Reply To: Good Habits at Practice? The Art of Coaching!

[Eric Fink]

I'm guilty if not posting as much anymore since the site changed. Not sure why though. I still read all the posts. Either way, I will try to chime in a little more as well to help generate more discussion as the site has been such a great crutch for me since I first visited it eight years ago.

On the topic of teaching habits, I had developed a theory with other coaching friends after similar discussions that coaches/former players, despite age and deteriorating skills, could still hang with the youngsters in alumni games, shinny, etc. My feeling was that when I play now(which is rare), I see the game much differently then when I played. I felt I was in the right position more often, followed the skills I had been teaching, but never really practicing. So, our hypothesis was if we had the players teach a skill, it might sink in easier.

Anyways… This lead to an idea that was tested in practice where we coaches would bring three or four of the players (Junior age) down to one end of the rink while the rest played a cross ice game. These players we demonstrated a specific skill. In this case, (A couple years ago) we showed how we would like the players to pin the opposition in the corner. Stick position, feet position, extra arm (this was all legal at the time but it feels strange to talk about now), etc. were all explained. After three or four minutes of explaining, demonstrating, and having them show us to assure that they had it right, those players then had to teach four more players, then those four had to teach for more, etc. until all players had taken a turn learning from one of their teammates and also teaching one of their teammates. At the end, all the players gathered while the final four guys explained it to us coaches again. If they explained it correctly, they were rewarded. If not, a short team skate ensued.

It went well and was a great way with older players to get them to interact early and help in determining leadership. Downside was that it would consume a fair amount of practice time to get everyone through.