Heads Up! (Or down...)

[BenBreeg 493]

Coached my first ADM practice last night after having spent years in high school and college club.  I had occasionally been hit with a puck or took a spill before but nothing serious.  I was manning the passing station and i was bent down trying to show this tiny kid something and he out of the blue lost his balance.  Before i could react his stick comes up and hits me right above the eye.  Hard.  Didnt bleed at first so I try to play it off and go back to coaching him.  The kid cant even focus on the puck now, all i see are these wide eyes through his cage staring at me.  Now i am bleeding and trying to wipe it off and eventually we switched groups.  Got the bleeding to stop and finished.

But literally anouther 1/8” or 1/4” and it would have been my eye.  Just a reminder to be careful!

[Vet88 674]

Seen this but the stick hit him in the mouth, 4 teeth gone. I always coach with a hybrid these days, its just not worth the hassle to be dealing with dental etc because of some shitty flukey accident. I don't care what it looks like anymore, been able to eat my breakfast tomorrow morning properly is more important to me than getting chirped by some dickhead on the ice.

[Santos L Halper 90]

Ugh.

My specialty is skating backwards into an unseen tire or border patrol/foam pad and then tumbling over backwards.  Usually right in front of the kids.  Of course.  

Definitely be careful out there...

[Vet88 674]

Ha, the one I hate is when the little buggers sneak in behind you then take you out when they fall over, those falls always seem to  be the worst. Head needs to be on a swivel, I reckon I'm more aware of where skaters are when coaching nippers than ever before in a game!

[Santos L Halper 90]

On 9/17/2018 at 8:56 PM, Vet88 said:

Ha, the one I hate is when the little buggers sneak in behind you then take you out when they fall over, those falls always seem to  be the worst. Head needs to be on a swivel, I reckon I'm more aware of where skaters are when coaching nippers than ever before in a game!

Or when the stragglers come sliding into the group at the board and take your legs out from behind.  

You can tell groups of 6U and 8U kids 6,382,728 times "NO SLIDING" and, mark my words, whether on purpose or not, at least ONE kid will always come sliding into the group like s/he's playing baseball.

It's gotten to the point where, if I'm not actively writing on the board, I make sure I'm well away from the mob until ALL of the kids are in. 

[badger_14 601]

A few sessions coaching 8U will make you more agile than you ever imagined. 

Or it'll put you in the hospital.

[jmiro 55]

Cage, shinpads, and a cup when I am on the ice with the kids.

[BenBreeg 493]

On 9/19/2018 at 3:20 PM, badger_14 said:

A few sessions coaching 8U will make you more agile than you ever imagined. 

Or it'll put you in the hospital.

Equally likely to be a mental institution! 😄  Last week I had 4 out of 7 have to go to the bathroom during our game, mouthguard issues, the water bottle squirted so hard one kid was knocked off his feet when I gave him a drink, etc.  Total fun!

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

I was helping out at a learn to skate program, one of the dads was surprised I didn't wear a helmet.  I'd never had an issue in the 8 years of coaching or so.  Sure enough, I skate out onto the ice and a kid slides behind me and I bounce my head off the ice.  I've been wearing a helmet and a large visor ever since.

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

I just wear a bucket but I can't blame anyone who wears more protection. I've been hit in the shins with pucks and sticks from time to time ha.

[Nickmast 1]

I seem to always have the smallest kid pop into my blindside and bounce off my hip like I'm kicking a tennis ball. Whoops!