I have posted over 100 on ice actvities over the last 3 months in the Daily Drill Sections of this board.

The drills and games have been put into pdf booklets that I will send to the coaches who donated money to help pay the expenses of paying for the site name and server space. A grand total of 2 coaches have done their part to help; so I will send the material to them.

Anyone else who donates or purchases a manual will be sent the files.

The 3 coaches who bought the Hockeycoaching ABC's manual will also get the files. The postings are meant to continually update the book and this site is a place to discuss the ideas or questions about the program.

I have included a pictue of the cover from the Austrian coaches manual which Juhani and I prepared for their hockey federation.

Tom,

Thanks for the continual updates on this site. As per our conversation today, I will make a contribution to you in person next week when we meet. I will put my money where my mouth is.

I can't believe only two other people have kicked in any money at all! For all the time and effort you put into updating content, answering questions in the forum... then having to pay for the site hosting, etc. out of your own pocket... you gotta be kidding me! Come on people... call to wallets here!

I recommend you make this a pay site. Figure out your total costs to host the site per year and then try to determine what would be a reasonable charge per year. I don't think you can go too high, but $50 / year (from the date of purchase) would be a cheap rate for the ongoing professional development that this site provides! Hockey Canada used to charge $100 for their Coaches Club... maybe charge $75 for 1 year and a copy of your book (plus shipping and handling?)

Dean

Dean and Dave. Thanks for the comments.

I got into this site as an extension of hockeycoach.com that Dennis Freed created to help coaches. The discussion board on that site was fantastic. Dennis got out of it when his kid's stopped playing and his wife got sick.

I started the ABC site as a way to put on some video and diagrams. It was very elementary. Someone hacked and destroyed it. Then Dwight volunteered to create a site that was much better and I put hundreds of hours in uploading video etc. only to have it destroyed. Dwight again created this more secure site where I can upload larger and clearer video. We are at about 600 000 hits.

The discussion board has never caught on like the hockeycoach.com one where we had coaches from all over the world exchanging ideas almost every day.

I have put a lot of resources including video, diagrams, booklets on this site and the purpose is to change the way practices are run. Drill and practice was thrown out of the school system in the late 60's because it is a very ineffective way to teach. We still insist on doing it in sport. (not only in hockey) and we have an 80% dropout rate by the age of 14. The second biggest reason given by kid's who quit is that practice isn't fun. (Bob Bigelow, "Just let them Play".

I have manuals for a program I am doing in the schools and the most innovative thing they use is a skill circuit where they players do drills in small groups. ?????? Is that as far as we have gotten. 7-12 minutes of activity in a one hour practice. 50 minutes of waiting in line or listening to someone explain the next activity.

It takes 10 years, 10 000 hours, to train to be excellent in anything. You need 10 000 reps with good technique to develop a movement pattern. (if it isn't good technique then you get really good at being really bad because you get good at what you practice).

About 60% of the head coaches change each year in Canada (something I heard a few years ago) so how are they going to run effective practices if the only resource they have is drill circuits from the programs that are given them.

I am rambling here but the purpose of this site is to help coaches of ALL levels to run effective, FUN practices that actually help players to Play the Game.

The two themes of Juhani and my program are: "Enjoy the Game" and "The game is the greatest coach." If you are a musician you would play your scales and learn parts of the composition and play those small parts, then you would practice the entire piece before performing. We ask players to perform after they practice the notes and maybe some small sections. There are differences everywhere in the ratio of drills to SAG to game.


I have been all over Canada, USA, even Mexico, Korea, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria watching hockey practices. Also I have coached all the youth age levels, girl's and boy's, college, university, pro from three continents. I think have a advantage when I go places because most of the time I stay with the coaches who bring me places instead of in a hotel. It gives a chance to understand the culture better as well as the philosophy they have for development. Also sometimes I work with kid's, sometimes teens, sometimes pro's. There are a lot of philosophies of development and each country or region seems to stress on aspect of the game.

This is what I think a practice should contain. Of course the weight of activity varies with the skill level.
1.Nervous system overload - skills with multiple pucks, crowded situations etc. to warm up the body and mind.
2. Shooting drills that include skill development to warm up the goalie.
3. Lesson with a demonstration and drill to focus on the skill.
4. SAG games with modified rules to practice that skill. i.e. half ice game with only backward skating.
5. Transition game or games where that skill will be used in a one puck game situation.
6. Overspeed drill to challenge the players.
7. Shootout or contest to end practice.

The plan should revolve around covering all of the skills of the four game playing roles. 1. player with the puck, 2. Players supporting the puck, 3. player checking the puck carrier, 4. players defending away from the puck. You also must practice "loose puck situations" as 30% of a hockey game is loose puck. The skills and good habits are all critical.

I know I have gotten off the money topic but the reason for this site is to promote the sport of hockey or just sport. The thing that impressed me the most about the Olympics last week was the interviews with the athletes. I have never seen such nice, polite and respectful young people. I think sport had a lot to do with their development as good people. Sport teaches youth to strive for goals, work together with teammates and coaches. This is why we should want practice to be fun and attract youth to participate instead of repel them away so they can do something they enjoy.

So I don't want to charge a fee for the site. I think Dwight can put some banners here to defray costs and I hope some coaches decide the site is worthwhile enough to contribute to keep it going.

Most teams are winding down now and I am only going to post one or two drills a week in the off season. It would be nice if this board was more spirited with discussion on how to imporve the game but that also is up to the coaches who use it.