Who’s Your Coach? – Dad!
Let’s face it, the majority of the time it is a player’s dad who is coaching the team just like my son’s house league team. Parents are often thrown into the situation of coaching otherwise there would be no team, which again was the case of my son’s house league team. On the other hand, I have to give some credit because a few parents do have credentials like a level I or II coaching certificate, even some training, but most do not.
My son is lucky. I have a background in hockey and am well-versed in conducting skillful drills. Growing up, I did not have the same advantage as my son does. When I started to play/learn hockey, I had fathers who tried to teach us that could not skate and/or no clue what a basic drill looked like. Even my immigrant mother that took me to practices was very frustrated watching us just kind of standing there not being productive.
Let me make this clear. I do not blame these fathers, they were amazing people that had a lot of gusto, their hearts were in the right place and they did their best with their limited abilities. In the end, though I lost a few years of growth.
A lack of training and support for parents whose coach is a problem that needs attention and a solution. Why leave them on their own to figure out how to teach the kids. This can result in the parent-coach with little background or experience, and this can influence our children’s development and ultimately their skill level if they desire to become professional athletes one day.
THERE IS A SOLUTION…
Organizations need to create a platform on their websites that allows them to easily create and store drills for parent-coaches to use. More importantly, have weekly coaching meetings to go over these drills and how to implement them properly at practice. Finally, it would be beneficial to have a few dedicated coaches attend practices intermittently to give their support.
This creates an overall standard of the skills being taught at each level of hockey. It also creates a seamless progression of skills as a player moves from coach to coach in their Organizations to other associations.
THE REAL QUESTION IS…
When will this kind of support finally be available? Let’s support the parents, who give their time to our children, and let’s give our children the coaching experience that they deserve!
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