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If nothing else, I hope that bringing up these ideas might spark some further discussion among all the key stakeholders in minor hockey. I’m going to begin with a program that is dear to my heart—a program that speaks to the basic needs of young boys and girls who play hockey, but which I believe should be the basis for all youth sports. If we start our children out on the right track, we have a better chance of keeping them involved in sport for a lifetime. We can’t confuse a game played by children with a game played by men for money. The vast majority of hockey players are kids, so let’s start with them.
SAFE & FUN HOCKEY
During the spring of 1998, I grew more and more concerned with many of the headlines I read about problems within several minor sports in North America. Some of these problems were quite shocking to me. Many of the headlines that caught my eye referred to events such as parents of very young players being involved in post-game brawls, and even a death resulting from parents of players fighting in the stands in the Boston area.
To me it signaled a real need for action and education, and that is when I approached my friend Dick Conlin, who was a VP at General Motors. When I mentioned my concerns about the decay of values in youth sports, he agreed, and then asked, “So, what can be done about it?” That was when Chevrolet Safe & Fun Hockey was born. I suggested to Dick that we couldn’t cure all ills associated with all sports, but we could try to make a dent in the hockey community across Canada.
That is exactly what we did. Since 1999, the program has touched hundreds of thousands of players, parents, coaches, and officials, and I am extremely proud of the message it brings. Along with Hall-of-Famer Mike Bossy and Cassie Campbell-Pascall, formerly of the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team, who speaks to the needs of the young girls who are playing the sport in ever-increasing numbers, the program has advocated for change within our minor hockey systems. Our instructors are not just teaching hockey; we are using hockey as a platform for teaching important values.
Hockey can give kids the experience of sportsmanship, dedication, and commitment. That’s true for parents and coaches as well. We produce manuals and instructional videos for all participants. But the kids are always the focus. It’s tough to get across to kids in only a few words what the overall perspective is—and after all, they are there to have fun, not listen to lectures—so we use two value-based words to frame the intent of our program. We call them our “two Rs”: respect and responsibility.
In my mind, respect is a cornerstone concept, not just for minor sports, but for living in general. Whether it’s toward teammates, coaches, rink attendants, teachers, or whoever, basic respect is something everyone deserves. It’s something we should see everywhere, not just on the ice. But on the ice is a great place to teach it.
Like respect, responsibility is something every young athlete can and should apply off the ice once it has been learned in the rink. Once a kid learns not to blame others for his mistakes, or not to be selfish when others are counting on her, he or she is not just a better teammate, but a more complete person. One of the best-known elements of our program is the work we put into getting kids to be careful when they see others in a vulnerable position. Hitting from behind is dangerous and irresponsible, and if we can help get it out of the game, we know we’ve done something we can be proud of. Away from the rink, responsibility may mean being accountable for your grades, helping parents with household chores, or doing the right thing in the playground at school. These are life lessons that can be learned through our sport.
We do a little homework exercise with the kids at our camps. We ask them to draw us a picture of anything that they associate with the word responsibility or respect. It is always amazing what they come up with, whether it’s taking their dog for a walk or cleaning their rooms (responsibility) or shaking hands with an opponent at the end of a game (respect). At one session a few years ago, we told the kids on the ice before they drew their pictures that it was very important to listen to their coaches while they were playing because it showed respect. Of course, when the pictures were drawn, we saw many examples of that.
But we also saw some ideas that we couldn’t quite make out, and they seemed to be associated with school. When we asked what the pictures were about, the kids said, “Don’t bully anyone.” It turned out that school had just started and these children had received an anti-bullying presentation from their teachers. Obviously, they were listening, something we sometimes fail to realize. Very young children hear the messages that we as parents send, and they hear them very clearly. Our goal at Safe & Fun Hockey has been to keep providing positive messages for our young people in the hope that, over time, a culture shift will happen. We have heard some great feedback over the years, and we are all encouraged by that. But the message of respect and responsibility needs to be kept in the forefront in order to reach not only children, but parents, coaches, referees, and administrators within the game as well.
Marc Comeau is now the man who champions the program at GM. Like his predecessor, Marc sees great value in the message the program brings. At the heart of the program is Harold Konrad, the program director and a dear friend. Harold is one of those people who just gets things done. He has been a great resource person for all of the major innovations over the years in Safe & Fun Hockey, and without him we simply could not carry on. My hope is that as the years go by, we will see fewer and fewer of the headlines that spurred us to create our program. My hope is that all kids who participate in minor sport will have the same kinds of fun experiences I enjoyed as a kid in Parry Sound. That was one of our main reasons for creating the Chevrolet Safe & Fun Hockey program: to let children have fun with the game in a safe and secure environment. But there is still much work to be done.
YEAR-LONG HOCKEY PROGRAMMING
I’ve mentioned that I didn’t attend hockey school until I was eighteen—and that I was there as an instructor not a participant. I mention this with a specific thought in mind. While no one can really object to a young player heading off to a hockey camp for a week or two during the summer, I don’t believe that summer is the time to train kids to play a winter sport. You might think, if they want to go to camp and they like hockey, why not? Let them play. I loved the game to the point that I could hardly think about anything else when I was a kid. If I had had the chance to play during the summer, maybe I would have. In any case, I can hardly say there is anything wrong with a kid wanting to play a little more hockey. But I see very young children shipped off for long stretches by parents who seem to think the hockey school environment will “make them a player.” The fact is, no one can make a kid into a player if that is not the kid’s passion. And really, why would any parent want to?
But the real point is that, whether we’re talking about summer hockey school, spring leagues, or private lessons, some parents feel their kids have to stay on the ice year-round or they will lose ground. But do we need to keep kids on the ice twelve months a year in order to keep grooming them? I think there is something very wrong about that. From my perspective, a brief summer experience on the ice should be as much a social time as anything, because the truth is the instructors at any hockey school, gifted as they may be, will not make your son or daughter a top-level player. And no kid should head off to camp thinking he or she needs to come back a more accomplished athlete.
My preference would be to see kids play other sports, especially during hockey’s off-season, be it lacrosse or soccer or rugby, or any other activity they enjoy. I played a lot of baseball, and that was a different experience than hockey, including a different pack of friends for at least a couple of months a year, and that can be only a good thing. There is something to be said for what we now refer to as cross-training, meaning that kids should be involved in sports besides hockey. It means you are becoming an athlete, not just a hockey player. Youngsters involved in multiple sports get the opportunity to experience a broader range of skill development, and that will only he
lp them when sport specialization starts later in their teen years. I believe that those types of rounded athletes have a great advantage over other players in the long haul.
If the point of keeping kids on the ice twelve months a year is to turn them into hockey players, the plan may backfire anyway. Children who get pushed into year-round programming can end up with hockey fatigue. Many promising kids just get sick of being driven to the rink to put on their gear in the middle of summer when they’d rather be throwing a football around or going mountain biking.
Not every kid is going to be gifted in the sport their parents happen to have in mind for them. In fact, most kids won’t be gifted in any sport at all. But sports are not there for the gifted. They’re there for everyone.
TRAINING
I understand the importance of training for the sport, and I know that teams have high expectations for their players in that regard. I have certainly spent enough time in gyms and weight rooms to know that you can get only so far without putting in the effort. But I have come to wonder in recent years if over-training isn’t actually hurting many players. First, hockey is about strength and power—no one who has played the game would try to deny that. But hockey is not weight lifting, and players need to watch that their training sessions don’t turn them into athletes whose bodies are more suited for wrestling than hockey. There is strength, and then there is “hockey strength.” It isn’t so much about brute force on the ice, because if that were the case we would see only giants participating. And giants do have some advantages. But the list of top-ten scorers on any given week doesn’t include many giants. Defensemen tend to be bigger, but with few exceptions even the top defensemen aren’t beasts.
What players need is the right kind of strength and power. That includes learning to understand that leverage and positioning can be just as important as raw strength when it comes to winning battles in the game. It’s more about timing and athleticism—and avoiding injury—than it is about how much you can bench press. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a guy with the physique of a defensive end line up a guy half his size, only to bounce off when he connects. Sure, there is room in the game for big guys who can throw their weight around. But for the most part, players are smart enough to see them coming—and strong enough to protect the puck when they arrive. There are trainers out there who know how to develop hockey-specific strength—though a trainer can help only if a player follows the program. All too often, I’ve seen players sign up with the best trainer, but not show up for their workouts and never reap the benefits.
Often, when I’m on the ice with Safe & Fun Hockey, I’ll have a little boy or girl come up and angle me into the boards. The point of this demonstration is to show that even though you might have a physical disadvantage in terms of your size, proper technique can help you overcome any size deficiencies you might have relative to your opponents. Putting on muscle is no substitute for learning the game.
The second point to be made about training is that I firmly believe at some point athletes need to rest both body and soul. That’s right, just rest. They must allow their bodies to heal up, especially after a long campaign when perhaps they’ve gone deep into the playoffs. Some youth teams play upwards of one hundred games a season, and even though they have lots of energy, kids do get tired. Would you prefer your child performed when rested or fatigued? I’ve done both, and I can tell you, I always played a lot better when rested. And remember, tired players are more prone to being injured, so keep that in mind as your son or daughter moves up the hockey ladder. The human body needs some time to heal from that kind of physical output. It’s important to calm the mind and get away from the mental stress associated with the game. You might believe that mental stress is only for the pros, but the pressures put on many children by the volume of games and by coaches’ and parents’ expectations all come with a cost. And those players have school and other activities as well. We should never forget that these are just children.
THE ROLE OF PARENTS
Watching a child move into the top levels of hockey can be both an exhilarating and confusing time for parents. While previously they were in control of most aspects of their son’s life, parents must eventually cut the strings and let him go. They can’t dictate terms. “Johnny” isn’t going to be guaranteed power-play time, because at elite levels of the game Johnny is going to have to earn that privilege. So what advice would I give parents as they enter into this often-stressful time for their family?
I always go back to that discussion my folks had with the Lindros family, because I truly believe the wisdom of Dad’s comments. You simply have to get out of the way and let them stand on their own. You can’t push them where their talent wouldn’t have taken them anyway. You should be forewarned that everyone thinks, as a player moves up the hockey ladder, that communication will get better and everything will be understood by all parties involved, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Where once a player was a big fish in a small pond, that same player must now come to grips with the reality that he or she will be competing against the world. Players, and parents of players, must be mentally tough. Nothing is given away, because hockey, especially at the professional level, is big business. The player’s ability to produce will determine his success, and no one can talk his way onto a roster. Merit is the only way.
If I had a son or daughter who was pushing forward in the game, I would also be very conscious of what I said when things were not going so well. For example, telling your child that the coach doesn’t know what he’s doing may feel like a way of cheering up a dejected kid who didn’t get much ice time. But it’s only going to make things worse by furnishing the player with a ready-made excuse: “It’s not my lack of effort. The coach doesn’t know how to use me!” Probably not a great strategy, even if, in some cases, the coach may be partly to blame.
We teach our children at a very early age about things like responsibility and accountability, so parents shouldn’t make less of their child’s need to accept responsibility for the quality of his or her play, even if it makes the kid feel a little better for a while.
The reality is that as a player gets deeper and deeper into elite hockey, parents basically become fans. Certainly, as a parent, you shouldn’t let anyone take advantage of your child. You always have to know what is going on. As I said before, everyone has to do their homework so as not to become a victim of an unscrupulous person or program. But after the decisions are made, the best thing a parent can do is slow down, relax, and remember that it is a marathon, not a sprint. And besides, you aren’t the one running the race.
THE ROLE OF COACHES
During my time as a hockey player, I was very thankful to have had a series of coaches who were wonderful role models and guided me right up until I retired. You should never underestimate how important a coach can be in a young person’s life. If nothing else, this is the person who controls ice time, and that means he has immense power over your child’s development. A coach’s job is also to figure out how to motivate your child, how to get the very best out of him or her. Coaches need to learn what drives each player and develop a very intimate relationship. Today, players don’t simply nod their heads and say, “Yes, Coach,” when someone tells them to do something. Current players want to know why, and aren’t afraid to challenge authority. If a coach is doing the job right, he or she will come to know every player on that bench, and will know how to talk to them.
The relationship is built on trust and shared values. What those values are, and who your child comes to trust, are things that will shape them. That makes coaches some of the most important people in your child’s life, and the further he or she goes, the more important that relationship—and the relationship with the team—will get.
I won’t go into the abuses of power by coaches we have witnessed in the past, but we have all read about them. Hopefully, these are isolated cases, but I do believe that in some cases the culture of ho
ckey has contributed to these abuses of power. How? Well, coaches often seem to be running their teams in order to achieve immediate success. They are thinking of survival in the here and now instead of having the confidence to do what’s right for a program down the road.
I understand the “win or get fired” pressure that many coaches are under. Unfortunately, that kind of thinking is not restricted to the professional ranks, because even at basic levels of hockey I see coaches who are in survival mode. I have always thought that if we develop people properly we will have a greater opportunity of producing more accomplished players, and our coaching jobs will actually become more secure. There are no shortcuts in this game. Players need time and nurturing to develop, and the driver of that bus is always the coach. It is a serious responsibility.
Unfortunately, if you get a coach who thinks he or she is on Hockey Night in Canada when in fact they’re standing behind the bench of a novice team, no one is going to have any fun. Winning can become a sort of drug for coaches, and they like the feeling of that high. But it has consequences for kids in minor sports. I would ask coaches not to get hooked on that winning drug and ask themselves instead why they are coaching. If you have any reason for coaching other than wanting to develop better people through minor sports, you should probably step aside.
And coaches, one more thing. If in any given year you find yourself with a team that can’t seem to win, then you need to set a goal other than hoisting a trophy at the end of the season. The challenges under such circumstances can be difficult, but I’ve always felt that truly great coaching can happen even when a team doesn’t have a winning record—and not every team can have a winning record. The most skilled coaches will always find a way for players to have fun, even if that trophy is nowhere in sight. Creating little victories within the bigger defeats is a mark of excellent coaching, and to those who follow that path, I applaud you.