Youth Coaching

Didn't there use to be a thread in here on youth coaching? Could of swore LA had a thread, couldn't find it by searching though.

Anyways, I'm an assistant coach for a Bantam AA ice hockey team, my first year coaching. Bantams are travel teams of 13-14 year olds (14 & under technically). The levels of travel hockey go inhouse, B, A, AA, AAA with inhouse the lowest level and AAA the highest. But the AAA/AA distinction is somewhat blurred, for example we scrimmaged the only AAA Bantam team in Norcal and lost 4-3 (and should have won ).

So part of USA hockey to be a coach is you have to be certified and go through training. I've read some of the literature and some of it has been pretty interesting. A lot of it is about the best way to train kids based on their age, and how there are "windows" based on their age that the kids will develop certain skills, and if coached improperly the damage done to the training won't be reversed later in life and prevent them from their potential. Its pretty interesting, because USA hockey as an organization is taking a very active role and creating national consistency in how the game is coached.

So far example, this is from the materials they use:



So you will see above 2 "windows" for speed training. According to them, skating skill and speed needs to be pushed on boys when they are 7-8 and 14-16 (specifically though Speed 2 is after the kid hits a big growth spurt, so age can vary).

They also talk about how for optimal athletic development kids under 14 years old should play multiple sports and avoid sport specialization until they are 14, and to reach potential an athlete needs "10,000 hours" of training in 10 years. Interesting stuff.


I'm about a month to a month and a half in. I'm at the point where I'm comfortable, know the players and know what needs to be worked on. I've been passive so far, trying to observe and learn, with feedback every now and then and helping out running drills/lines etc. Now at the point where I need to go from observing to teaching.

This weekend is our first "real" games, ie games that count towards standings. We've done about 10 exhibition games so far. I think there are 16 Bantam AA teams in California (about 12 are from So-Cal). And the way it works is there are 5 tournament weekends where each team plays 3 games. End of year top 4 teams in standings advance to California Playoffs, winner goes to National Playoffs.I looked up who we are playing, and one team from Orange County, looks like they are a national contender, just blowing everybody out.

I'm missing the first game of the tournament, but will be there for the 2nd and 3rd. The 3rd game is against the good OC team. The San Jose team we play first, and they should win that game. 2nd game we've scrimmaged the team before and lost 3-2, overall we are the better team but they had 2 guys that were awesome out there.

I'm pumped for this weekend. Right now I would roughly put our team as middle-of-the-pack against the other CA teams. So if we are able to pull out some points early on, I have high hopes for the team's chances of making playoffs.