Making Hockey Plans

I hope CoachChic.com members have read the Coming entry for this month, July of 2016. For, I'm going to try doing something very different -- at least for now. I mean, I hope I can help all of us in more effectively making hockey plans for the coming season.

-- Dennis Chighisola

Making Hockey Plans

As I kick things off, I know I'll need to refer to many past entries. That's a good thing, I think, because it should help pull a lot of my best posts together for member coaches, parents and older players. To begin, I'd have already done a fairly deep study of those in my charge -- from my own youngster to all the players I'd have on my team. The best time to do that, of course, was back during the waning weeks of last season. Still, if you're a new member, or if you forgot to do that months ago, there's no time like the present.

Let's face it, to do anything other than making hockey plans without knowing our players' strengths and needs is to wander along through a season like a ship without a rudder.

Really, all areas of their game should be treated over the course of an off-season and through their long in-season. At the same time, though, we coaches and parents should also keep in our minds certain skills and tactics that need extra attention.

When it comes to skills, I highly recommend that members pay close attention to my Building Blocks Approach to offensive skills. The gist of that suggests that the basic skills build on one another, and that the most sensible approach has our players mastering those skills in a specific order.

Members might find it interesting that another fairly high level coach put out a newsletter recently, wherein he declared something to the effect that, "Passing is youth hockey's worst skill." I totally agree with that, for two reasons: 1) too many youth coaches and parents see passing as purely a tactical ploy, consequently not treating it seriously as a skill; and 2) ignoring my Building Blocks Approach, too many coaches and parents fail to see the importance of great puckhandling skills as a prerequisite to great passing and receiving (and more).

All members should take special notice of where things are right now. For sure, that involves knowing where our kids stand from a skills perspective, but it also involves understanding where they fall when it comes to playing the game. With very young ones, maybe we want to be careful about giving them too much at the start. When it comes to older, more advanced players, though, I'll suggest that we're doing them a huge disservice if we don't give them all they can handle -- or, what other kids of their caliber might be getting elsewhere.

Next -- as we're making hockey plans, I need to remind coaches about the way I use a bunker to get all my organization done (see also "Deeper Into The Hockey Bunker"). You should know that my bunker is as much a state of mind as it is a location, since I've found I've been able to do some really creative work in a number of spots. I urge members to read more about my bunker, though, because I explain there all the tools I keep handy to help my work flow.

Thinking further on this topic, I sense that each coach, parent and skater will want to do more or less research as part of his or her planning. Of course, I'd prefer you do more, but...

I've actually done a lot of the research for my members over the past decade, and I'll suggest that most of it is still pretty much up to date. What I'm talking about is seeing the way I've incorporated things like sprint training, strength training and other sport training ideas to develop more athletic, better balanced hockey players. A good review in this -- and the following endeavor -- will be found in my article on "The Nature of Our Game".

The most driven coaches, parents and players won't stop there, however. And, if a member finds something new -- and wonders if that idea might fit with a hockey player's needs, don't be shy about asking this old coach.

Then, before closing, I feel the need to suggest that what's left of this summer is a good time for our players to get a head start on all we're planning for the coming season. Truly, I've said for years that this is the best time to catch or get ahead of other players or other teams who don't wisely use the off-season months. Oh, two last things... A coach should consider his or her staff of assistants, from those who will help teach the game to those helping behind-the-scenes. We'll talk more on that shortly, and we'll also talk soon about the various equipment needed to do our job to the max. In closing, this entry is rather general in nature. What I'm really hoping is to get members in the right frame of mind for making even more serious, more specific hockey plans in upcoming posts.