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Recent 14U Bantam News

Updates on the "Return to Play"

By DHA Board 07/29/2020, 8:15am CDT

Hello Families:

We know everyone misses hockey and we do too! We can't wait to get back to the rink. While we are still waiting for the governor to allow skating rinks to open we wanted to update you on exactly where we stand as an association. 

Legally, all skating rinks — public and private — are currently closed per the executive orders of Governor Whitmer. But we know there are a lot of questions and a lot of social media posts going around that make it seem otherwise.

Michigan Amateur Hockey Association (MAHA) is the governing body of youth hockey in Michigan. They conducted a series of meetings and workgroups earlier this summer about the current state of hockey and plans to re-start playing once rinks are allowed to open. We had sent this in an earlier email, but in case you missed it, here is the link: MAHA 'Return to the Game' Plan.

They also just sent an update to this information on July 27th.

The DHA cannot hold or support any of the listed activities because it breaks state law as well as MAHA regulations. But we know you have questions and would like to answer some of them.

So what would happen if your child goes to one of these skates/trainings? 

We know that parents are making difficult choices every day about their children and their families during Covid-19, so we want to let you know a few things regarding hockey as it currently is (or isn't.)

The first is liability. We say this not to scare you, but to inform you. Every DHA player has to sign up for a USA Hockey membership to play DHA hockey and to be a MAHA registered player. Most of what your money goes to for a USA Hockey registration is INSURANCE. So we want to let you know that if your child does skate while MAHA and the state of Michigan prohibit these activities, that they do so without USA Hockey insurance coverage. 

Second is safety in the facilities. We don't know what precautions or steps are being taken to ensure healthy and safety. If you want to know what Hockey will most likely look like, please take a look at the MAHA 'Return to the Game' Plan. 

What could happen punishment-wise to my kid if they skate?

It's hard to say, but we do know that MAHA is most concerned with ensuring there is a level playing field for everyone. A lot of these skates are focused on TIER I and TIER II (AAA and Travel) teams. That said, MAHA has repeatedly emailed the DHA board to remind us of the prohibition and to warn that coaches, teams, and associations could face punishment.  

When will the DHA start back up again? When could we see the ice?

The truth is we don't know. We can only guess. What we do know is the timeline. As soon as the state allows rinks to open, the city has committed that the DISC will be able to open and begin putting ice in. There is a timeline laid out in the return to play document that we won't rehash here as it is a bit long, but we will be ready. 

Why is the DHA following the rules when other teams and clubs aren't?

As an association that is focused on player development, ensuring every kid who wants to play hockey has an opportunity, and making sure that our association is known for its integrity and dedication to the principles that represent the mission of our organization we have to wait until given clearance to do anything. We are committed to adhering to the rules in place. 

What can I do to help prepare my player for a return to the ice?

The best thing, from a hockey perspective, is to ensure they are staying healthy and staying active. Hockey players need to develop as total athletes, and this current situation is a great excuse to cross-train. But we do know that some kids are ready to do hockey-specific things to improve while they have more time on their hands. While we believe that "breaks" from sports - even primary ones, are good, we know we are approaching the traditional start of "hockey time."

So, as we move forward we will be communicating more frequently and providing things that the kids can do while we hopefully get closer to a return to the ice.  

​We know this time isn't easy for anyone. We know that our kids thrive on athletics and it is important for their personal, emotional, and cognitive development. Many of our coaches have safely seen or talked to one another over the break and have been brainstorming about how to best return to the success and growth we saw last year. We want the best for our kids both ON and OFF the ice. 

If you have any questions please contact any of the following people and they can explain more about the current situation or what things look like moving forward. ​

Kevin Bolger
dhapresident@dearbornhockey.com

Jeff Lesperance
jefflesperance9@gmail.com

Joe Koss
josephkoss@gmail.com

How to foster CULTURE in your hockey organization

This article is is from The Hockey Think Tank. Please visit them.

By: Topher Scott

It has been about a month since I took over as the Hockey Director of a AAA program here in Central NY.  It has been an interesting process to say the least, and I feel like I’ve learned more about the youth hockey industry in the past month than I have in all the years I’ve been involved in the sport combined.

Throughout the past month I have been doing a lot of listening…and have held back from doing a lot of speaking.  Rather than come in and impose a plan right away, I wanted to talk to as many people as I could to get a sense of where things were at and where people wanted them to go.

One of the toughest things about going this route is that people want answers right away.  Since we have to run tryouts literally the week after the season is over (rule mandated by the State), people are in a frenzy right now trying to figure out what they’re going to do next year. It’s painful.

But there’s a difference between doing things quickly…and doing them right.  I want to do them right, and that takes time.  It takes time and it takes a whole lot of feedback.  And boy, feedback is what I have gotten.  And honestly, it’s a bit troubling.

Because in my conversations with many parents, coaches, kids, and others…there is a certain word that gets brought up with a disturbing intensity:

FEAR.

The youth hockey model…and the youth sports model in general…operates and feeds off of fear.  Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). Fear of Judgement. Fear of the Unknown.

The parents feel it.  The coaches feel it.  The kids feel it.  The administrators feel it.  The fear factor is crazy…and it’s everywhere.

So I’ve put a lot of thought into where this fear comes from.  Why does the youth hockey industry make so many good people go crazy? And how do we get to a place where people can enjoy the experience rather than always looking over their shoulder? I’ll try to answer both these questions below.

Where does the fear come from?

In my opinion, the fear factor in youth hockey comes from two places:

1. The too-early professionalization of youth hockey.

2. The disconnect between parents and coaches.

Too often, and too early, we treat kids like professionals.  We treat them like professionals before they are physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to handle it.  At too young of an age, KIDS:

Play 70-80 game seasons.

Are being ranked on how they play, for the whole internet to see it.

Are being recruited to “Exposure” camps and “All-Star” teams.

Are being recruited to college and/or junior camps.

Are being coached like adults whose purpose is to win at all costs.

These things certainly affect the kids.  Imagine being 14 years old and reading negative reports about your play on the internet.  Seriously, for the people reading this that write those reports, imagine your 14 year old self.  I’m sure you were mature enough to handle what people said about you, who knew NOTHING about you but saw you play a hockey game or two.  I’m sure you were mature enough to let it slide and not let it affect your self-worth.  It’s pretty easy for 14 year olds to do that, right?

Or imagine being told that if you don’t make a certain team at 14 years old, your dreams of playing college or pro hockey are done.  Yes, that happens.  And unfortunately, our industry perpetuates it.

These kinds of things affect the kids for sure…but honestly I think it affects the parents more because it creates the biggest case of FOMO that I’ve ever seen.

Parents want what is best for their kids.  And most will go to the end of the earth to try and provide those opportunities for them.  The problem is, the early-professionalization of our sport drives the parents to feel like if they don’t do “X”, it will ruin their kids chances at “Y” way too early.  There is so much information out there trying to persuade them that the grass is greener on the other side.

If your kid doesn’t play on a top ranked team…

If your kid doesn’t make this tournament team…

If your kid doesn’t apply to this camp…

If your kid doesn’t get seen at this showcase…

If your kid doesn’t have an advisor…

The list goes on and on.

And if you look at the long list of the “If your kid doesn’ts…” very few actually have an impact on a kid’s goals and dreams.  99% of them are pure fluff centered around adults making money off of FOMO.  The one statement that should really matter is this:

“If my kid plays for a good coach with a good culture…their chances at getting to “Y” are GREATLY increased.”

I know because I’ve seen it as a college coach…and I know because I lived it.

When I was younger, my parents kept me with the good coach of the not-so-talented team rather than having me play for the “All Star” team that was heavily recruited and had a coach with the wrong intentions.  Three years later, the All Stars came to play for the good coach because our rag-tag group of kids that loved to play began beating them and they were having a miserable time with all of the pressure to win that was put on the kids and the families.

It was a great experience having gone through it, and looking back it was a PhD of what hockey development looks like.  Half our team went on to play college/pro hockey.

And as a college coach, it’s easy to see what the kids that really make it have in common:

They have a passion for the game.

They love to play.  And through that love to play comes a love to get better.  And the better you become, the better your chances of achieving your goals and dreams.

That ever-important passion is something that can be sucked out of kids if you treat them like adults too early.  I’ve seen too many talented kids go through it.  Way too many.

Seriously, way too many.  So parents, please, if you want to help your kid achieve their dreams of playing hockey at a higher level…keep that in mind.  The best thing that you can do for your kid is to put them in an environment where that passion can flourish.

But here’s where it gets interesting.  Because the feedback that I get from the coaches completely flips the script.

You certainly have coaches and admins perpetuating the FOMO in the parents by professionally coaching their kids at too early of an age.  But you also have parents putting the fear into coaches for NOT coaching their kids professionally enough.  All youth coaches will empathize with the following scenario:

They catch heat from the parents of the more talented players if their kid doesn’t play all game and thus not coaching to win.  They are threatened by the best players’ parents that if they don’t play their kid all the time, they’ll leave and find some other coach that will.  Their kid needs to win so they can be on a top ranked team so they will be scouted.  Oh yes, this happens.  Again…at way too young of a level.

But on the other side, coaches will also catch heat from the parents of the kids on the bottom end of their team if they do shorten the bench.  They will hear from those parents that their kids are losing their love for the game because they don’t play enough.

So…

They have one quarter of their team’s parents upset at too little coaching to win and not playing their kids enough.  And they have another quarter of their team’s parents upset about too much coaching to win and not playing their kids enough.  It’s lose-lose and we are losing a lot of good coaches in our sport because they just don’t want to deal with this kind of madness.

These scenarios…they happen EVERYWHERE.

This dynamic between some parents (especially parents of the more talented kids who have FOMO) and the coaches is extremely unhealthy and it toxifies team cultures.  So again, let me reiterate:

*I played for teams with a great coach, great culture, and bad talent.  We ended up being better than the team with the bad coach, bad culture, but great talent.  Over time, coaching and culture won out.  The talent/ranking didn’t.

*As a former coach in college, PASSION is a huge differentiator between kids that make it and kids that don’t.  If the culture you are generating within your team (whether you are a parent or a coach) is creating an environment that doesn’t foster passion…you need to take a look in the mirror and make some changes.

At the end of the day…the fear of judgement, the fear of missing out, the fear of the unknown…these are real fears in the youth hockey world.  And if we don’t take steps to address them, our game will continue to suffer.

So how do we change it?

[...Read the  rest of the article at The Hockey Think Tank...]

6.7.0

How to Pull the Best Out of Your Players

By Mike Doyle 12/10/2019, 8:00am CST

Players need to learn how to make decisions for themselves in real-time.

Video gamers use controllers to dictate the action on the screen. In youth hockey, joystick coaches try to control all the action on the ice with their voices, shouting directions from the bench.

“You see it a lot in games at the youth level,” USA Hockey Coach-in-Chief for the Minnesota District Christian Koelling said. “You see a lot of coaches shouting instructions from the bench during the game. The odd thing is you don't see any NHL coaches doing that. Even NHL players make mistakes but coaches don't yell the entire game and try to tell them what to do every second.”

Hockey is a fluid, quick-thinking sport full of twists and turns. Players need to learn how to make decisions for themselves in real-time. 

“Yelling doesn’t really provide any benefit because the players on the ice can't even hear you most of the time,” Koelling said. “Even if they could, they won’t be able to make that play based on you yelling what to do.”

Additionally, it can have a negative impact for the kids that are closest to the bench boss. 

“All the players that are on the bench are probably not too excited if coach is yelling play-by-play,” said Koelling, who is the director of hockey operations for the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. 

Good coaches can fall into this impulse during the heat of the moment. Koelling said that coaches need to consciously step back and remember kids need to learn on their own. 

“There are ways coaches can help that process along but shouting instructions throughout the game doesn't help produce results,” Koelling said. 

Pull Rather than Push

Shouting out instructions throughout the game, or even practice, certainly isn’t a new phenomenon. Many coaches’ coaches used the push method: always telling players what to do and where to be. 

“I think a lot of our coaches grew up with the traditional learning method that everything was push. The push method is centered around the coach,” Koelling said. “The pull method is centered around the player and it requires more patience and it requires more time, but ultimately there's a better outcome. With the push method, you might have more immediate outcomes but it's not good for long-term development of that player.”

Rather than always telling a player where to go or what to do, getting players think for themselves is the ultimate goal of a coach. 

Declaration of Player Safety

“Asking questions is really important as a coach because it opens the door for players to reflect and studies show that learning occurs with reflection,” Koelling said. “So just asking players what they did well and what they might improve in the future are really good ways to open that door up and allow players to learn.” 

Self-reflection can also be a good way for players to recognize mistakes without having to feel the criticism of the coach.  

“Pulling the feedback from the players instead of telling them what they did wrong is more powerful. If, as a coach, you can get them to realize what they did wrong or what they may need to improve on without giving them negative feedback, then it creates a more positive environment for players to learn.” Koelling said.  

 

Let Go of the Joystick

It might be difficult for some coaches to loosen their grip. Often, coaches might feel pressure from parents, administrators and even other coaches watching from the stands. 

“I think coaches need to be confident enough in themselves if a practice, game or even a particular drill looks unorganized or unstructured. Sometimes that's when some of the best learning can occur,” Koelling said. “I think coaches may feel pressure at times that they look like they don't know what they're doing if there isn't that structure in place.” 

Controlling every aspect of every game and practice by constantly shouting directions doesn’t allow for learning. Koelling said that coaches need to realize they are teachers and they need to focus on long-term development over short-term results. Asking questions, using the pull method and not vocalizing directions from the bench are ways coaches can get the most out of their players. 

“It allows a player to figure out how to learn on their own. It allows them to truly understand something – a concept – rather than just doing something because they're told to do it,” he said. “Not only does it help them understand a concept or learn something in a more thorough manner but it also sets them up to learn more efficiently down the road as well.”