Coaches are key to player development. Not just team coaches getting 15-20 individuals to work together as a cohesive unit, but the one-on-one private coaching.
“What coach does your son/daughter work with?”
It’s potentially the most loaded question in the hockey community. I am more likely to score the name and number of your most beloved and trusted babysitter or your social security number than who is your coach. With limits on ice time and the coach’s schedule, you aren’t putting your time slot in jeopardy for anything.
He who shall not be named
Word gets around over time, but you keep that knowledge locked up tighter than Fort Knox, especially when people are taking notice of significant development of skills or speed.
The only time I found this to not be the case is ironically how we found our daughter’s coach. My husband took our daughter to a clinic run by the local pro-team and was co-ed. Chatting with another parent who only had boys, willingly provided the name and number of Coach S. After getting that information, I texted him before the skaters left the ice. He was a new name in the organization we skated with, a real under the radar talent.
Extended Hockey Family
He has been incredible. Every stereotype of an old school Russian hockey coach. Hard, demanding, talented beyond words and gets results. He is so tuned in to exactly how hard to push each day, methods of motivation and the development is phenomenal and our daughter responded to this style. As a bonus, he has a brother that runs clinics and additional friends/coaches that also run programs. My daughter has a full handful of Russian coaches that have taken her game to a level we never imagined in such a short time span. He is inheriting our Mite this summer for one on one work. I wish him well on that front.
Truth be told, Coach S and all the other coaches in our cadre are unbelievably caring, sweet and great people. They want their students to succeed. They are part of our extended hockey family and truth be told, I see and talk to them more than many of our actual relatives, mostly because we are always at the rink and it leaves zero time for socializing.
She had trained with a couple other coaches, but the methodology just didn’t gel. They were good coaches and well-recommended, but each kid is different.
We still hem and haw and avoid answering that single loaded question, “Who is her coach?” even as his profile is on the rise as it always happens with the great coaches. Getting in on the first floor is key.
Have you had a coach who’s name you guarded for dear life?
