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Hello Tom

I just wanted to pass on a small word of "thanks" to you.

Our daughter had recently gone to the U18 strength and conditioning camp on Hamilton. She has had a couple of coaches over the years but I have been her main coach.

That said, it is has been a steady dose of your style of coaching, ABC's and the various drills and tips you have given over the years to all us coaches and for me to pass onto my daughter (and her various teammates) and that I thank YOU for. You coaching style, even though you haven't coached her per se, has been a big influence on the type of player she has become.

One of my favorite drills is the basic B600 swing. Just a great drill that I usually used at the start of a practice for general warm up for both the skaters and goalies.

It can be done with many, many variations with two of my particular favorites as being:

1. Taking the pass off the skates only. No stick to receive the puck at all. Once it contacts the skate, the player can then pick it up and begin flying thru the NZ. NOTE: Word of caution coaches, tell your players NOT to fire that pass but just lay it up in the NZ and let the incoming skater learn to skate into (properly) and pick it up. You don't want to have any angry parents meeting you after practice saying you broke their son or daughter's skates !!! haha

2. Same B600 pattern but very hard passes made and incoming player MUST ONLY USE one hand on the stick. Object is to pick up a HARD PASS with one hand only learning to (realize) it does not take much grip strength to get control of a hard pass. Players often think they need that "death grip" in order to receive hard passes. Quite the opposite. A very, very loose top hand grip is sufficient.

Anyways, thanks Tom for all your sharing of your knowledge AND with the knowledge you have accumulated from abroad (Finland, Austria, etc.). It is guys like you and Wally Kozak that have that desire to impress upon us coaches (and players) that skill building is so important to our players.

For the female side, I can see Hockey USA making great strides in the skill development of their female hockey players and we (on this side of the border) need to take note and continue to develop our player's skills.

And, by utilizing the techniques that a coach like Tom offers to share is IMHO the only way to go !

Take care Tom and keep up the great work !!

CoachP7
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CoachP7 I appreciate the kind words. I am sure your daughter will continue to do well.
I agree with you that the USA is doing a very good job of developing very skilled female and male players. I saw some really skilled ones playing for the Minnesota Whitecaps like Gigi Marvin. Potter stills plays the game really well. The male side seems to be developing very skilled and creative players as well.
Maybe our national association should be more worried about developing an inclusive Hockey Model instead of the business model that has been their mantra for years. Then maybe they would think of more effective ways to promote the International Coaches Symposium instead of walking away from it and not doing their job of bringing in world class coaches for everyone to learn from.

   
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Registered: 06/05/09
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1 posts :: Page 1 of 1