First time coaching..

[NextBobbyOrr 0]

Hey everyone. So straight to the point, I'll be coaching for the first time tomorrow. It's part of rep tryouts, and this "junior coaches" program. I'm a little antsy, it's my first time coaching for real. I'm looking for any advice, help, what to do, what not to do. Some info if it helps is..

-I'm 14

-Coaching Peewee and atom

-Pretty sure I mentioned it's rep

-There'll be an adult coach, but he's given a "side role"

Thanks in advance. Hope to hear from you.

[Speedz98 15]

Make sure to acknowledge the good things your players are doing and reenforce good habits.

[zebra_steve 11]

Keep it positive & high tempo (you don't want the kids standing around waiting to do something), be prepared with a practice plane down to the minute. The kids won't learn anything while the coaches talk to each other about what to run next or to set up the next drill\stations. When transitioning to a new drill have the kids grab some water or take a couple easy laps while you set it up... better yet have multiple stations with different drills at each station. Break them down into groups of 4-6 then transition them to another station every 7-10 minutes. Gear your practice to their ability level....

[coryroth24 15]

Be consistent.

[BarDownGinos 3]

Keep the drills simple and useful. Most of the drills should be heavy on skating and passing for the pee-wee kids and skating for the atoms. Those are the biggest things younger kids need to develop.

[chk hrd 164]

don't talk down to them or act like you are superior. You need to earn thier respect and treat them the way you woul expect to be treated. Once you earn thier respect it is much easier to work with them

[Aussie Joe 0]

Make sure you have a "smile" in your voice. That is, whenever you communicate it is upbeat and clear.

Make sure you are firm as well, if anyone is mucking about or slow, ask them nicely to get back into line/do the right thing. If they still push things after that use a small amount of anger in your voice. Using different communications methods with different kids and different situations are a coach's bread and butter.

Be prepared with your drills and make sure you are able to break up the skills and demo them. If you cannot then get a "guest coach" in to show the way.

Most of all make sure you chat to all the players equally (if thats possible) and show no favouritism.

[Trooper 8]

Have fun and realize you can't teach them everything all at once. Pick one or two things per drill for them to focus on. Learn your own coaching style and watch other coaches. When I first started coaching I wanted to run my own team, but that would have been a mistake as I learned lots from coaching with different people.

[chippa13 1844]

Also, make sure there is some fun in the practice for the kids. And to help you get their respect, do the skating drills with them. Kids will put more effort into a hard skate if you're doing it right beside them.

[NextBobbyOrr 0]

I gotta bring this up again. So the first coaching went pretty well. But I was asked to do some 1on1 coaching with some hockey4 teams. The player I'll be working with has ADD. I really like the opportunity to be able to try and help him out and I will. But have any of people worked with/coached any people/players with ADD? I'm gonna be teaching him a bit more hockey sense along with the basics so some tips would really be appreciated.

[Chadd 916]

I gotta bring this up again. So the first coaching went pretty well. But I was asked to do some 1on1 coaching with some hockey4 teams. The player I'll be working with has ADD. I really like the opportunity to be able to try and help him out and I will. But have any of people worked with/coached any people/players with ADD? I'm gonna be teaching him a bit more hockey sense along with the basics so some tips would really be appreciated.

First of all, you can't teach awareness. It's really something you have or you don't. As for the ADD part, keep things short and simple. Explain and demonstrate then get him involved quickly.

[Speedz98 15]

You know ADD for hockey isn't such a bad thing.

There's a lot of information to process in hockey and it has to be done quickly. Maybe the concern is that the kid won't be paying attention. Well that's not really the issue. The thing is, people with ADD pay attention to EVERYTHING.

[Shtrsdad 0]

You know ADD for hockey isn't such a bad thing.

There's a lot of information to process in hockey and it has to be done quickly. Maybe the concern is that the kid won't be paying attention. Well that's not really the issue. The thing is, people with ADD pay attention to EVERYTHING.

The ADD thing will always put a new wrinkle into coaching. A strategy to help is that when talking to this player, and for that matter your team, position yoursef so that he/they have their backs away from the bleachers or wherever the parent group is. It'll help keep them focused on what you as a coach is trying to communicate. A pretty simple, but effective strategy. Keep us posted on how things go

[NextBobbyOrr 0]

Thanks. I just don't want to end up being a bad coach or letting the team down.

[mug25 2]

Make it FUN for them and remember that they're kids. When I played Little League Baseball, the best time I had was when I was on a team where the coach made the games — even if we got slaughtered 15-3....still fun. When a coach was too serious I wouldn't even want to go to practices or games and would just goof off when I did. That explains why I HATED playing High School Football...

Communicate with the parents too.

Good luck man.

[ibeck 38]

Like Tampa coach Guy Boucher said, you coach 20 individuals, not everyone works the same way.