During the off season local associations are faced with assigning coaches to the teams for the up coming year. Coaching committees and ultimately youth hockey boards will approve the coaches for the coming year. In many programs getting enough qualified coaches is a problem. Some programs start fresh each year and some leave coaches in place for many years. In short there is lots of attention and even drama about who is going to coach the teams, especially A teams. What is missing is actually determining how qualified the coaches are and an on going coach development program. It seems as the season begins teams and coaches are on their own.
Coaching involves competence in the art of teaching fundamental skills in a progressive manner and it requires strong communication and organizational skills. Coaches are the most important and powerful individuals in any organization. Coaches determine the quality of experience that players have and can have a significant impact on the lives of their players. The Positive Coach Alliance (PCA) with a mission of “Developing Winners in Sport and Life” has recently published a new book “The Power of Double-Goal Coaching”. Here is an excerpt from the book:
Double-Goal Coaches never lose sight of the unique opportunity they have to use sports to teach important aspects of life, such as hard work, fair play, teamwork, resilience, delayed gratification and how to compete fiercely and with class. They also recognize their enormous potential to impact the course of lives, often more than any other adult in athletes’ loves other than parents. They realize their words and actions- every single word or single action-good or bad, might be remembered for a lifetime.
But today’s relentless marketing of professional sports, reinforced by 24/7 media coverage, has elevated a win-at-all coasts mentality to all levels including high school and youth athletics. Winning has become such an overriding concern that many coaches miss out on the endless precession of teachable moments that sports has to offer.
If you are a coach and you want to improve your skills as a coach you might want to invest in “The Power of Double Goal Coaching”. The book is only 68 pages and easy to read. You can find it and several other great books at www.positivecoach.org . Click on the books link. If you are a coach coordinator in a local association you might consider ordering one for every coach and then organize a couple sessions for your coaches to share ideas they get from the books.
