Coaching Ethics Question

[kosydar 0]

Because ice is so expensive and hard to come by around here, my midget team practices once a week with the bantam team to cut costs. For the most part it works out well. Today we were doing a hitting drill, and the new bantam coach who just moved here from Canada was leading my section of it. I go in and do the drill, hip check my really good friend, not taking it too seriously, but still doing the drill. The coach gets extremely pissed off at me for no apparent reason. He skates over to my friend and says "hang back, I'm gonna go with this guy and teach him a lesson." I didn't hear that, but I look over and see the coach lined up against me. The guy is huge, he probably weighs close to triple-benjamins. I don't take him too seriously, so I skate in, pick up the puck, and half way brace myself for the hit. He takes all of his weight and puts it into me. I literally flip over backwards. It was easily the hardest I've ever been hit. Everybody told me he got his elbow up into my head, but I didn't really feel it. I really didn't really care so I skated on and kept doing the drill and ended practice. After practice I get called into a meeting with my head coach and asks me about the situation. I told him and said that I didn't think it was a big deal. He then told me that my assistant coach was so pissed off that he wanted to fight the guy. The president of the association was there and watched it happen and wants the guy to be severely punished. Basing his opinion on what the other coaches said, my coach wants him punished as well. Everybody thinks its this really terrible situation, except for me. He went a little too far, but I really don't think what he did was all that wrong. I guess I just assume thats how they coach in Canada, and frankly I kind of like that a coach is willing to do that to toughen up the players and teach them a lesson of sorts. Everybody wants the guy's head on a stake, except me. I think he has a lot of potential as a coach and it'd be a really bad thing for the bantams and the organization as a whole to lose him. Is that just vintage Canadian coaching, or am I really missing out on something?

[Dave 1]

Well, I guess you may take it easy because you didn't get injured. Yet, I don't see a purpose in an adult big-bodied coach hitting midget players at full strength. I am 6"2 220 and love to throw my weight around, but when I see that there is a guy at my practice who can barely skate, I won't nail him at full power just to school him.

Think of it this way: Imagine you had got injured by that coach, what do you think the publicity for the team would have been? Let alone that you (or your parents or whomever) might sue the team and/or the coach for the injury.

[chippa13 1844]

Sounds like this guy has some anger issues. I'll bet he won't be coaching for too long.

That said, I understand why the guy got mad. When I was coaching, it always bothered me when kids half-assed a drill or didn't take it seriously.

[MDE3 0]

Not knowing all the facts makes it a bit more difficult to judge the coach in question. If your drill was specifically a "skate the body off" drill, many times coaches will not allow a hip check to be thrown in this kind of practice(as you indicated you did), because of the possibility of injury to knees etc.....particularily at a Bantam level and sometimes even at the Midget level..also depending on the level of play involved. At a triple A level, it's a bit more like boxing..be prepared to defend yourself at all times...at lesser skill levels the same type of attitude can be much more dangerous and irresponsible because the agility needed to take or avoid the variety of hits that can happen has not yet been developed completely..

If that was the case and you threw a hip check when your opponent in the drill was told there would be no hip checks and therefore was not expecting it....I could see a coach getting upset, and wanting to teach a player a lesson. That being said.....there is no excuse for a coach to risk injury to his own players by taking advantage of a significant difference in size and experience..no matter how justified he thought the lesson was. He might have gone through the same exercise with you, but then held up at the last second....going far enough for you to know that had he contiued you would be dead meat, but stopping before risking possible injury.

When I was 14 I was 5' 11" and 190lbs, so when I played Bantam my coaches always used to use me to demonstrate hitting drills..and I welcomed it...it made me better...with my size they didn't hold back much..and nor did I. It was however a different era, and "liability" was not a word that tripped off one's toung much.

It is a difficult task for a coach to get you prepared for a tough game where in a game situation the elbows and forearms do come up more often than not, and where you are going to get hit when you least expect it..and by players bigger than you......getting you mentally and physically prepared for this in practice is almost impossible without coming close to the edge as your coach apparently did.

If this coach has shown a tendency to to use his size and experience to act more as a bully than an instructor, then he should be sanctioned for it... point blank...If he was really trying to make a point in the context I mention above, then he should at least be cautioned about the potential dangers for himself, the team, and most importantly the players, and strict guidlines be established.

[Gongshow11 1]

hip checking in practice is gutless, u can hurt a guys knee pretty bad if he moves the wrong way.

But the coach shouldn't have murdered you like that. I would have been pissed if he hit me. Once my coach crossed check me from behind in front of the net in a scrimmage and i hated this guy. I retaliated two ways. i took a slap shot in hios ankel whne he was wearing no pads, and i intercepted his breakout pass and passed it over and we scored. i went over to hima nd said hey nice pass, picked upa poitrn on that one.

and theo, i would hit kaspar any day of the week. I hate him and he'd probably turtle or complain to coach. malakhov is scary.

[2048 0]

hip checking in practice is gutless, u can hurt a guys knee pretty bad if he moves the wrong way.

But the coach shouldn't have murdered you like that. I would have been pissed if he hit me. Once my coach crossed check me from behind in front of the net in a scrimmage and i hated this guy. I retaliated two ways. i took a slap shot in hios ankel whne he was wearing no pads, and i intercepted his breakout pass and passed it over and we scored. i went over to hima nd said hey nice pass, picked upa poitrn on that one.

and theo, i would hit kaspar any day of the week. I hate him and he'd probably turtle or complain to coach. malakhov is scary.

Did you start thirsty thursday a bit early?

[kosydar 0]

I guess I should clarify what happened if people think I'm gutless. Me and my friend were the first to run the drill, and the drill was a complete failure. The coach dumped the puck into the corner, but he screwed up the timing so bad that I (forechecker) had to stand there and wait for him to skate by me with the puck along the boards. It wasn't a vicious hit at all, in fact it was more of a McCabe ass check than a hip check. And I understand what you mean Chippa, but that wasn't the case. I was trying, I skated the drill hard and everything, but when it came time to hit, I wasn't going to kill the kid. I'm not going to go balls out in a checking drill this early in the season, especially when I'm playing against kids who are 4-5 years younger than me.

[Chadd 916]

Some coaches expect you to go psycho all the time in practice. I always specify how I want the drill run, full out or half speed. It makes it easier for the players to know what I expect.

[Eazy_b97 1]

Few things to say

A) I coach in Canada, This isn't normal.

B) I will put physical pressure on the kids, but never make hits, however I encourage them to lean on me and even skate into me if they like and I am in the drill (I'm 19 they are 14)

C) You should be practicing like it's a game at all times, but keep things in context. Hip checks are dangerous and for the most part impractical, not a good idea in practice

D) If you feel this guy doesn't deserve the attitude he is getting let him know. Tell him you understand everything and will stick up for him. It sounds like this will be headed for the disciplinary board anyways.

[EricG. 0]

A coach shouldn't hit a kid, especially if he isn't on his team. Let it go for now. If he ment to hurt you, he'll end up doing something stupid again. Then the organization will know there's a problem.

[Eazy_b97 1]

I think he had good intentions, just terrible actions. I wouldn't be pissed if I got hit by him either to be honest. I'd know he was just trying to motivate and get you to play your best, unfortunately he went about it in a terrible way. I've had coaches do much more painful things than hit me, but I let them and knew it was coming. Learning to rake, knee spears, ankle turns, numb laces and pant pull downs were all demonstrated on me by very "involved" coaches, but sometimes it comes with the territory. As I see if Kosy he was in the wrong, but you are a hockey player, your a midget (age), and you have been involved in rougher junk than this. I think you're handling it well, just make sure your feelings are known and not to let the others speak for you, when they aren't representing your feelings.

[chippa13 1844]

i took a slap shot in hios ankel whne he was wearing no pads, and i intercepted his breakout pass and passed it over and we scored. i went over to hima nd said hey nice pass, picked upa poitrn on that one.

Anyone got that trophy for Yglod?

[LkptTiger 1]

Wow...I can't imagine a coach leveling a kid like that, especially when the kid isn't even on his own team. That's nuts. Sure, a shot to the knees in practice is totally uncalled for (although, Kosy, your second post makes it sound more like you went it standing up, which, I suppose, is perfectly fine), but that just doesn't justify a coach ripping a younger player.

My coach and I fool around on the ice, usually just playing keep-away with eachother in the first five minutes of practice or so. He slashes a little bit, hooks and holds, but really more playful stuff then aggressive and competitve. I'd say the worst thing he has ever done to me is rip a few good hard snappers into the back of my knee (which I guess I should explain): I assume everybody here does circles, if not every practice then at the vast majority. Well, my coach adds a little twist to get the goalies involved a little more; as we skate through the low-slot moving from, say the left-wing circle to the right, we create a screen infront of the goalie. My coach stands in the high-slot and rips snappers towards the net, hoping he times them just right so they will come in on goal immediately after we cross, which, obviously, makes this tougher for the goalies to read and see the shot. Well, as you would probably guess, he is kinda prone to mis-timing the shot every-now-and-again, which usually results in a long-lasting, dull pain and a considerable bruise (basically your standard blocked-shot).

[kosydar 0]

I talked again to my friend who I hit today. Reading all of this has questioned whether or not it was a dirty hit by me. This is what he told me: He was skating around the corner into behind the net. He is about 4 inches shorter than me and has very deep knee bend, so he was very low to the ice. Keep in mind the timing of the drill got screwed up so I was almost at a stand still waiting for him. So when I bent over to hit him, I asked him where I hit him, if my hip hit him in the knees or anywhere like that. He said that my side, but more of my ass hit him in the side while I was standing pretty upright, and it wasn't even that hard. I've been second guessing whether I hit him cleanly or not, and he told me that everything was fine and it was a good clean hit. It wasn't even hard, and hes the kind of kid who would tell me if I did hit him bad. Pretty dramatic situation, I woke up today and I have a huge bruise on my hip from where the coach hit me and I'm limping. Things should get interesting pretty fast.

[Gongshow11 1]

i took a slap shot in hios ankel whne he was wearing no pads, and i intercepted his breakout pass and passed it over and we scored. i went over to hima nd said hey nice pass, picked upa poitrn on that one.

Anyone got that trophy for Yglod?

ya i just got one actually. your mom is polishing it up now, she has soem nice hands

2048, its friday and i aint drunk, just was in a rush

[LkptTiger 1]

Anyone got that trophy for Yglod?

ya i just got one actually. your mom is polishing it up now, she has soem nice hands

Oh jeez *curls into ball and covers back of head with hands* Let me know when it's over, guys.

[MDE3 0]

Reading all of this has questioned whether or not it was a dirty hit by me.

I do not think we were questioning whether you made a "dirty hit", but simply commenting that in many practices coaches are quite explicit about not throwing "hip checks"...and if they made that point clearly...they will get upset if you ignore that instruction. Like I said before...if what your coach did was done in anger or even intended to intimidate..then he should be sanctioned...if it was done to show what happens when you make a hit that should not be anticipated(for instructional purposes)..then it would appear he is at least guilty of being a bit overzealous, and possibly very careless.

Whether or not your actions made your coach upset, is irrelevant and no excuse for him to go to the extreme he did. Even if had been involved in challenging him to try to hit you(not implying that you were)....it would appear he stepped over the line, how far over..well no doubt a disciplinary board will decide.

To be fair to your coach, from his point of view he may have felt that held back, and simply misjudged the effect of the difference in relative size. No doubt all that stuff will be evaluated.

[mickz 107]

I'm only 16 and I'm an assistant coach right now. If I did that to one of my players, my @$$ would be gone SO fast.