The Hockey Advocate

Here is a website that has some very good information about a variety of topics! The site is call the Hockey Advocate!


What is The Hockey Advocate?

The Hockey Advocate is here to answer the tough questions. Most Players and their Families are kept in the dark by the hockey industry because it’s in their best interest to limit your choices and decision making skills. With ten years experience throughout the hockey world, the Hockey Advocate has picked up a few useful bits of hockey knowledge and has decided to share his ‘wisdom’ – such that it is – with those people who might actually benefit from it, the minor and junior hockey players and their parents.

Click here to go the site!

Life Lessons!

1. Be a traveler, not a tourist
A tourist takes the easy road. A traveler seeks out the challenging path. A tourist stays on the bus. A traveler jumps in the mud.

2. Always pack your flip-flops
In college, a friend and I backpacked across Asia and got kicked out of many locations because he refused to wear anything but tank tops and flip-flops. Twenty years later he still wears flip-flops! It became his motto. Whatever you do, be true to yourself. Wherever you go, always pack your flip-flops.

3. Don't see the wall, dream big
When you encounter a wall, find a way to get over it, around it, or under it. Whatever you do, don't succumb to it. Don't give into the wall.
4. Tend your tadpoles
When I was a boy I caught tadpoles with a friend. Like those tadpoles, we grew legs and hopped off into the world. I had little in common with that friend. Later, when I needed help, my friend was suddenly back. Tend your tadpoles. You never know when you might need a pal.

5. Live the questions
Have patience with the unknown. No matter where you find yourself, if you ask questions, you'll find your way. Don't only seek the answers. Try to love the questions.

6. Harvest miracles
Life is full of everyday miracles. Sometimes it just takes a bad situation to help appreciate them. Even when it's cloudy, keep looking for the rainbow.

7. Use your words
When you were toddlers, we begged you, "Use your words." Yet sometimes we forgot to take our own advice. Even when you're older, don't hide behind silence. When you face a problem, talk it through.

8. Always learn to juggle on the side of the hill
When I was 12, I learned to juggle on the side of a gravel hill with oranges. Every time I dropped an orange it would hit the ground, pulpify, and role to the bottom of the incline. It was a fool's errand. But it worked! If you're going to try something, try it. Don't half commit.

9. Take a walk with a turtle
In Paris, France, years ago, a new type of pedestrian appeared. He was called a flaneur, one who strolled the arcades. Flaneurs liked to take turtles for walks and let the reptile set the pace. I love this ode to slow-moving. Don't be in a hurry. Behold the world in pause.

10. Hug the monster
Pilots learn that when they face a life-defining challenge, they should not run from their fear. They should embrace it. Hug the monster. Wrestle your fear into submission. Redirect it into a source of resilience and purpose.

Learning and Sweating

Learning and sweating 400 participants in Development Camp take message home 26-07-11		Back
		The participants of the 2011 IIHF Hockey Development Camp pose for a team photo. The camp saw 400 participants – players, managers and officials. Photo: Timo Pylvanainen
VIERUMÄKI, Finland – The 2011 IIHF Hockey Development Camp in Vierumäki, Finland, was the tenth global hockey development camp. It involved 400 participants from 49 countries: young players born in 1996, coaches, team manager, officials and students from the host – the Vierumäki Sport Institute – that participated in training sessions, seminars, workshops and other events of the various programs: 8 Team Programs Team Coach Development Program Equipment Manager Development Program Team Manager Development Program Goalkeeper Coach Development Program (NEW) Learn To Play Program I Learn To Play Program II (Advanced) (NEW) Development Workshop (Long Term Athlete Development) (NEW) IIHF Game Officials Development Program Skills Challenge Qualification Competition (NEW) Click here for the photo gallery of the camp. Click here for a camp video. “This year we had more participants than we have ever had,” says Darryl Easson, the IIHF’s Sport Development Manager. “We had three new programs and it worked out very well. They fit right into our strategy for our national associations.” What is a learning experience and fun for the kids is also part of a bigger picture: to operate a leadership program to educate and train the participants, who can upgrade and operate quality educational programs in their hockey association. It is an experience that participants take home for the benefit of their hockey programs, no matter whether it’s Canada, Luxembourg, India, Russia or South Africa. Another new aspect was the Skills Challenge Qualification Competition that was used as a qualification event of the inaugural Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck and Seefeld, Austria, 13-22 January 2012. The participating teams for the men’s and women’s tournaments in Austria as well as the players for the Skills Challenge at the Youth Olympics will be determined once the format has been finalized by the International Olympic Committee. “The co-operation was very good and the weather held out very nicely, which makes people more relaxed. We got the opportunity to use the new area in the arena that has been built for the Finnish Ice Hockey Association,” Easson says. New dressing rooms were installed and named after the Olympic Games where Finnish ice hockey teams won medals. For many players the camp was an interesting learning experience on their way to become hockey leaders in their countries. Of course the level of play between the 49 nations can vary. That’s why teams are mixed with players from countries whose programs are at different levels, and coaches make sure that the lines facing each other during games won’t cause mismatches. Past IIHF camps included players who have become NHLers such as Johan Hedberg, Anze Kopitar, Rob Schremp or Jeff Tambellini. The development camps might not be the main reason for their success, but it’s a great learning experience and meeting point for 15-year-old top prospects from leading hockey nations same as for juniors from smaller hockey countries like Bulgaria, Hong Kong or New Zealand. For them it’s an opportunity to share experiences and a dressing room with potential future world-class players. It also offers a valuable cultural exchange opportunity for everybody. “The most important thing is that participants take the message home,” Easson says. That’s essential not only for the kids, but even more for coaches, officials and managers participating in the events, who can improve their programs back home and bring the long-term competitiveness in ice hockey in their countries to the next level. MARTIN MERK

212 Degrees

Most of us are feeling the squeeze of the economy, and have been for quite some time. But, take heart; I have a number that may bring you some inspiration. 212. The phenomenon that takes place when the temperature of water goes from 211° to 212° reminds us that seemingly small things can make tremendous differences. In this current economic climate, now is the time to take advantage of each and every opportunity. Now is the time to stretch beyond your comfort zone. Now is the time to go the extra degree. To inspire you to go the extra degree, I’m sharing with you our 212° the extra degree movie along with a story about one man who, during difficult circumstances, made every moment count. 

Click Here to See Video

Core Hockey now offering 1 on 1 Training Sessions

Core Hockey will be offering 1 on 1 training sessions as of August 1st.

• Sessions will be 30 minutes in length
• Focus will be on Puckhandling and Shooting
• Pay for one session at a time. No long term commitment. 
• For more information please email us at blair@corehockeytraining.com

Today's "How To" Leadership Tips

Leading others can be a complex and challenging task full of good intentions which must be backed up with good leadership practices. Here are a few leadership tips for your consideration:

• Welcome ideas that are NOT your own. Be open to what others have to say without getting defensive. Make it okay for others to share their ideas – even if those ideas conflict with yours.

• Hire for “SPARKLE”! Once you’re satisfied that a candidate possesses the necessary technical skills for a job, make your hiring decision based on their “fit” with your organizational culture. Do they add to, or detract from, your culture of creativity, energy, and enthusiasm?

• Create shared vision – the collaborative shaping of an idea for the future. If a vision is to guide an organization, leaders must communicate it so that all team members understand their roles and what each must do to achieve the vision.

• Delegate responsibility … and authority. Assign a big job to one of your more promising team members. Encourage him or her to develop a work plan, make decisions, solve problems, and be accountable for results.

Core Hockey on Twitter

To keep up on what Core Hockey and what I am doing regarding hockey and work outs, please follow me!

http://twitter.com/CoreHockey19

Great day for Hockey!
Blair

Puckhandling Video

IIHF - Learn To Play Program

Learn To Play Program

The Learn to Play Program (LTP) is a development initiative introduced by the IIHF.  The Program is a cooperative effort drawing on ice hockey experience and expertise from around the world.  It promotes a child-oriented educational approach to teaching the skills of ice hockey to the youngest and newest players.
The Learn to Play Program is a well organised step-by-step program that enables children to have fun and enjoy, while learning the basics of the great game of ice hockey.
Objectives
The main objective of the LTP Program is to give 6 to 9 year old children the best possible introduction to ice hockey. Ice hockey at this level should be based on having fun, participation for all, and learning the basic skills required to play. These ice hockey skills are:

• Skating
• Puck Handling
• Stopping
• Passing
• Turning
• Shooting
• Goalkeeping


All of these skills have there own page in this section with film clips to show the techniques being used.
The Learn to Play Program is linked to the IIHF Coaching Development Program, by way of the Introduction to Coaching.

For more info please go to IIHF!

Coaches - Effective Practices

 CONSTANTLY STRESS IN PRACTICE:

1. Respect, Trust and Passion

2        No short cuts – Constant work ethic

3        Move your skates at all time – no coasting

4        No play fighting, shooting puck, pushing, bad mouthing team mates at anytime

5        Pre ice 10 minutes before practice time

6        “Skill Lap” – Coach will tell you before practice, skills between drills

7        2 Whistles – Fast to Coach, last player does lap

8        Grab water and bring back to board, you drink while we teach

9        Extended whistle – “Stop where you are”

10    Listen, Learn and have FUN!   

Feeling anxious before a game? Good.

By: Paul Dennis
 
Before a game all athletes probably feel a little bit anxious. Some athletes think that that’s a bad thing. But all great players go through that experience.

What feeling anxious before a game is telling you is, that you’re excited about the game. Your arousal levels are increasing. This means you’re becoming more motivated. It’s important to have a little uncertainty in your mind. If there was no uncertainty in your mind then you would take your opponent for granted and you wouldn’t play as well. So having anxious thoughts prior to a game is a very, very good thing.

What’s bad is when you experience self-doubt prior to a game. When you start questioning yourself and thinking that if you make a mistake and don’t play well, people watching will judge you and think you’re unworthy.
Without a doubt an athlete’s worst enemy is self-doubt, self-criticism and the fear of failure.

More hockey information at Allstate - All Canadian.

Handling Issues with a Coach

3 Steps for Handling Issues with a Coach

In every sport you will hear parents and players complain about “bad” coaches. We asked a long-term hockey director what parents should do when this situation arises. Read on for his advice.
First, you need to dissect what you mean that the coach “isn’t working out” or is a “bad coach.” Oftentimes, a close look at parents’ complaints reveals something other than an issue with development or the team’s win/loss record. Sometimes it’s a personal conflict with the coach. Other times it’s a belief that their player is not getting the ice time he or she deserves—or even that the player is not playing on the same line with his or her friends (or the parents’ friends)! There will always be situations in which a family believes the coach is not doing a good job—and sometimes it is a real concern.
When a real concern arises, follow these steps:

1. First, speak with the team manager.
2. If that doesn’t help, ask for a face-to-face meeting with the coach. It should not be a confrontational meeting, but more of a discussion of the issues.
3. If you feel things are still not improving, ask for a meeting with your association’s hockey director or board member who handles these types of issues.

The best way to ensure that the discussion is honest, upfront and not behind the coach’s back is to make sure there is a good line of communication. I do believe all coaches—even the ones who might not be getting it done—want the player to have fun and develop.
Editor’s Note: Thank you to Angelo Ricci for sharing his 15 years of expertise as a hockey director in this article. Ricci is founder, head instructor and consultant for Ricci Hockey Consulting. With 20+ years experience as a skills and stickhandling coach, he conducts/oversees more than 40 programs year-round that develop over 1,000 players each year.

Teaching is Knowing How Students Learn

SWENSDAY STUFF
Teaching is Knowing How Students Learn
Swen Nater
Click here to his Blog!

When Coach Wooden was a teen, he and his brothers worked on their father’s farm, doing chores such as plowing the field with a stubborn mule. On one occasion, Coach was working the field when the mule suddenly stopped in its tracks and refused to go any farther. Coach tried everything to get that animal to move but nothing worked. He tried pushing it, pulling it, and yelling at it but he was wasting his energy.

His father noticed and walked out to where they were. While Coach was catching his breath, Joshua Wooden walked to the front of his mule, looked it in the eye, began softly talking to it, and stroked its coarse hair on both jaws with both hands. He gently caressed its ears and then moved one hand under the jaw while the other moved up and down from between the eyes to just above the nose. Last, he walked back to the plow, took hold of the handles, and gently threw a wave into the long reigns. The mule moved forward and, after a few steps, he had Coach take over.

You can Google “How to plow a field” all you want but until you learn about mules, you’ll not get very far. Likewise, you can read all the books, listen to all the speeches, and attend all the classes you want, but until you learn about the student, you’ll have a difficult time teaching.
Although Phonics is a good way to teach some children proper decoding technique, some of its methods do not match up with how children think and reason. For example, when attempting to teach a child how to decode the middle two letters in the word, “bead,” Phonics give a clue,

“When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.”

The originators of Phonics didn’t study children enough. If they had, they would have come up with a much better approach, the method used by Read America in the program, Phono-Graphix®. 
Phono-Graphix® presents the English written code in a way children can understand, with no exceptions or rule breakers. In this program, for example, through a step-by-step method, children learn the various sounds the grapheme, “ea” (like in bead), can represent (the sound /ee/ like in read, and /e/ like in dead). That works 100% of the time. Isn’t that simple? Now when they read a new word like “bread,” they can try both sounds and choose the one that makes sense in the sentence.
That’s only a fraction of Phono-Graphix®, but all of it makes complete sense to children, even beginning readers. For more information on this program, visit http://www.readamerica.net.

Conclusion
Joshua Wooden taught his son how to understand the mule so he could get it to respond. It’s June and thousands of young people are graduating with degrees in education. Now it’s time for them to begin understanding students so they can get them to respond.  

It’s what you learn, after you know it all, that counts.
John Wooden

Coaching = Teaching

“There is nothing mysterious about developing a good team, because coaching is nothing more than teaching. Coaches impart the techniques to the players. The better job they do, the better job the players will do.” —John McKay, former college and professional football coach
Young athletes expect coaches to help them satisfy their desire to become as skilled as possible. Therefore, you must establish your teaching role as early as possible. In doing this, emphasize the fun and learning part of sport, and let your athletes know that a primary coaching goal is to help them develop their athletic potential.

All Athletes Need Attention
During each practice or game, be sure that every youngster gets recognized at least once. Athletes who usually get the most recognition are (a) stars or (b) those who are causing problems. Average athletes need attention, too! A good technique is to occasionally keep a count of how often you talk with each athlete to make sure that your personal contact is being appropriately distributed.
Key Teaching Principles
Based on over 25 years of research and experience, several principles have been identified for creating a mastery climate—a learning environment that emphasizes skill development, personal and team success, maximum effort, and fun in youth sports.

• Always give instructions positively.
• When giving instructions, be clear and concise.
• If possible, show athletes the correct technique (demonstrate).
• Reinforce effort and progress.

Give Athletes Support
When an athlete has had a poor practice or a rough game (as we all have), the youngster should not go home feeling badly.

• The player should get some kind of support from you—a pat on the back, a kind word (“Hey, we’re going to work that out. I know what you’re going through, but everyone has days like that sometimes.”)
• Athletes should not leave feeling detached from you or feeling like a “loser.”

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Frank L. Smoll, Ph.D., for this article. Dr. Smoll is a professor of psychology at the University of Washington and co-director of the Youth Enrichment in Sports program (www.y-e-sports.com). See a preview of his Mastery Approach to Coaching DVD here.

Go to This Site for More Coaching Tips

Unlimited Future!

	"When you develop yourself to the point where your belief in yourself is so strong that you know you can accomplish anything you put your mind to, your future will be unlimited." — Brian Tracy: Pre-eminent sales and entrepreneurship expert.