Coaches

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Every hockey team needs a coach. There are good coaches and there are bad coaches and coaches that fall in between.  I have seen them them all. Luckily, my children have had pretty good coaches throughout their hockey experiences. I haven't always agreed with the coaching strategies, I haven't always agreed with some of the coaching decisions or actions towards the players but on a whole, I would say that the coaches my children have had, despite their flaws have had the children's best interests in mind. Although I have already said it to them directly, I will do so again here,  to all those coaches, and to all coaches in general who give up their time to pass on their wisdom to the next generation I say thank you.

It is only two words but it is amazing how difficult it seem for people to say them. It seems to be very easy for people to criticize the coach, say what he/she should be doing differently and how the coach isn't treating their child like a star. These parents usually have one thing in common - they never say thank you and they never volunteer to help out the coach.

For the last three years I have been the manager for my daughters hockey team. It is a lot of work. From collecting team fees, budgeting, banking, paying for ice, refs, tournament and other costs that arrive to scheduling games and reporting scores. Since I am in school full time, work and have two children in rep hockey I knew going into the season that I could not do the full manager's job - so I am only a part time manager taking care of only the financial part of the job. Unfortunately, no other parent was willing to step up to help out so the coach is doing the other half of the manager's job as well as coaching. It is a tremendous amount of work - work that is unrecognized by a lot of parents.

There is a lot of planning - what drills to do in practice, what player should go on what line, strategy for games, disciplines, dryland, what tournaments to go into, motivation, etc. My husband is my daughter's coach/manager. He spends a good 2-3 hours after work dealing with hockey things. He can get over 200 emails a day dealing with scheduling of games and player absences and this is not including the time he spends at the arena for practices and games. Majority of the parents don't say thank you to him for this time spent, majority don't step up when he asks for help. Good coaches are hard to find and hard to keep when they don't feel appreciated. All it takes is two words. Thanks coach!

Below is a letter a friend had posted on his Facebook page. He had gotten it from a friend of his. This friend had clipped the letter from a newspaper some 30 years ago. The author is unknown, but the message is wonderful. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Is there a coach that changed your life? What made him/her special?