By Greg Bates, Special to AHAI - It’s a simple but highly effective method: early and often. That’s the suggestion from AHAI Coach-in-Chief Jim Clare on when hockey coaches should communicate with their players’ parents.

“Having been president of a club for 10+ years and coach for 20-plus years, I think my advice to coaches is it’s never too early to talk to them both while getting ready for and during a season,” Clare said. “The more the merrier.”

Establishing an open line of communication between coaches and parents is essential to make everything work throughout a season. Just like we stress being prepared for practice with a plan, coaches need to be prepared for the parent meetings; clear thoughts, agenda, ready for issues to be raised, etc.

By Dan Scifo - For Steve Thompson, USA Hockey’s American Development Model manager of goaltending, the biggest myth when it comes to coaching goaltenders is that a coach had to have played the position to be a great goalie coach. His example is Grant Standbrook, the legendary coach who helped develop world class goaltenders like Mike Richter, Garth Snow, Mike Dunham, Jimmy Howard, Ben Bishop and others.

By Greg Bates, Special to AHAI – Part of coaching is learning how to reach a group of players, each with their own individual personalities. So, a coach may ask, is a player’s gender a part of that? Should males and females be coached differently?

According to Heather Mannix, USA Hockey ADM Manager of Female Hockey, the answer is no. In fact, a study presented at an International Physical Literacy Conference showed that when girls aren’t given the same instruction, there can be negative side effects in the long run.

By Mike Doyle - When trying to get the most out of their players, youth coaches can sometimes lose sight of what hockey is: a game. So, why not play more games in practice? Taking a games-based approach to practices can be both fun and improve your players’ cognitive skills. The games-based practice plan comes from the idea that our actions are based on our perceptions and what we see in our environment.

“While it is a games-based approach, it’s not necessarily strictly games like we have to keep score for everything,” said Zachary Nowak, Mid-American Hockey’s Goaltending Coach-in-Chief. “More like games in terms of objectives.”

The A Step aHead partners are excited to announce the 10th year of our program! We are proud of the work that has been done to educate our youth hockey community about sports safety and provide free baseline neurocognitive testing. We look forward to another 10 years of working to keep our athletes safe while they play the game they love. This year the free baseline testing will be offered through November 30, 2020.