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October 17, 2004
STATE OF THE GAMEPaying Youth Coaches: Is it Worth
it?
By Lyle Phair | From 
I am not sure when exactly it started or why exactly
it has happened, but the game of hockey has become very, very serious
to a lot of people. It’s probably way more serious than it
should be when you stop to remember that it’s just a game
– one that kids play. Sometimes, I think, we adults tend to
forget that.
One of the most recent indicators that we are
taking the game a little more seriously than we should is the trend
of youth hockey coaches getting paid for their services. This, I
think, might become a Pandora’s Box that we might very well
regret opening.
Is it worth it? And I don’t just mean for
the players. Is it worth it for the coaches as well?
I am guessing that the sport of soccer might be
where the paid coaching idea originated. I know that paid coaches
are an accepted part of the culture of the sport – at least
at the higher levels (premier, elite and whatever other exaggerated
marketing terms they utilize to set themselves apart from the normal
folk).
In hockey, the majority of coaches at the youth
level still willingly volunteer their services and are there because
they love the game and working with kids. But at some point, the
“non-parent” coach entered the picture and for some
reason people looked at this new category of coach as superior to
the run-of-the-mill volunteer, parent coach.
Maybe. Or maybe not.
It depends on the coach. I think the theory was
that if they did not have a kid on the team, then there would be
no opportunity for bias and from that everyone would be coached
better. Possibly.
I think it depends more on how the coach and the
parents view the game and what their expectations are. I know plenty
of parents who have a ton of experience in the game and are outstanding
coaches. I also know plenty of parents who have minimal experience
in the game and are outstanding coaches. Go figure.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason, many “parent”
coaches often don’t think that they possess the knowledge
or skills to coach the game at the Pee Wee, Bantam or Midget age
groups, or even at Squirts or other higher levels of play. To me
that indicates two potential problems with our youth hockey culture.
First, maybe it is possible that our coaches are
not being taught what they need to know to be able to coach at these
levels. There might be some validity to that theory, but in my opinion,
not much. The sport of hockey is probably more organized (maybe
too much) than any other youth sport except for soccer. The coaching
education program is very detailed and coaches are required to meet
some minimum requirements to participate in a coaching capacity.
That certainly can’t be said for the majority of youth sports.
But lack of education is not the problem. Coaches
can learn all they need to know at the youth level. It really is
a very simple game. Some of the best coaches know that in many instances,
“less is more” and if you just let the kids play the
game it’s amazing what they can do.
My father, who never played the game, coached
the teams that I played on from when I began at 6, right through
until I was 16. Amazingly, we had a very competitive team and five
players from that team went on to play hockey at the junior level.
And he would be the first to tell you that our success was in spite
of his coaching, not because of it.
To me, the real problem with the youth hockey
culture – and ultimately the reason why there are now paid
coaches – is the unbelievably, unrealistic expectations that
are placed on coaches today. Granted, some of them are self-induced.
Those coaches who try to recruit and attract players to their team
by selling themselves as being the be all to end all, often set
themselves up with expectations that are impossible to fulfill.
On the flip side, there are many parents who, for whatever reason,
expect that every volunteer youth coach with the privilege to coach
their son or daughter should be the next coming of Scotty Bowman.
Actually, I think that some people think they
are paying for a season-long hockey school and they expect that
the coaches to develop their player to what the parent sees as the
players full potential. While you should expect that youth coaches
have a solid knowledge of the game, possess good communication skills
and the ability to create an environment where players can learn
and enjoy the game, anything beyond that is asking a lot.
To me, there are a couple of fundamental differences
between a hockey school and coaching a team. First of all, in an
instructional environment, there is no competition. Coaches don’t
have to worry about wins or losses. No one is keeping score, so
they can actually coach the players and allow players to try things
and be in situations that they might not get in if there was a chance
of losing a game because of it. Players can actually be creative
and not be afraid to make mistakes for fear of seeing their ice
time limited for doing something that cost their team a goal.
More importantly, no matter what coaches may say
or parents may say, when you start to pay coaches, they are being
paid to win. For the majority of people the only measure of success
for a coach is the won-loss record. It happens when coaches are
volunteers and you can bet that it will hold true, exponentially,
when they are being paid for their services. And ironically, depending
on the make-up of the team the coach might actually have nothing
to do with the won-loss record. It might be completely out of his
or her hands.
There are plenty of teams that, for a number of
reasons, are just not good and it wouldn’t matter who was
coaching them. And conversely there are plenty of coaches who receive
all kinds of accolades for coaching teams that anybody could have
won with.
Actually, I think paying coaches is probably not
a bad idea, at the right age and at the appropriate level of play.
High school and Midget AAA coaches should definitely be paid and
they should have some pretty impressive experience and ability to
earn their keep. But at the end of the day it will still be their
won-loss record that determines whether they were “worth it”
or not.
This article appears in the October issue
of New England Hockey Journal. Click
here to subscribe to the magazine.
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