Eight O'clock - Lights Out!

Eight O’clock – lights out! Tomorrow we have an early game. My youngest son turned in early. Friday night, you’d think we’d be up doing something to start the weekend. Not here. This gives me a chance to catch up on some reading. The USA Hockey coaches certification program supplies coaches with quite a lot of educational guidelines and resources. I think the collection of reference material is some of the best and most effective material written for coaching minor hockey. I still go back and re-read through the books I have gotten from each level course. There is a lot of other material and resources available, but I have found that the USA Hockey material covers all the bases. This does not mean that I don’t reference other written material. Most people who know me know that I read a lot of material from all over. Another good resource for coaches is communicating and working with other coaches who may have different approaches to the sport. I like to get to other coach’s practices to see what other teams are working on. Sometimes seeing a well run and effective practice of other coaches gives me a different perspective on my own practices. I have been doing this for years when I have had the chance. Sometimes I’ll make a few notes, and ask the other coaches a few questions about what has been working well for them. I used to limit my scope to only hockey practices, but over the years I have changed some of my practices for hockey based on lacrosse practices I have run myself, or watched other coaches. One coach I worked with had a very good grasp of the sport of basketball. He was a great defensive coach for hockey. I learned quite a lot working with him. I think there will always be something new to learn in hockey and lacrosse. Both sports are still evolving and progressing. Hockey is a worldwide sport that will pick up influences and ideas from hockey organizations all over the world. Lacrosse is growing fast and will pick up new ideas and influences as it grows. You always learn something new when you look at things from different perspectives.