Reply To: Diary of a Season 2011-2012: The Plan

We already have tryouts coming up for my Tier II mite team. I would prefer the luxury of picking the team in September, but that is the nature of our organization. As for picking a team, one thing I noticed last season is that, among the kids who had already been playing for at least two years, the best skaters improved the most during the season and the weakest skaters improved the least (everyone improved a great deal, though, thanks to the ABCs method of running practices). This surprised me, but most of the experienced coaches on this board, even at the elite levels, appear to put a priority on skating. So, I will be picking a team primarily based on skating ability and on their performance in small area games. As for the season, I intend to keep a heavy emphasis on skating and increase the emphasis on stickhandling with the head up.

Any luck on finding those checklists, Dean?