Would you attend "practices" as an adult?

[proth0303 29]

As a newbie, I am looking for every chance I get to practice.  Fortunately the novice league I play in alternates between practice and games so we do get instruction and drills.  The league has 3 different sessions (either games or practice) on the same day and on practice days we can attend as many of the sessions as we want.  I was surprised at how many people will attend multiple practices.  It's been great for me as I learn the drills in the first session and then go back out and repeat the drills in the second session.

[Malarowski 12]

Our league includes practices every season at a 20% ratio of game:practice roughly. I love them.

[JAG 20]

So I went to my league official a couple of months back and talked to her about my idea to do these practices.  She LOVED the idea, because they haven't had someone willing to do it in a long time.  For right now, we are running a 6 week program (for only $60), and after the six weeks, we'll reevaluate and go from there.  Last night was the first session, and I had 36 skaters show up! I was shocked!  I was expecting 15... 20 max.  I guess this is something that people really wanted.  

The first session went well.  The skill level varied pretty significantly, from people just learning to skate, to people who could execute a decent crossover and C cuts.  But the feedback I got from everyone was that it was  extremely helpful and they're looking forward to the coming weeks.  I, myself, had a blast.  I haven't coached hockey or ice skating in a LONG time, and it felt really good to be back out there doing it again.  

I'm excited to see where this goes.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

I'm encouraging our local league commish to do something similar...

For those of you that are doing these types of adult league practices, how are they structured?  I've done a few adult skills classes around here and helped coach my kid's house team a bit, but no experience beyond that.  I'd be interested in hearing what works and what doesn't...

Mark

[IPv6Freely 2092]

59 minutes ago, marka said:

Howdy,

I'm encouraging our local league commish to do something similar...

For those of you that are doing these types of adult league practices, how are they structured?  I've done a few adult skills classes around here and helped coach my kid's house team a bit, but no experience beyond that.  I'd be interested in hearing what works and what doesn't...

Mark

The one here basically does a 2 hour pickup where the first hour is a skills clinic and the second hour is pickup. It's meant for beginners/novices. 

[lidiving 0]

Think you have a good idea.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

2 hours ago, IPv6Freely said:

The one here basically does a 2 hour pickup where the first hour is a skills clinic and the second hour is pickup. It's meant for beginners/novices. 

Yeah, I'm looking more for ideas for a "regular practice" vs. "intro class".  We've tried the intro class thing and it didn't get much in terms of #'s.  I think some of that was marketing, but I think some was that the types of drills / stuff to work on was a little too basic (or at least... It was perceived that way).

Mark

[JAG 20]

19 hours ago, marka said:

Howdy,

Yeah, I'm looking more for ideas for a "regular practice" vs. "intro class".  We've tried the intro class thing and it didn't get much in terms of #'s.  I think some of that was marketing, but I think some was that the types of drills / stuff to work on was a little too basic (or at least... It was perceived that way).

Mark

Mark, the basics is what beginners need most.  Basic skating skills, stick handling skills, passing and shooting skills, and positioning.  

That's how I'm structuring it.  About an hour of skating/passing drills, then half hour of positioning. Then a half hour of structured scrimmage.  

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

I ran a practice for an adult team tonight.  The two things I was asked to work on the most were passing and breakouts.  I had an hour.  I broke it down to a 10-minute warm-up. 10 minutes on passing and establishing a triangle when entering the zone.  15 minutes using Weisstech's breakout progression drill.  10 minutes of dump-in, breakout, breakout, attack 5-on-2 stressing the breakout.  15 minutes of scrimmage at the end.  Had a great time running it, great group of guys (at least one's a member on here) and hopefully they got something out of it and use the structure going into the season.  If there's one thing I've learned from playing men's league hockey the past 12 years, it's that it more closely resembles open hockey with whistles than a structured game implementing systems.  The teams that do have some form of a system, usually do pretty well.

The other thing I've learned coaching throughout the years, is that the things players hate to do the most in practice, are what they usually need to work on the most.  It's my job as a coach to find a way to implement them and still keep the players engaged.  Sometimes it's unavoidable, like basic skating, other times I can add a drill that involves competition and forces the basic skating skills to be worked on and make it enjoyable.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

8 hours ago, MyBoxersSayJoe said:

I ran a practice for an adult team tonight.  The two things I was asked to work on the most were passing and breakouts.  I had an hour.  I broke it down to a 10-minute warm-up. 10 minutes on passing and establishing a triangle when entering the zone.  15 minutes using Weisstech's breakout progression drill.  10 minutes of dump-in, breakout, breakout, attack 5-on-2 stressing the breakout.  15 minutes of scrimmage at the end.  Had a great time running it, great group of guys (at least one's a member on here) and hopefully they got something out of it and use the structure going into the season.  If there's one thing I've learned from playing men's league hockey the past 12 years, it's that it more closely resembles open hockey with whistles than a structured game implementing systems.  The teams that do have some form of a system, usually do pretty well.

The other thing I've learned coaching throughout the years, is that the things players hate to do the most in practice, are what they usually need to work on the most.  It's my job as a coach to find a way to implement them and still keep the players engaged.  Sometimes it's unavoidable, like basic skating, other times I can add a drill that involves competition and forces the basic skating skills to be worked on and make it enjoyable.

If there's one thing I've learned by being a goalie and not actively involved in offensive-zone play, allowing me to watch both lines play, is that we win when we cycle. Period. If the cycle game is off, we generally lose. If I was running these classes, breakout and cycle would be by far the two most important things to cover.

Of course skating, passing, etc. are important for beginners but that depends on whether you're running a skills clinic, or a practice. 

 

[GreatestAmericanBeardo 258]

10 hours ago, MyBoxersSayJoe said:

I ran a practice for an adult team tonight.  The two things I was asked to work on the most were passing and breakouts.  I had an hour.  I broke it down to a 10-minute warm-up. 10 minutes on passing and establishing a triangle when entering the zone.  15 minutes using Weisstech's breakout progression drill.  10 minutes of dump-in, breakout, breakout, attack 5-on-2 stressing the breakout.  15 minutes of scrimmage at the end.  Had a great time running it, great group of guys (at least one's a member on here) and hopefully they got something out of it and use the structure going into the season.  If there's one thing I've learned from playing men's league hockey the past 12 years, it's that it more closely resembles open hockey with whistles than a structured game implementing systems.  The teams that do have some form of a system, usually do pretty well.

The other thing I've learned coaching throughout the years, is that the things players hate to do the most in practice, are what they usually need to work on the most.  It's my job as a coach to find a way to implement them and still keep the players engaged.  Sometimes it's unavoidable, like basic skating, other times I can add a drill that involves competition and forces the basic skating skills to be worked on and make it enjoyable.

huh,   wondering if this was MY team  :D   if so, too bad i missed it.  I find as soon as i get out of position something goes wrong and the other team gets a scoring chance and or DOES score.   in my lowly division, its not really a matter of IF you can skate/pass/shoot.  its more about playing your position and, maintaining play structure that wins games.    theres s lot on guys out there that don't skate very well, but somehow they score a ton of points, because they know where to be, and/or are patient enough to wait for the other team to make a mistake and they exploit it.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

One of the teams in your division hehe.  If they can stick to the structure, they'll do well.

[GreatestAmericanBeardo 258]

4 minutes ago, MyBoxersSayJoe said:

One of the teams in your division hehe.  If they can stick to the structure, they'll do well.

funny enough, when my Capt said we had a practice slotted, i almost called you to get our shit ship on the correct course.   Looks like we'll just have to beat your protege team at your own game  :D

PS: no offense to  @DRR (a fellow Goonie) with regards to the shit ship :P

 

[kadayo 9]

17 hours ago, MyBoxersSayJoe said:

I ran a practice for an adult team tonight.  The two things I was asked to work on the most were passing and breakouts.  I had an hour.  I broke it down to a 10-minute warm-up. 10 minutes on passing and establishing a triangle when entering the zone.  15 minutes using Weisstech's breakout progression drill.  10 minutes of dump-in, breakout, breakout, attack 5-on-2 stressing the breakout.  15 minutes of scrimmage at the end.  Had a great time running it, great group of guys (at least one's a member on here) and hopefully they got something out of it and use the structure going into the season.  If there's one thing I've learned from playing men's league hockey the past 12 years, it's that it more closely resembles open hockey with whistles than a structured game implementing systems.  The teams that do have some form of a system, usually do pretty well.

The other thing I've learned coaching throughout the years, is that the things players hate to do the most in practice, are what they usually need to work on the most.  It's my job as a coach to find a way to implement them and still keep the players engaged.  Sometimes it's unavoidable, like basic skating, other times I can add a drill that involves competition and forces the basic skating skills to be worked on and make it enjoyable.

You ran a great practice. I just wish more of my teammates were able to make it out. Thanks again Joe. 

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

There you are!  My pleasure, and thank you guys!

[benson 8]

Myself and my captain run practices for our team quite a bit. In the off-season, we usually start 4-6 weeks before the season to get the guys together and work on some things. During the season, we usually practice as the schedule permits. 

Most of our practices focus on what we feel we need to work on. I usually come up with a plan based on what the captain and I feel like we didn't execute well on the previous game. We also work on our systems as needed too. If it's going well, we usually have some fun too, 3v3 or some other game to end it.