“It is fun to feel their energy and fires you up that there are so many people out there who want to make their players and their goalies better and we want to try to help them do that,” Thompson said.
“The best teachers and coaches are curious,” Thompson added. “They are curious about what their kids are doing, how they feel; they are curious about the next step to evolving the game. That curiosity really helps them become better learners and better teachers.”
USA Hockey also invited minds from outside of hockey specifically, including Stuart Armstrong, who leads The Talent Equation Podcast on the exploration of human advancement and technology through the lens of sport and physical activity, and Christy Buck, founder and executive director of “be nice,” the mental health foundation of West Michigan, who led discussion with Derek Schaedig on the importance of mental health for athletes.
The Symposium ended with legendary college hockey head coaches coaches Jerry York (Watertown, Mass.) and Jack Parker (Somerville, Mass.) taking center stage for a panel discussion, followed by a presentation from Providence College head coach Nate Leaman (Providence, R.I).
The coaches all left the symposium feeling energized and excited to further dive into all of the information presented.
“A lot of information was thrown at them, and they had a lot of opportunities to engage and be active and play with the information, so it was a really positive weekend,” said Heather Mannix, USA Hockey manager of education and player development.
“I hope that they came in with open minds and we made them more curious than when they came into the room — curious to learn more, curious to ask more questions, curious to take a deeper dive into the information that we just introduced to them, so I hope we have sparked that curiosity.”
QUOTABLE
With all of the coaches who spoke throughout the weekend, we included quotes below…
On the continued growth of girls and women’s hockey…
Tara Mounsey
“I think the most important part is asking what can we do to cultivate a culture that empowers our youth to become strong and confident adults? … It’s been amazing seeing the sport of women’s ice hockey grow. Women coaching in the sport, I would love to see it grow more, there aren’t that many in a room of 500. Our young girls benefit greatly from women that they can see as role models. We do have a lot more work to do with the young female athletes and coaches. But we, as the 1998 Olympic Team, and subsequent Olympic teams, are committed to continue to impact the growth.”
On the characteristics of a great coach….
Dan Muse
“I think you have to care. Hockey’s a people business and you have to care about the players, carry about the staff, care about the other people around you and care about their well-being. Number one is to care about them as people.”
Vicki Movessian-Lamoriello
“The most important thing with developing player is to not think of the end as your means of getting there. You really have to evaluate where the kids are what the needs of the group are and have a mentality for your team and make sure that’s expressed. I think communication is very important.”
Greg Brown
The best characteristic is probably just to live up to the way they are coaching. The guys who really have the most impact, it wasn’t just words. They lived the way they wanted us to act and be. You knew it wasn’t hollow. It was genuine. You appreciate that as a player and now I see it even more as I am the guy doing the coaching and hopefully imparting some wisdom and life lessons on our players.
Stuart Armstrong
“Somebody who is really intuitive. They are continuously sensing the mood and how the individuals are interacting together and with their opponents. They are using that information to design a practice, change a practice and make it a better practice. I would say that intuitiveness and being intentional about sensing. Listening and picking up what the vibes are because that can give you so much information.”
Kim Brandvold
“I think the best coaches are able to tailor their own coaching to each individuals needs and understand that different players have different behaviors. You need to not only accept that, but embrace that.”
On the importance of continuing education for coaches…
Jay Pandolfo
“(Continuing education is) every day, looking back at how the day went, what went well, what didn’t go well, and also just continuing to learn. Learning from other coaches, not just from your own sport. I watch a lot of different sports to pick up different things and read a lot of different things. It can’t just be hockey there’s a lot of other ways to do it.”
Steve Thompson
“It is a little bit of practicing what we preach. We are always asking our players to continue to continue to learn and to be the best they can be and if sometimes we as coaches don’t continue to grow and look for the newest, nicest things and how to make those athletes stronger we are not practicing what we preach.”
RED GENDRON SCHOLARSHIP
Karl Norton received the first-ever Red Gendron Memorial Scholarship at the symposium, with an introduction provided by Dan Muse, head coach at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.
Norton has been a hockey coach in Connecticut for 39 years, guiding players from 8U to 18U. Currently a member of the USA Hockey Connecticut Coaching Development staff, he spent the last 15 seasons as a coach with the South Windsor Youth Hockey Association, and prior to that, 24 seasons with the Eastern Connecticut Hockey Organization.
DIVERSTIY IN COACHING SCHOLARSHIP
Ryann Gelder and Robert Litwin were recipients of the Diversity in Coaching Level 5 Scholarship, which helped to cover all expenses for them to attend the event.
Geldner has been a volunteer at Ice Hockey in Harlem for 10 years, and is currently a technology teacher at P.S. 129 in Harlem where several of her students have become Ice Hockey in Harlem participants.
Litwin has been an Ice Hockey in Harlem volunteer coach for nine years and involved coaching kids from Learn to Skate to 18U. Litwin’s sons Raphael and Leon are Ice Hockey in Harlem graduates, and are now involved as coaches.
NEXT UP FOR COACHES
The next educational opportunity for hockey directors, hockey administrators, and youth hockey leaders is the North American Rink Conference & Expo (NARCE) in Buffalo, NY June 13-16, 2023.
Presented by the United States Ice Rink Association, NARCE is the premier annual professional development and networking event for the ice rink and ice sport industries. The 4-day event will bring together hundreds of ice rink professionals, ice sport national governing body representatives and leading vendors for world-class educational courses, unrivaled networking opportunities and the industry’s largest trade show.
Registration closes on May 16, 2022. Click here to register.
