Advice to Coaches….Over-involved parents
For most coaches, teaching hockey to kids is fun, exciting…and rewarding! They love to see players on the ice picking up drills like a pro. It certainly takes time and patience for both the coach and the players to learn necessary skills before they progress to advanced levels.
One of the biggest problems faced by hockey coaches are over-involved parents. While affection and care are great for kids at home, they certainly don’t want or need advice pouring in from all over the place during or after a game. Some parents also claim to be smarter than the coach in a number of ways, making it difficult for them to adopt a flexible and proper training approach.
Interfering with the coach’s way of training can often wind up confusing kids in the end. Coaches have their own way of teaching and coaching. They have taken on that role…so allow them to do it.
Although there’s no guarantee that kids will win each time, at least there should be satisfaction in knowing that they have learned the game and hopefully enjoyed it as well!
Advice to players….Is it actually needed?
Well, not always. After the game has ended, instead of making statements like “you were wrong to have played that way” or “you could have played better on the power play”, try to see that the child has done his/her best on the ice. Offer support, encouragement and motivation. As a parent, that’s your role at the rink!
Unfortunately, some parents also have a tendency to draw comparisons between their child and someone else’s. Comparing your child to another player can be detrimental to their self-worth and often the worst thing parents can do post-game. Some parents are often heard saying that ‘so and so’s’ kid was better than their own child or that ‘so and so’s’ kid played “the best” on the team.
Such statements can break your child’s confidence & spirit, as they may then try to constantly mirror the other player while losing their own identity…or with that much pressure, foul up even more next time!
While most kids dream of joining the AAA team, it’s not always a mandate to attain that status. They should simply be allowed to play hockey for the sheer experience.
After all, minor hockey should represent Teamwork, Challenge and above all…FUN!
