My morning routine is always the same. I wake up (way too early), pour a cup of coffee, flip on TSN and sit down for 45 minutes to watch Sports Centre. I watch the highlights and catch up on the scores throughout the hockey and baseball world.
At the end of each highlight reel, the
evening scores are posted along with the team and player stats. As a die-hard
hockey fan, I am guilty of pouring over the stat reports, analyzing which teams
are on a role, what teams are slumping, which players are cashing it in
and which players are eating crow. With professional sports the
definition of success can be summed up by analyzing whether a team is winning or losing.
When I was asked by Terry to coach the 2006 Quick Feet Tyke team I was hesitant
at first to accept the position. My apprehensions for coaching this
team stemmed from many different questions all parents and coaches
alike ponder with respect to their children's well-being/ability as well
as their own coaching qualifications.
I would have had a long list of reasons of why I shouldn't have coached this
team to respond to Terry with.
We have all read the articles that speak
about the pros and cons of spring hockey; a heated debate that will never be
silent on either side of the fence. As parents, we all wonder whether we
should encourage competition at the AAA level at such an early age. We also question our children’s abilities on
the ice and wonder where they fit within the skill sets of all kids trying out
for the team.
As a coach I questioned if I had enough
patience, skill and knowledge of the sport to benefit the kids that made the
team. I also wondered whether we would
attract enough players to come to tryouts in order to compose a team capable of
competing at the AAA level.
As I analyzed all of the reasons I
shouldn’t coach the 2006 Quick Feet Tyke team I realized I was looking at the picture
in the wrong light. My son Aiden loves
hockey. If I ask him on any given day of the
week whether he would like to play or not I will always hear the answer
yes. I thought to myself “surely there
are enough kids like him his age that would love an opportunity to play hockey
in the spring”.
In the articles that we read surrounding
the spring hockey debate, the people who argue against playing spring hockey
use the statistics of the sport to judge whether it is a meaningful venture or
not. Namely, how many kids who play
spring hockey wind up playing at the professional level.
Well personally, that is not my focus
with my son. At the age of 7, I am not concerned with whether he plays in the
NHL or not. The reason he plays hockey
is purely for the love of the sport. I
am not one of those parents who expects their child to go all the way. I concluded that spring hockey would give him
the opportunity to continue playing hockey for two more months. It would also introduce
him to the rules and strategies of the game at the next level; a primer for the transition to Novice.
As far as competing at the AAA level at a
young age, I realized that we aren’t dressing these 6/7 year old kids in hockey
equipment and asking them to play 12 year olds.
They are playing other 6/7 year old kids just like them from other
centres. I thought ”where is the harm in
that?”
I went through the list of all my doubts
and reservations for not doing the program and I came to the realization that all
of the reasons not to do the program revolved around whether the spring hockey
team would win or lose.
On my list of weighing the pros and cons,
all of my reasons for doing the
program revolved around a group of other, more meaningful words…….DEVELOPMENT, PASSION & FUN.
It was then that I concluded that I would
in fact take on the task of coaching this team and provide these kids with the
opportunity to play the sport they love, develop their knowledge and abilities
to play the game and put some giant smiles on their faces.
I decided I would surround myself with a
coaching staff that shared the same values and philosophies as I do to provide
the best possible opportunity for these kids.
A decision that I think paid dividends, as I feel Jason and Nick were a
great pair to have on the bench, and were huge assets to the team’s
development. I could not have done my
job without their commitment and valuable knowledge.
This morning, the day after our last game
together as a team, I sit here at my computer watching Sports Centre and
drinking my coffee. I click my way to our
team website and see the statistics posted for our team, 4 wins, 13 losses and 1 tie.
I ask myself, “was this spring season a success?”
I run through all of the games we played
together as a team. I remember all of
the losses we had that were decided in the final moments of the game. A 3-2 loss with 5 seconds left on the clock
in Stratford, a waived off goal in double overtime followed by a shoot-out loss
in St. Catherine's, several (7 total) close games won by the opposing team by 2
goals or less.
I remember how far each
and every player on this team has come since the first tryout we had in the
beginning of April. How each player on
this team has learned how to change on the fly, set up a break-out, set up the
attack triangle, what an off-side is, what an icing is and most importantly they
had fun the entire time they were doing it.
I remember all the acts of sportsmanship and respect that the players exhibited while competing at the tournaments.
I think about all the friendships the kids and parents have made with
players and their families from other centres in our area; an opportunity that
may not have been possible without the program.
I think about all the smiles on each of the kid’s faces every time we
got together as a group on and off the ice (especially when there was Gatorade after our game/practice).
So was this season a success at 4 Wins,
13 Losses and 1 tie? There is no doubt in
my mind that it was a HUGE SUCCESS.
This morning I thought I would take a
moment thank each and every player and parent for being a part of this
team. I had an absolute blast coaching
your children for the last two months.
It was truly a privilege.
I would also like to thank Jason and Nick
for all your hard work and help with coaching this team. Both of you brought a lot of great insight
and knowledge to the table. I would also
like to send out a special thank-you to Caroline Breen for all your hard work
behind the scenes and for keeping us coaches in line.
A team can only be as strong as it’s
weakest link. I truly believe that there
isn’t a weak link in the whole group. I
hope that everyone comes back next spring for tryouts.
See you all in a couple of weeks at the
team barbeque.
Adam