Starting the School Year Strong

August 30, 2009 by Dennis Chighisola
"Coach Chic" - Great resource site for all players, parents and coaches!

Starting the School Year Strong
By Kat Hasenauer

Ideally, hockey teams want to come out strong at the start of a game’s first period. The better you come out from the locker room, the better chance you have given yourself to win the game.
The exact same thing can be said for the start of the academic year. Heading into the first weeks of school prepared and with the right mindset will give a young student athlete the best chance at success in a new school year.
As we begin a new school year, how can a young hockey player or his or her parents get into that positive academic mindset? Even if you have already had your first day of school, the following tips can be tried at any point during the school year — especially when you need a refocus.

Visualize the first day of school/first day of the week – Much like coaches use visualization techniques, asking their players to picture making a dynamic play or hitting a skill, visualization can be used to focus on school as a positive experience. If you are approaching the first day of school, take a few minutes to envision walking into your classroom for the first time, meeting your teacher for the first time, seeing your school friends again.
If school has already started, take a few minutes during the weekend to picture walking into school on Monday and having a positive experience with your teacher, acing a quiz, successful answering a question, eating lunch with friends. Framing the school experience as a positive one can go miles towards helping a student face daily challenges that could snowball into longer lasting problems.

Set achievable goals for the school year - Through elementary school, I struggled with spelling tests (which was a serious problem for a young writer in the non-computer age of the early- to mid-1980s). In fourth grade, I set a goal that I would not fail a spelling test all year. I definitely came close at times, but ended up not failing a spelling test all year. Just having stated that as a goal pushed ten year old me to devote more studying towards the subject, and affected my attitude heading into each quiz.
A goal doesn’t have to be massive. Set goals that you think you can actually attain, but that you will still have to expend effort at. It also should be one that will better your academic behavior for years to come. A goal should not be, “I will get an A+ on every single exam this year,” but more like, “I will study more in advance of every test this year,” or “I will write out my test schedule on a monthly calendar in my room, and I will pay attention to it every day to be more mindful of what is upcoming.”

Take advantage of time out of season - Some hockey leagues won’t practice or play for the first week or two of the school year, if not longer. Other hockey teams won’t begin until October or November. Relish that time to devote singularly to academics.
For older students, this will be a good time to attempt to read ahead for English and social studies classes. This is also a good time to fit in any school community service requirements or mandatory extracurricular attendance (for example, if your teacher says you must attend a play at some point during the school year and write a report on it, get it done now).
For younger students, take advantage of the extra time with educational games added onto homework time. Flash cards, family wide trivia games (I have always found the Brain Quest trivia cards, with decks suitable for several grade levels, a fun and convenient tool), reading for enjoyment, are all ways to supplement time without serious hockey practices.
If the season has already started, or if you never have time off from practices, take time on a weekend early on in the school year to make academic enrichment a priority.
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Parents, I know this might sound daunting, and maybe you’ll have to put off a household task or two to do so, but the above will be helpful to your young hockey player in the long run.
Taking the opportunity to start the school year right will help a student get out ahead and keep him or her better on pace with their classmates when in the thick of a hockey season. Creating balance in school and hockey lives doesn’t always mean that an exact balance exists everyday — devoting more time now to academics will help in those times when the balance is heavier in the hockey direction.

Smiling at the awesome advice Kat just provided us, I thought I’d mention that my grandfatherly advice to Anthony Chic — as he headed-off to college this weekend — was pretty close to what’s noted above.  Truth be known, I was a poor student in my earliest years, but a huge turn-around came when I started doing some of the things Kat suggests here.  Yes, a little prior prep goes a long, long ways to making us feel good about any new challenge.
– Dennis Chighisola