Tag: Youth Sports Coach

10 Tips to run effective practices

Posted Glen MulcahyPosted in Coach

That time of the year where I get a break from various hockey hats after a whirlwind season with all the ups and downs of dealing with COVID-19 return to play, pivoting to running virtual coach clinics, coordinating coach evaluations that complied with safety protocols and marking a record number of written assignments due to ease for coaches to take clinics virtually vs. face to face in various parts of the province.

While it was top of mind, I thought this would be a good opportunity to share some tips for running effective practices based on this and past years evaluations for coaches that are generic to carry over to other sports, then late summer will share one specifically for hockey coaches are they ramp up for what hopefully will be a better normal than this past pandemic season.

#1 – Have a Plan

Depending on the level you are coaching, as the cliche goes, if you fail to plan you plan to fail.  The practice plan is probably one of the most important things you need to run an effective practice and it should be based on what you overall season plan is (another blog in itself) but making sure that you are not a game reactive coach (i.e. focusing on errors that were made in a prior game, but staying the course to develop over the course of a season

#2 – Ensure that every player has a full water bottle 

Even during Covid-19 I have talked to several evaluators that observed practices where coaches did not pay attention to the number of water bottles that players had when they came to the practice, and as a result, players ended up sharing with their team mates.  Regardless if cohort or not, but players must have their own FULL water bottle before practicing and given regular hydration breaks

#3 – Consider using computer software or an app

This will permit you to plan and share your practices in advance with coaches and players, ideally using ones that have video demos for drills so it will make your practices much more efficient

The other benefit, is everyone will be able to READ the practice plan, drill and key teaching points.  Having marked hundreds of practice plans over the years, it amazes me how many coaches have the handwriting of physicians and practice plans are very difficult to follow.

 

 

#4 – Don’t try to do it on your own

If you are just getting started coaching a sport or have for many years, I can’t emphasize the importance of finding a coach mentor so you can pick their brain for drills, best way to identify errors and correct them connect with players, engage parents and so on.  I have always argued that we should provide as much support for those starting out as they could have a positive or negative impact on kids early one when they are developing their core skills.

#5 – Watch/Listen to webinars/podcasts not only what, but HOW to coach

Too often I have seen coaches short and long term goals focusing on the what (skills/drills/tactics) but not on how to coach (leadership, communication, interpersonal skills).  Having surveyed thousands of coaches over the years, the characteristics they have shared of the greatest coaches they had did not have to do with the what, it had to do with the how … how much they cared about them as people, how they connected to them as individuals, how they taught them valuable life lessons and so forth.

#6 – Ensure that your practice plans adhere to your sports LTPD/LTAD model

Too often I have seen coaches having tons of high level flow drills, strategies, tactics for young age groups when it should be the polar opposite.  In lieu of team tactics/systems, should focus on core skills and individual tactics until kids are in their teen years.  Without the skills, they can’t execute the systems and strategies

# 7 –  P&R = Patience and Repetitions

Terry Crisp, long term hockey coach shared with a colleague of mine who shared with me Terry’s philosophy on practices, as a coach you had to have a lot of patience and also permit players to do numerous repetitions to get it right.  Often I have seen coaches in many sports run practices and when players are making mistakes they scream at them for doing so.  In lieu, what you should be doing is encouraging them to make mistakes and come out of their comfort zone

#8 – Remove the joystick

In lieu of treating your players like mini-me’s or robots to do drills exactly as you drew it up on the whiteboard, what you should provide them the opportunity to do is to figure it out on their own (AKA – FIO per Corey McNabb at Hockey Canada).  One of the biggest issues that all sports face to day is players are too robotic, lack creativity and is a direct result of being over coached

#9 – Make it Safe to Fail

Much like I did coaching all the kids on teams that I coached for a myriad of sports, I have fostered a safe to fail environment for the co-op students we have sponsored over the years who have been instrumental in helping us build out our websites, host summits, webinars, podcasts and so forth.  They all work on terms of 4 months and I know when they start it will take several weeks for them to get up to speed with our various platforms, and provide them a safe place to make mistakes (within reason) while they do so.

#10 – Smile

Last but not least, regardless of what type of day you had before you got to the field, rink, court for the practice, I can’t emphasize enough the importance for you put you coach hat on when you arrive and smile and greet all players when they arrive.  Ask they how their day went, how school was, what they learned and various other queries to get to know them better as people, then when you run the practices and are on the bench/sidelines for games they will know that you have their back and truly care about them as people first, athletes second

 

 

 

 

 

Why I Coach

Posted Glen MulcahyPosted in Athlete, Coach, Organization Executive, Parents

One of the exercises that I do with coaches is asking them “Why do you Coach” and this past weekend I was running a clinic with 45 rep (competitive stream) hockey coaches and as we went around the room coaches shared similar answers to what I had heard before that I highlighted in prior blog post “Why Do you Coach” starting with the #1 answer they have kids playing followed by giving back, paying forward, had great coaches, love of the game, passion etc.

One coach shared something I had never heard before…

“I’m Coaching because I had 3 coaches

that touched my Heart.”

I said to myself “WOW” and then immediately starting thinking about all the great coaches, as well as teachers, I had and the impact they had on me.

We all coach for a myriad of different reasons, when I first started coaching was due to the fact I wanted to give back, then it was my kids, then learned after adopting hundreds of kids over the years our calling as coaches was to make a difference developing youth into adults.

The one that I never thought of until I heard what the coached shared, was the impact that coaches and a few teachers had on me while I was growing up.

I was born in Montreal and of course the first sport I played was Ice Hockey, but due to my father’s job we moved literally every year so he could be very close to govt buildings he managed so I played in different associations, was in different schools but the one constant was my love for sports.

Each year that we moved, I had different coaches (my father only tried to coach my baseball team one year but barely made it due to work commitments) and two coaches and one teacher really stood out for me.

COACH RON – Peewee Hockey Coach

The first was when we made our initial roots in Vancouver, BC where I played for yet another MHA and due to my Dads work commitments and fact that my mother did not drive due to prior accidents she had, the only way I could get to practices, games in Hockey was thanks to my coach.

Gone are those days due to Graham James and all other sexual abuse issues since where coaches can drive players by themselves, but I vividly remember those trips, particularly to road games where the coach would share so many life lessons like reinforcing the importance of values like respect, sportsmanship, winning with humility, losing with dignity, hard work, commitment etc that I hold dear today.

Thanks COACH.

COACHES JIM AND FRANK – Bantam Football Coaches

Fast forward a few years later, three more schools, houses, MHA’s later and we returned back to the home my parents purchased in the Vancouver area and I was now 13 years old in Grade 8.  Thanks to all the schools and teams I was on, I was apprehensive of becoming friends with anyone but did end up hanging out with a group of guys that became my “friends” that and the following year.

By the time we got to the summer break between Grade 9 and 10, however, those friends were bringing me down the wrong path, they were doing drugs, drinking alcohol, vandalism, B&E’s and other criminal activities and my football coaches got wind of it and two pulled me aside during one of our two a days we had in June.

One was the receivers coach, Jim, the other was the defensive coordinator, Frank, and they sat me down on one of the benches and started to challenge me what I aspired to do with my life.

I was like “huh”, I am 15, who knows.

They then shared they knew the group of guys that I was hanging around with, that many had already been thrown into juvenile detention and were going the wrong way.

Then Frank said to me “Big Red” (my nickname), you have a choice to make, you can either continue hanging out with the juvenile delinquents or you can become part of our family but you can’t have both.

Look out at the field he said, those guys are your family (my 39 brothers on my football team).

Choose.

Then they stopped talking and just waited for me to speak and I was like, what, I can’t play football and hang out with my buds?

They waited.

I then had an Epiphone moment and realized they were right, I was going nowhere with my then druggie and delinquent peer group and I LOVED sports so I told them, ok, I choose the team.

They both then said, good, get back to practice and from that day forward I worked my butt off with all of my brothers and that year we won the provincial championship (when there was only ONE to be one before multiple tiers for community and high school football)

Thanks COACHES.

 

MRS. STATZ – Grade 12 French Honours teacher

The third was not a coach, but the teacher of my French Honours class in my last year of high school.

My mother did her best to raise me and my brother but both he and I had part-time jobs to help with expenses, pay for sports and what she called “luxury” items like Nike Running shoes (vs. generic shoes) or name brand clothes vs. Zellers etc.

I remember working my Pizza Driver shift until 1130PM on a Sunday then groggily got to my first class for French and just as we all had gotten seated, she (Mrs. Statz) announced we were going to have surprise Quiz as we needed to continue preparing for the Provincial Exam.

To which I said F…. That.

(My Lizard Brain kicked in again in part as I was going thru a tough time having lost my father at such a young age)

To which she said, Mr. Mulcahy, Get your Ass out of My Class!!!!

I grabbed my jacket, binder and headed out of class and once in the hallway heard the door SLAM and thought she was in the classroom but as I turned around she was standing there.

She then went on to go up one side of me, down the other side how disrespectful I was using foul language, towards her but also how much potential I had to go onto University and so on.

I was speechless, but then apologized and had another lightbulb moment that she was right.  I was just coasting thru all of my courses, smart enough to get B’s without a lot of effort but was not even thinking about University, all that was on my mind then was work, sports, parties, girls etc.

THANKS MRS. STATZ

Two Coaches – One Teacher who touched my Heart.

Cared about me in different ways, steered me in a different direction and had it not been for them and all other coaches and teachers I had along the way I never would have committed to applying and completing my degree at UBC.

When I received my degree, my mother and Nanny rented a Limousine to come to see the ceremonies, one of my favorite pictures (which is buried in a trunk with others) is me with my Nanny (another huge influencer in my life)

When we went for a bite to eat, my Nanny and Mother gave me the graduation ring pictured below (shot from a smartphone) and they shared with me how proud they were as I was the first cousin from two large families, 9 siblings on one side, 5 on the other with multiple kids (first cousins) to have graduated from University.

 

I still wear the ring proudly to this day, not just to celebrate my graduation, but to remember my Nanny and Mother who sadly passed away.

Had it not been for the coaches and my teacher, my Nanny and Mother who knows where I would have ended up.

“That is Why I coach.”

To have the same impact in helping kids make those important decisions so they stay out of harm’s way, learn life lessons and not only become the best athletes they can be, but the best people the can be.

This is why one of my favorite quotes of all time is the spin-off of Teddy Roosevelts by Pat Summit (one of the GOATS)

Pat Summit – Almost 1100 NCAA Div I wins (#1 at the time she retired) – 8 National Championships

If you aspire to be the best coach you can be,  touch the hearts of your players and ensure that the legacy is a positive one so you are not a Kid’s Last Coach.

 

 

 

BONUS – Download a FREE printable PDF version of this blog HERE