think that he could use them to help communicate to the other programs that feed his and let him know whats coming up. Youth coaches are volunteers too, and most get little or no money for doing this. AND THEY WORK TOO.