Reply To: NHL Team Finally Practicing Hockey at Practice

[hockeygod]

SMAC wrote:
I attended most of the Oilers prospects camp last week . No such luck with those type of drills . Lots of flow and shooting . Fwd, Goalie , ,D man ,skating specific drills . No SAGS that I saw . They did end the week with a 3 on 3 tourney

trtaylor wrote:
I attended the Flyers prospect camp today. All drills. Defense and forwards on the ice separately. Goalies worked by themselves on their own sheet of ice.

Unfortunately, what you and trtayler saw in Philly are representations of the EVIL drill manifestation in hockey. It is old school coaching that prevails. But I am doing my best to change that…!!!

It is sad to see people become victims of the 'cycle of coaching abuse' – they are coaching / teaching how they were coached / taught and because pro hockey is so insular (people are scared to ask for help at that level because they are supposed to be 'the best' coaches in the highest league in the world; their egos don't allow them to ask for help and many might cover this up with appearing to be aloof or close-minded), and change is a dirty word. People fear change. People don't put up their hands in a group because they don't want to appear to be 'stupid' or 'slow'…

We need more progressive thinkers at the top and in Hockey Canada / Hockey USA so we can stop this cycle and start changing certification courses for the better.

John the Colombian and I have started a "Knights of the Coaching Round Table"program to help provide Invasion Sport coaches with a solid grounding in personal philosophy, a deeper understanding about the principles of the game, and ongoing mentorship. Currently we are working locally but will be expanding this into a distance education program. Email me if you, or anyone else, are interested in hearing more.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."