By / Alan Adams for Hockey Canada
Coaches are like players in that they are always looking to improve their skills.
Hockey Canada has designed a program to help coaches do just that.
Hockey Canada’s Coaching Mentorship program has launched a series of six specialty clinics to help coaches hone their skills. These new innovative specialty clinics offer coaches a practical session on teaching various skills, tactics and systems. The proactive approach also opens the doors of communication and provides a non-threatening environment for coaches to further pursue a mentor.
As an example, let’s say Dan Brown is a minor hockey coach in Campbellton, N.B., and he has gone through the entry level of the national coach certification program. It’s November and Dan decides he would like to find out more about skating because, while he runs a good practice, he feels some of his players could use some work on their skating.
However, Dan is a little weak when he comes to giving skating tips and he isn’t sure what he
should be looking for when it comes to deficiencies when his players are doing their drills.
All Dan would have to do is get in touch with someone in his local minor hockey association and they would then contact the provincial association to inquire about the specialty clinic on skating. Arrangements would be made to have the specialty clinic delivered locally.
The course is a three-hour session divided in half, with 1.5 hours spent in the classroom where coaches watch video specific to the area they are looking to improve in. They are also provided materials and a workbook with specific drills and suggestions on how to teach kids to be better skaters. The final 90 minutes are spent on the ice where they work with an instructor and see first-hand how to apply the drills and what to look for in certain areas of skating, such as common errors and how to fix them. The goal of the session is to make Dan better at teaching skating but also to potentially form a bond between Dan and the mentor delivering the clinic.
Hockey Canada has designed specialty clinics covering skating, puck control, shooting and scoring, creating offence, small area games, and developing defencemen. Hockey Canada worked with the Branches in prioritizing the list and the six clinics are the result of that co-operation.
“Where this came from was a recognition that we wanted to get mentors out in the community.
We wanted to get local people who have expertise in specific areas involved in delivery and programming. It really brings that mentor closer to the community,” says Dean McIntosh, who oversees coaching programs for Hockey Canada.
“This is coaching helping coaches and how good is that?”
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