What Makes A Good Coach?
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, coaching a team of kids in a sport like hockey,
baseball or football was a pretty simple endeavor.
Someone’s dad, who may or may not have even played the sport himself growing
up but had an interest in it and had some free time, volunteered to coach a squad.
Uniforms were obtained and practices were held and the games began.
What a difference a generation makes. Today’s youth sport coach is a whole
different breed of cat. I am not really sure why, but I guess it’s because we adults are way
more involves in our kid’s activities than out parents were, and because we for some
reason feel the need to organize and control activities. Like anything else, in some ways,
this is good, in some ways, not so good.
Coaches today are required to be much more complex than their fathers were,
mainly because the sports that they coach are much more organized. It’s not just enough
anymore to be the “good guy” dad and volunteer your time to work with the kids.
Today’s coaches have to be that plus a whole lot more.
Some of the requirements to coach youth hockey in today’s work apparently
include expertise in the following areas, in no particular order of importance: power
skating, hockey skills, child psychology, fitness training, nutrition, parent psychology,
recruiting, contact negotiation, motivational speaking, babysitting, accounting, crisis
management, parent sitting, and fundraising among others.
Apparently it also helps if you played the game at a high level like junior or
college or pro. And, believe it or not, apparently it also is seen as a plus if you don’t have
any kids playing on the team. And yes, this is still youth hockey we are talking about.
I am sure that there are plenty of great guys out there without kids who want to
get involved and help coach teams. In some ways that is a good thing.
Unfortunately, there is the morbid, skeptical part of me that looks at non-parent
coaches and can’t help but question their motivation. Being a coach can be a pretty
dominant and powerful position and abuse of many different natures do occur.
And beyond that I can’t help but wonder if they are living out their personal
coaching dreams, using and manipulating the children playing the game merely to
appease their own competitive spirit. I am sure that happens, but then again maybe they
are just great guys helping out with the kids.
Personally, I love working with kids, and couldn’t imagine not getting involved in
coaching in any sport that my kids played. But I also can’t even comprehend coaching if I
didn’t have kids on a team. If I want to compete, I will play the game myself. Other kids
have parents don’t they? Why not give them the opportunity to experience the joys of
coaching?
I am also sure there are plenty of great guys who have played junior, college or
pro hockey, with some pretty incredible experiences in the game, who make wonderful
youth hockey coaches. I also am quite sure that there are some with that great experience
who have no business being behind the bench or on the ice with kids because they can’t
differentiate between the game that they played at the higher levels and the game that
kids play for recreation.
I am also sure that there are plenty of great dads out there who have never played
college, junior or pro hockey, but have a good knowledge of the game and more
importantly have a great understanding of how to relate and communicate with kids, who
make excellent coaches. Just because you haven’t been a pro hockey player doesn’t mean
you can’t coach kids. And just because you have, doesn’t mean you can.
A great youth hockey coach is one who:
 Understands that the game is about the players, not about themselves
 Makes coming to the rink an enjoyable experience, not a dreadful one
 Coaches every player on team, not just the best ones who he wants to keep around
for next year
 Knows that positive reinforcement is much more productive than negative
 Remembers what it was like to be a kid and then treats the players how he or she
would like to have been treated at that age
 Communicates effectively with all players and their parents so misunderstandings
are minimized
 Knows when to step back and let the kids figure things out on their own
 Understands that the referees are going to make mistakes and teaches the players
on the team to accept that fact and not let it effect how they play the game
 Is respectful of opponents and teaches his players that a quality opponent will
help them improve and take their game to a higher level
 Has heard and understands the phrase “profanity is a crutch for a weak mind”
 Knows when to shut up and let the players talk things out themselves
 Is smart enough to know that just because “it was done that way when I was a
kid” doesn’t make it the right approach
 Is willing to take the responsibility for a loss and give the players the credit for a
victory
 Knows that every player on the team is important to success of the team and will
contribute at some point if given the chance
 Recognizes that yelling is only a short term method of communication and sooner
or later they will quit listening unless they want to
 Realizes that only a fraction of a percentage point the players who play the game
will even have the opportunity to play at a level beyond high school
 Recognizes and is okay with the fact that they are coaching a youth sport and their
“coaching career” will end before or when their child’s participation ends and it is
not the first step to a professional coaching career
 Understands that coaches don’t develop players, they develop themselves—
coaches can only provide them the opportunity to do so
 Knows that honesty and integrity will get you much farther in life than sacrificing
them in order to win
 Understands that motivation and respect born of fear might get you some wins in
the short term, but true respect has to be earned over time by doing the right thing
 Realizes that the time to coach is in practice. The games are the time for players
to play and a coach can often be more of a hindrance than a help during games
 Is smart enough to know that players don’t improve if they are sitting on the
bench
 Acknowledges that the player who actually did make it to the higher level
probably got there in spite of their coaching, not because of it
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Is willing and able to learn something new from players every time out on the ice
Remembers the coaches and teachers who had an impact on them, both positive
and negative, and utilizes that experience
Understands the power of the coach and acts as a positive role model for the
players at all times
Knows the value of a smile
Defines a successful season not by what was won or lost, buy by whether the
players are inspired to play again next year