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Lawfield Minor Hockey Association Inc.: Interesting Articles
Lawfield Minor Hockey Association Inc.

Coaches recognized in study
Source Toronto Star

Study says coaches are key to rink rage
Bench blamed for 43 per cent of events

Officials trained to evaluate behaviour


LOIS KALCHMAN
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

The GTHL wants to figure out who's causing trouble at its arenas.

The minor hockey league has struck a deal with JustPlay Sports Services to analyze the conduct of its coaches, parents, players and officials this season.

The outcome of the assessment may be surprising for some. Data collected by JustPlay in other leagues and sports suggests hothead parents are not the primary instigators of rink rage and court confrontations.

"Coaches inadvertently influence the behaviour of players and parents," said JustPlay founder Elaine Raakman. "We have found a strong correlation between poor coach behaviour and subsequently player and spectator conduct."

The company uses a computer program to analyze behaviour at each game. Game officials use a 1-5 scale (one is best, five is worst) to rate the coaches, players and spectators as well as assessing their own demeanour. The data is entered on JustPlay's website.

The company has been charting the conduct of sports participants for five years. In hockey, the results have consistently showed that coaches are responsible for about 43 per cent of all "critical incidents," compared to 38 per cent for players and 19 per cent for spectators. Critical incidents include a coach losing his cool, an on-ice brawl or parent accosting a coach or official.

"Coaches influence all groups," said Raakman. "The coaches are where all three are looking to as role models."

The program, which will cost the GTHL $7,500, has been used in Burlington, Welland and Brampton Youth Hockey associations for house league, select and rep but not in AAA teams. It has also been used for youth football, ringette and baseball. Ontario Soccer will adopt it province-wide next season and Raakman has sold the concept to Canada Basketball, which has 1.1 million players.

"In the first couple of weeks there are already some behaviour patterns emerging. The real value will be when we are looking at a 10-game stage," said GTHL executive director Scott Oakman, who plans to send out monthly reports to organizations about the behaviour of their coaches, players and fans.

Oakman said supervisors have been overseeing the performances of officials for years but now officials have been trained by JustPlay to rate others.

"Officials have no bias," Oakman said. "In a 36 regular game schedule with three officials you are looking at over 100 reports and it gives you a good overview of what is really happening in the rinks."

But not everyone thinks it's a good idea to give the GTHL's officials additional responsibility.

"I can't help but think it can compromise the game and how the referees call the game," said Paul Dennis, the Maple Leafs' player development coach and scouting co-ordinator and a former coach in the GTHL. "Some are young and there is there is a huge anxiety with just getting to know the rules and how to apply them and now we are asking them to be behaviour police, too. This is a huge responsibility. Good referees focus on the game and once they lose that focus they cannot possibly do a good job."

GTHL president John Gardner said it's too soon to pass judgement on the program and on how the league's officials are handling their new duties.

Dennis acknowledged the data could be beneficial if coaches and others are taught to recognize their "triggers" and shown how to calm down.




That Dreaded Ride Home

"That DREADED ride home . . . !”
 by Coach Vic LeMire


As a Parent and a Coach of some 30 years, I have this very unique and valuable perspective  of the special love and caring that brings out the “best” in a child athlete! Unfortunately, during that same time span, I’ve also been witness to some of the most horrendous parenting imaginable (bordering on “child abuse”) brought onto these young, hard working hockey players.


WHICH are You? … There are pressures brought into a Hockey Parent /Child relationship that are not part of a family’s everyday growth pattern.  Would you know what these are? Throughout this article for Parents, I hope to bring awareness and solutions to many of you who are making these terrible mistakes, many times totally unaware of the psychological damage that you are ultimately doing!


In other words …. Some of you Parents are taking all the “FUN” out of playing hockey for your kids!


Now, as the title of this article indicates … “The dreaded Ride Home” is going to be my MAIN scenerio which I pray “hit’s home” to each and every one of you!


Firstly, I give you the “location” … a PRISON – A place with locks and a straightjacket of seatbelts to ensure containment, virtually no method of escape.  Yes, it’s the “Family Car”!!!  Many times a young hockey player gets his or her first taste of the “terror” on their way to their hockey game or practice. Before they’ve even stepped onto the ice … these kids are exposed to many forceful commands and demands (many of them totally unreasonable) right out of their driveway!


a)      “You’d better not be late on the ice for practice” says one father… (even though he arrived home late to pick his son  up) ! b)     “I’m paying all this money for you to play hockey … so I’d better see you work extra hard out there” ! c)      “You make sure that you do what I tell you in this game. Never mind what the coach says !”


And these are just a few of the “regular” commands that are forced into the minds and hearts of these young kids. There are many more “abusive”, one-way conversations that take place in this situation. You Parents have, what amounts to, a truly “CAPTIVE AUDIENCE” in your car … and unfortunately, you seem to take complete advantage of it too!


            Now, the game is over and all the yelling and screaming and all the days frustrations from work have been voiced out of the stands and you, as parents can’t wait to get your young child into the car to “Grill” them all over again!  ( Isn’t Hockey FUN! )


a)      Why is that other kid playing on YOUR line? He’s terrible! b)     You came off the ice after only 30 seconds … Why don’t you stay out there longer? c)      That coach of yours just really doesn’t know how to coach properly! You should have been out there on the ice on all those powerplays!  


As a parent, you are rightly justified to try to help your child improve their skills but you are also expected , yet qualified, to keep the learning atmosphere a completely healthy and enjoyable experience. It’s soooooo much easier to teach someone with “honey” than with “vinegar”. It’s true that each child needs feedback and support - both educational and emotional (not to mention financial)!


The EDUCATIONAL feedback of playing hockey is most often best left to the Coaches. I offer that it’s quite proper and beneficial for the Coaches and the Parents to meet several times per season to discuss exactly what the projected teaching plan will be for your child. Make this a “Joint” effort! Make a “Personal Teaching Program” designed by you and your coaches whereby you both agree to monitor, encourage and reward each and every accomplishment that is successfully completed by your young hockey player. Have various attainable “goals” set ahead of time with realistic chances of success in fairly short periods of time.


       ie:  Don’t expect to see your child become the fastest skater after only a few practices! Set up “performance goals” for each practice that brings a childs’ skills upward using “Baby Steps”!  This will bring such delight of accomplishment to the Player that they just can’t wait to get out there again for their next practice …. Honestly … this method WORKS for players from litte squirts to NHL Pros ….and, now that you are in your car with this Player, it’s most important to speak heavily of all their great improvements that occurred today and if necessary, WAIT until several hours have passed to bring up ANY problems or ideas about something that they need to improve on or correct! YES, these things must be addressed also, however, timing and tactical presentation makes all the difference in the world as to how your important information is received by your child!


      



Reality check
The reality check
What is the real purpose of playing minor hockey?

By STEVE SIMMONS -- Toronto Sun

Memo to parents with a hockey dream: Quit your dreaming.

The reality of your minor hockey star making it big is as cold as ice, and maybe just as hard.

There are more than 1,800 AAA hockey players in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, from minor atom age to juvenile, and the odds are severely stacked against even one of them having a successful National Hockey League career.

The numbers from a study of 32,000 Ontario minor hockey players, born in 1975:

- Only one out of every 3,000 minor hockey players will play more than two seasons in the NHL.

- Only 1.3 out of every 1,000 player will earn an American university athletic scholarship.

"And what you have to understand about the study is, this is a best-case scenario. This isn't even an average," said Jim Parcels, who did the research while working for the Ontario Minor Hockey Association. "This was the best crop of hockey players in 15 years. If you even go one year later, you'll find the numbers a whole lot worse."

"It's important to get those numbers out and get them out there loudly," said Bob Nicholson, president of the Canadian Hockey Association. "You never want to take dreams away from kids but you have to set realities for the parents. Too often, it's the parents who are thinking of the futures, not the kids.

"It's the parents who are looking at kids' games and seeing them as a business, seeing them as a future. That's an attitude we have to change. The whole idea that a kid is playing minor hockey to play in the NHL is ludicrous. The truth is, not many of them are going to make it. And if that's the only thing they're setting their sights on, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people out there."

John Gardner, the president of the GTHL, the largest AAA hockey market in the country, would like to see the study results posted on the wall of every arena in Canada. But even then, he isn't naive enough to believe that anything will change.

"Parents won't listen," Gardner said. "They won't read. They don't want to know that something is standing between their kid and a couple of million bucks. And it's not just their fault. It's the way the game has gone.

"You go to a rink and 14-year-olds are playing and who's in the stands? It's guys representing agents and it's junior scouts. People are being exposed to things way too soon. And they make themselves noticeable, which only adds to people having false dreams.

"I had a parent contact me recently asking me how their kid would get on the OHL draft list. I looked at him and said, 'You don't contact them, they'll contact you.' One time I told a parent of a young kid, if you need guidance, why don't you contact the NHL Players' Association and ask for it. I was joking. The parent wasn't. The parent called. It's a wonder (NHLPA president Bob) Goodenow hasn't come down the street and poked me in the eye for facetiously pointing people in his direction."

Neil Smith, a former general manager of the New York Rangers, grew up playing minor hockey in Toronto and never thought of making the NHL as a kid or even about making hockey his life. It just happened.

"The only time we were NHL players was on the driveway," Smith said. "I was Jean Beliveau and the goalie was Glenn Hall. It was more kids play than anything else. In those days there were only six teams in the NHL, so realistically what chance did anyone have of ever getting there?

"But what you're getting today, from coaches, from players, from administrators, from parents, is this thinking that you're planning your way to the NHL. They're teaching the kids to be checkers. Kids are becoming third-liners at 11 and 12 and they and their parents are buying into it. Why? Because they and their parents think they have a future. Someone has convinced them it's the only way.

"At 12, I want kids to think they can be Gretzky or Lemieux. But I don't want parents thinking it. You should still pretend you're an NHL player, that's part of the fun. That's what hockey is. It's part game, part fantasy. That's when it's at its best."

The trouble is, everyone seems to be in a rush. A race that usually leads to nowhere. You take a AA kid and push him into AAA. You take an atom and push him into peewee. Pushy parents, and there are many of them, are willing to spend almost anything to get their kids ahead in hockey.

"One of the problems I have with minor hockey is that kids don't make any decisions, it's all parent driven," said Tom McCarthy, one of a number of former NHL players now coaching AAA hockey in the GTHL.

"Whose hockey dream is it? That's the one thing I don't remember when I was a kid. I have parents come up to me sometimes and ask, 'What do you think of my 10-year-old? And I say, 'He's a fine boy.' So they say, 'No, what do you think his chances are?' And I say, 'Chances for what?' And they say, 'Making it.'

"You just walk away shaking your head. You wonder what these people are thinking."

It is not uncommon for a AAA family to spend more than $5,000 during a hockey season, and that's not necessarily including the cost of out-of-town travel, which can be significant at that level. If a young boy begins at minor atom in AAA and plays all the way to midget, it is not unreasonable to assume a family cost of $50,000 or more just to push a child through the system.

That's roughly the equivalent of five years tuition, room, board and books at a Canadian university.

"The next time you hear a hockey parent say they can't afford to send their kids to university, that's it too expensive, you can turn it around on them," said David Branch, president of the Canadian Hockey League. "People get so wrapped up in getting ahead in hockey they tend to lose perspective. Through experience, we need to tell parents who think it's a sprint as opposed to a marathon. Faster isn't better. That ain't life.

"The game of hockey starts out as fun and should end as fun. What I'm worried about is we're going to have a lot of kids out there who have been told from too young an age that they're going to make it someday in hockey. I think you're going to reach a point where maybe their goals aren't going to be reached, and you're going to have a lot of bitter kids. I don't think that's good for anybody."

And for all the negativity that surrounds aggressive hockey parents, it doesn't begin to bring perspective to the entire hockey population. If in the GTA alone, there are more than 25,000 minor hockey players, then problem parents are, in fact, in the minority: They only garner the headlines.

"God bless the parents, they're unbelievable," Gardner said. "The sport would not survive without them. They're paying, they're coaching, they're volunteering. Remember, hockey in this country is almost entirely volunteer driven. And the costs of things? Everything is going up.

"I see kids out there at 10 years of age wearing $300 skates. I see young kids using those Synergy sticks, how much are they? Two hundred and fifty dollars? What does a kid need with a $250 stick? When I made my presentation to the Mills commission (on sport in Canada) I made the point that parents should be getting some kind of tax break for putting their kids in hockey.

"If you say that hockey is a $1-billion a year industry, and I believe it's much, much, larger than that, then that's $150 million generated for the country in taxes alone. I'd like to see some of that money go back into hockey across Canada.

"It's rather sad what's happening with the growth of sports. We have house leagues so full of kids that are conducting lotteries to see which players get in. We have girls' hockey leagues fighting for ice. It's doesn't matter who winds up winning, the truth is, there is not enough recreational facilities to go around.

"Even the NHL could help here. I do have a problem with Mr. Gary Bettman (NHL commissioner) when I go on the Internet and read how much money the NHL pays European nations for the development of their players. And do you know the Canadian Hockey Association doesn't get one penny from the NHL? There is a connection between the grassroots levels in Europe with the NHL, why isn't there a connection in Canada?"

When Parents Lose it

Parents That Argue and Criticize During Hockey Games
That Player sucks!
Were a man down, why is he out there?
How did he make the team?

Parents, this is just some of what I have heard over the years playing minor hockey. I can tell you that is doesn't help anybody when you put players down. Like my coach says "If you have nothing good to say, don't say it".

Also when parents yell at their kids or other players during games its useless because most of the time we can not hear what your saying. I remember many times hearing my dad yelling something at me, but I was never really sure what he was saying. I thought he was mad at me or that I did something wrong. So parents a good suggestion is to leave the talking up to the coaches.

Criticizing players like I have said before really doesn't help at all. It just hurts the player's feelings and doesn't solve anything at all.
Like what my coaches say, "think positive and help your fellow players". I know what it feels like to be put down or told that I played like crap. It hurts! I get upset and totally get off my game.

I am not the only one feeling this way. Your son may at times also feel this way. It is a good idea to talk with your son and don't forget to listen!

Teaching in a positive way is much better. Say what they can work on and help them. My dad supports me in every decision I make. Sometimes I make the wrong decisions but I learn from them.

Always leave off in a positive note. Even if you just say, you played alright. We know when we have a good game or not. Maybe say, nice shot rather than you missed the net. I like hearing the good things that I do in a game.
My dad likes me playing both ends of the ice and giving 100%. I like setting up goals and having fun. So I try to do all four things each game. But sometimes I just can't.

Parents try to stay positive and keep your criticism to yourself. It will defiantly help you, your son and the team.

I know this because I am a hockey player and I can see what goes on at the rink to. So stay positive!

Thank You


 
 
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