Coaching Clinic Survey Results

A few days ago, we gave our coaches the chance to voice what they would like to see covered in our upcoming coaching clinic, which will be happening online in August (make sure you’re on our mailing list to get more info as it is made available).

The response to the survey was INCREDIBLE. We received feedback from nearly 500 coaches, and I personally read every single response. The answers were detailed, and very helpful. Here are a few samples. In the interest of privacy, I’ve omitted names and teams:

This is what would be most beneficial to me:

A very detailed description of systems (as if explaining it to the entire team), to include man-to-man d-zone coverage, neutral zone play, zone entry, setting up the offense, pp, pk.  I am enjoying your 4 e-books thus far. I am especially interested in expanding on your theory that hockey sense can be taught/learned. At times, I feel like I am trying to herd 25 cats (collegiate players with typically more than 15 years of playing experience). Thanks for making all of your ideas so accessible and at a fair price. I have been coaching for 27 years, and you have just made a significant contribution to my arsenal.

Best,

“Head Coach”
“Team”
Men’s Hockey
ACHA Division I

Here’s another:

Excellent idea!

As a coach I’m always looking for drill progressions that can be utilized to help with Power skating development.

I’m also always tinkering with drill progressions to help players develop puck control, agility and speed.  Discussions on how and when to train for on ice speed would be helpful.  Discussion and drills for System development could prove useful as well for the older teams!

Cheers,

“Coach”

And one more for good measure:

This sounds really promising!

I mentioned before about covering of your systems through the eye of a player, like “I’m a winger, when the puck is here, I’m here etc…”

“Coach”

We received HUNDREDS of submissions of this caliber. I decided I’d post a generalized list of the requested topics that came in. I think it helps to see what other coaches have on their minds. I’ve consolidated the 490 submissions into the following list of 79 topics:

• Systems
• Team Building
• Character Building and Identifying
• Aggressive vs Passive – when to play each
• Individual Skills
• Off-ice skill development
• Systems Drills
• Age Appropriateness for Systems
• Half Ice Drills
• Keeping Practices Engaging
• Small Area Drills
• Dealing with Problem Parents
• Dealing with Talented, but Unmotivated Players
• How to Run Progressions
• Tactical Play––not where to be, but WHAT to do
• Structuring the Line-up
• How to Support Child who wants to play High Level
• Overcoming player deficiencies
• Making Drills Fun
• Motivating Youngsters
• End of Game Strategies (6 on 5)
• Gift of Coaching – Impacting Young Lives
• Combating Different Systems
• Passing Drills
• Agility Skating & Battling Drills
• Effective Practice Planning
• Coaching Staff Working as a Team
• Pregame Talks
• In Game Coaching
• Two-way Players
• Season Structure: on-ice, off-ice, skills, systems, etc.
• How to Teach Skating Technique
• Offensive Thinking
• Stick, Body, Skate Positioning in Various Game Situations
• In-Season Workout Program––Including Nutrition
• Shooting & Goal Scoring Technique
• Mental Pre-game Prep
• When to Move on From a Drill
• Explosive Speed
• Weekly Practice Structure
• “User Friendly” Practice Plans & Sharing
• Using Goalies in Practice
• Puck Protection
• Possessional Transitions
• Developing a Season Plan for Using the Weiss Tech Playbook
• Bench Management
• Effective Communication
• Identifying Problem Areas
• Body Contact Progressions
• Differences in Coaching Girls vs. Boys
• Building Team Culture
• Dealing with Talent Disparities in Practices
• Offensive Attack Options
• Selecting Coaching Staff
• Systems Strategy
• Off-Ice Training and Dryland Warm-up
• Flow Drills for Full-Ice Practices
• MOTIVATION – All Ages
• Support
• How to Best Utilize Half Ice
• How to Coach Cross-Ice Systems
• Defining the Needs of Your Team
• Coaching Your Own Kid
• Odd Man Rushes
• Converting Drills to Half-Ice
• Mental Toughness & Psychology of Coaching
• Mentoring Coaches
• Language & Terminology
• How to Run ADM Practices
• Skill Development vs. Positional Development
• Defining Power Skating, Technical Skating, Conditioning
• How to Organize a Station-Based Practice––Including Examples of Drills
• How to Use Technology in Hockey Development
• Tryout Process
• Recommended Reading
• Read & React in Hockey
• Learning to Coach if You’ve Never Played
• Checking Philosophy––Teaching Youngsters so they’re Prepared for Bantam
• Is Winning the Ultimate Goal?

As you can see, there’s some AWESOME stuff here. Our curriculum before the survey was already great, but we’ll be able to make it even better with the feedback we received from you. Thank you!

Jeremy

PS – again, make sure you’re on our mailing list to receive more information about the clinics as it becomes available!