Interesting conundrum. In hindsight, would you have selected your team this way (if you could re-do it?) Would you do this again in the future, knowing what you know now?
I know Tom said he had a shortage of D this season and he also took the best athletes to fill out his D.
You say the parents are questioning you. What about the players? Have you spoken to them directly?
How much time is left in the season?
If you had to make changes... What about going back and rotating different people through to play D for the rest of the season - 'subbing in' for those two whose parents claim they don't want to play the position - while keeping the two other D who are happy playing there?
Without having a genuine 'feel' for your team dynamics in the first person, it is tough to say. The tone of the letter is certainly matter-of-fact - stating the facts as they see them without attacking your decision personally... they sound like parents genuinely concerned for their kid losing his 'spark' for the game - they sound like they are being 'good parents' - nothing wrong with that. You would probably do the same if you and your kid were in their shows... would you not?
If that is true, I would strongly consider subbing other kids through the D position... after all, as coaches, we should be trying to 'ignite' the passion within our kids through Transformational Leadership.
It isn't about 'being right' or showing the parents 'who is boss' (I am not insinuating that here; just making a genral comment as I have seen it happen), or being worried about going against what you said earlier. If you think rotating players for the rest of the year is the best recourse, admit it and try it. By so doing, you will deepen your credibility in the eyes of the players and the parents.
If you feel you have parents (or players) creating a problem, additional dialogue between the parents, their child, the manager, yourself and potentially the rest of the coaching staff, should occur. Both 'sides' should have the ability to discuss their perceptions and ultimately, you as the head coach should present a resolution. Remember, you chose those kids... it is up to you to try to make this work. You must balance the needs of the team with the individual needs; and this is a delicate balance. Nobody wants to think that because of their coaching, you 'caused' a kid to lose his love of the game and quit. To me, that is the ultimate FAIL as a coach.
I hope a few more people chime in on this.
Good luck and please report back on what decision you make; and how it works.
I agree with what Dean has written. Make sure you talk with the player so he knows why you have asked him to play D and if he agrees and you can get a few forwards to alternate at the back end then create a rotation where they take turns playing back.
It is an ongoing problem in youth hockey to find enough skilled D. Over the years I have asked many forwards to play D. Some like it because they usually get more ice time and sometimes I have had to have them take turns.
If you play a style that the D are involved in the offense and you do a lot of drills and games where position doesn't matter but both the F and D get to be on offense and on defense that makes sure everyone is improving their skills.
A little story about my experience with a very good F who I moved back to D. It doesn't have much to do with your situation but it shows how valued a D who can move the puck and do the defensive job is.
When I coached men's college we had the same problem and I asked my best forward to drop back to D because we were weak back there. He did and the next season I helped get him a contract in Germany. He played in a lower division and every year moved up, then married a German girl, sat out a season to get his German playing pass, played on their National Team and is still there coaching pro. He told me that if he would have played F there he wouldn't have lasted as long because when an import F goes in a slump they are often replaced. As a D he just had to play well and scoring wasn't the prime thing so he never got released.
Good teams need A-solid goaltending, B-D who can defend well and make the first pass and join the attack, C-centres who can do the job at both ends of the ice and read the play, D-wingers who get the puck out, go to the net and win board battles.
This holds true at the PW level but if the player hates the position then plan B is required and you have to either rotate them in or let him play F the last part of the season and get someone else to pay D.
As mentioned, I think it is really important to make sure all players play all roles in practices. This way when discussing with the players and parents you can say the player had many more reps at both positions in the situation where a player who prefers F but is playing D. The player's offensive skills are still progressing thru practices.
I try to consistent play up my defensiveman as my top players in the locker room. I usually have a name for them like "warrirors" etc. This helps them feel positive and needed.
Tony
Do you think the parents would have emailed if the kid wasn't complaining? Who really needs convincing? On my peewee A team I started the season with 6 players volunteering to play D and I have worked hard with them to build their capabilities. I had a couple changes but mainly the same players for the first half of the season.
Two weeks ago, I rotated all 5 D to F, and replaced them with the 5 forwards I felt were most ready to play the position. This was a mid-season change designed to expose as many kids as I could to playing defense and giving them half a season to become proficient. In the recent change, I had an issue with one player who absolutely did not want anything to do with this. He is a pretty skilled and heady F who had never played D before, a natural choice as far as I was concerned. However, he was very upset at being chosen, considering it a demotion, irritated that he wasn't going to be scoring goals (nobody scores, we average 1 goal a game) and worried he was going to get beat constantly.
I tried hard to communicate to him that I did not consider it a demotion at all, but actually an investment in his future, to become that vaulable, well-rounded player who was capable of doing anything the coach needed. The parents could see the sense in my choosing him (the dad is a coach himself) so that wasn't a real concern but your parents also seem to be reasonable. Could they only be complaining on behalf of their son? Anyway, I wore him down a bit with the positives, told him it didn't have to be forever if he REALLY hated it. He grudgingly agreed to give it a try and played the first two games very well and the smiles are slowly returning on his face.
On top of that, our team has experienced a sudden burst of scoring, potting 7 in our last game. I'm making sure to show him of the contribution he's making to his team, as I have always told them that "Great offense begins with the Defense". I got a few extra smiles when I compared him to Kris Letang (we live in Pittsburgh) since that's kind of how he plays defense and he's got the long hair to boot. We'll see how it goes long term. Good luck to you as well.
We are missing one of our centres this weekend so one of the F who is playing D practiced at C last night and will play forward this weekend.
She is very strong and a great skater and with her committment I am sure she will end up being an elite player but the ability to play two positions will make her very valuable.
Players who are multi-faceted are invaluable to their teams!
I believe it was Brent Burns, who played for Canada at the World Junior level as a 'swing man' (F or D). As I recall, he made the team specifically for that ability to play both positions better than average - he didn't do anything exceptionally well. He beat out lots of other 'better' players; but those players could only do one thing (play one position) "better" than Brent.
Now he is playing D (primarily) but has done both quite effectively in the NHL.
It is embarassing to see WHL forwards (or any older level, like bantam and above, for that matter) who fill in for a rushing D, try to skate backwards... wiggling their bums like there is no tomorrow; lacking agility and the ability to get a good gap against the oncoming opponent... TOO FUNNY!
(They should be able to skate backwards better, but we coaches specialize kids into positions far too early. Not to mention we focus on creating 'hockey players' - NOT 'athletes' - but that's a rant for another thread!)
I played mainly forward but did play some D back in the day. It gave me a better perspective on the game - seeing the game throguh the D's eyes - and also allowed me to appreciate their role more (and that of the forwards!) I wish I would have trained as a D more often, so I would have made myself more valuable to my team.
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Burns joins Canada's World Junior camp
TSN.ca Staff, 12/10/2003
Marc-Andre Fleury won't be the only player turning heads at Canada's tryout camp for the World Junior Hockey Championship.
The Minnesota Wild have assigned forward Brent Burns to try out for the national junior team, TSN has learned. Burns will be in Kitchener on Thursday when camp begins.
Burns, selected 20th overall in the June draft, became the third first-round pick in the last four years to sign with the Wild as an 18-year-old.
The Brampton Battalion alumnus has a goal and four assists in 15 games with the Wild this season and still has two years of junior eligibility remaining.
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Playing career
Burns was drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the first round, 20th overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Burns spent most of his minor hockey career playing for the Barrie Icemen and Ajax Knights of the OMHA. He spent two years playing in the Metropolitan Toronto Hockey league (MTHL) now called the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) for the North York Canadiens, along with fellow NHL draftees Anthony Stewart and Geoff Platt. Burns then played his OHL career as a right wing with the Brampton Battalion in the 2002–03 season. He led the team in playoff scoring that season with five goals and six assists in 11 games. Burns was runner-up for Most Improved Player in the OHL as voted on by the leagues coaches.[1]
Upon turning professional with the Wild in 2003, Burns was converted to defense by defensively minded coach Jacques Lemaire. Burns played in 36 games with Minnesota in the 2003–04 season, showing flashes of natural ability in rushing from the blueline.[2] After spending the 2004 NHL Lockout in the AHL with the Houston Aeros, Burns adapted as defenseman and earned a regular spot on the Wild team in the 2005–06 season, contributing 16 points in 72 games.
In the 2006–07 season, Burns eclipsed his previous seasons points total with 25 and became a significant force for the Wild in the later months of the season scoring back-to-back overtime winners in March and two fights during the playoffs.[3]
On October 25, 2007, during the 2007–08 season, Burns signed a four-year contract extension with the Wild.[4] Burns emerged as the Wild's best defenseman, establishing a career-high 15 goals and 43 points.
In the 2008–09 season, Burns was shifted between forward and defense with mild success, before he was hampered by a concussion which caused him to miss the final 19 games of the season
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THN.com Blog: Don't forget about Wild's Burns
Rory Boylen, The Hockey News, 2009-04-07
Oh, the difference a year makes.
Prior to this season, one of the most explosive yet underrated players in the game was Washington defenseman Mike Green. Coming off an impressive 18-goal, 56-point campaign in 2007-08, Green entered May’s World Championship in Halifax/Quebec City still a relative unknown after his Caps failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs.
Not that Green came out of nowhere. He posted seven points in seven post-season games and subsequently led all defensemen in scoring at the World Championship with 12 points in nine games. Some questioned Green’s defensive limitations, so even after that tournament was done he wasn’t the talk of the town or looked to as the future of Canada’s defense corps. That discussion started with Minnesota’s Brent Burns, who was named best defenseman in the tournament by the directorate.
Burns was drafted 20th overall by the Wild in the 2003 draft as a projected power forward. He notched 40 points in 68 games on the wing for the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario League and even entered Minnesota’s camp with the idea he was to play a strong game down low.
That is until the defensively minded Jacques Lemaire grabbed control.
Lemaire took the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Burns and transformed him into an imposing defender who had the natural ability to rush with the play. Burns surprised a lot of people by making the Wild as an 18-year-old and playing 36 games with the team.
Even though he spent the following season with the American League’s Houston Aeros, the fact Burns was able to adapt to a new position at the pro level so quickly made the Wild comfortable their first-rounder would learn to become an impact player.
Burns returned full-time to the NHL the following year and hasn’t looked back, as his game improved each of the following three seasons. Last year, Burns came into his own, notching 15 goals and 43 points in 82 games and became the talk of the World Championship as his flashy style and big-body play attracted fans of both finesse and toughness.
But oh, what a fickle ride the bandwagon can be.
Green and the offensively-minded wizards from Washington jumped hard out of the gate this season and the free-flowing, fan-friendly style of the Caps – coupled with the willingness of coach Bruce Boudreau to let his Green Monster run wild – quickly left the shutdown style of the Wild and everything associated with it in the dust. With 16 points in the first 19 games, Green was already starting to turn heads away from Burns.
It was a long season for Burns, an Ajax, Ont., native, who first sustained a shoulder injury early in the season that forced him to miss a couple games and is currently sidelined with a concussion that has ended his season. But when he did play, Burns showed signs of brilliance shrouded behind the defense-first style the Wild suffocates the league with.
When he was healthy, Burns munched minutes. He averaged 22:25 of ice time per game and notched 16 points in the final 29 games of his season. The beauty about Burns is Lemaire also uses him on the wing from time to time, where he doesn’t miss a step.
Of course, it’s never a good thing when a concussion ends the season of a promising young star. The Wild was content to have him rest for the end of the campaign and prepare himself for a return to prominence next season; something the team is confident he can accomplish.
While absolutely nothing should be taken away from the simply amazing season put together by Green, Burns should not be forgotten. Green certainly benefits from the rushing game plan of the Capitals, whereas Burns is largely stuck behind Lemaire’s iron curtain, unable to break through and stand out with flair.
But make no mistake: Burns also has a finely tuned attacking acumen to go along with the sturdy size to intimidate and shut down in his own corner. When the puck drops on the 2009-10 season in October, Green will undeniably be mentioned among the top players in the game and ‘one to watch.’ But it was only 11 months ago Burns was the one expected to burst through and take a run at a spot on Canada’s 2010 Olympic team.
Don’t be surprised if a healthy Burns has returned to the prominence of being a burgeoning Canadian blueliner by the time next year’s playoffs roll around.
It’s funny how much can change in a year.
Hello,
I coach a PW A team and this season has really had an issue with finding kids to play D. We are a small team numbers wise with only 12 skaters so we run 4 D and 8 Fs. We took what we felt our best athletes and positioned them to D. One player is a Natural D player and loves it. Another player has transitioned very nice, however the other two parent's continue to question my decision about the move. Keep in mind these are 11 & 12 year olds. An example of an e mail is below.
My question to the group is what would you suggest? During my pre tryout discussion I outlined that I would be taking the 12 best skaters and would not be picking the players for positions.
Bottom line is I don't want the negative vibe around the team, however everyone can't be the QB?
Look forward to your feedback.
Hi Coach,
At the beginning of the season, you asked us all to contact you with any comments or concerns. In keeping with this, we have a concern about xxxxx. We have noticed that when he is away from hockey he doesn’t seem to have the same intense drive to want to play. xxxxx used to be all psyched up, trash talking about how bad the team was going to beat the next opponent and asking what time and where the next game was. Since his move to defense we have noticed an abrupt end to his spark to play. xxxxx LOVES hockey and it is his self proclaimed passion. It seems to be a positional lack of interest rather than a hockey lack of interest. Last night he told us he liked the week off and wishes is wasn’t over. This has NEVER been his outlook when it came to hockey. He is a good boy and will do as he is asked to do. He (&we) admire both the time you put in and the coaching you do. xxxxx does not want to disappoint you in any way but confides in us that he misses the front line and feels as though he is held back. He says he needs to be pushed by you on offense so he can get better at it instead of defense. We as parents do not want his spark to extinguish, but it IS starting to. Anything you can do to help is appreciated by us. If you speak to xxxx please do not let on that you have received this e-mail, we just want his spark back.
Respectfully,