Volume 2, Issue 4 - December, 2001

 "From the Right Wing…"

ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS  #21

Dan Bylsma’s Newsletter --- A Feature of West Michigan Hockey Camp, Inc.

DAN’S TIP OF THE MONTH FOR PLAYERS…

I get a lot of letters from parents about your coaches.  They're usually concerned about your lack of ice time, not playing in close games in the third period, or that the coach yells at you.  And while I know there are a lot of fine coaches in youth hockey, the good ones are not the subject of the mail I get.  And while sometimes your parents have legitimate concerns, my father and I have been around long enough to know there also are more than enough "hockey parents" and hockey brats to go around.  I address the issue of some of the shortcomings of coaches later in this newsletter, but let's talk about hockey brats in this section.  Chances are if you subscribe to my newsletter you're not a hockey brat, but perhaps you know one and will pass this along to them, hmmm?

 I've played for a lot of coaches on a lot of different teams in the past 24 years.  They range all the way from coaches who didn’t know a lick about hockey and didn’t even own skates to a coach who is in the hockey Hall of Fame and has almost as many Stanley Cup rings as he has fingers.  All of the good coaches had two things in common: they liked to work with and help kids and young adults, and they liked to win.

These two characteristics usually work in your favor.  You need help and you like to win.  So the relationship between you and your coach is usually based on common goals.  I’m not saying that all coaches are good coaches.  Nor am I saying that it’s easy to get along with all coaches.  But based on common goals, it should be a good relationship.  If it’s not, the first place to look is in the mirror.  If this is not the first coach who you or your parents couldn't get along with, look really hard at yourself.  Perhaps you’re not doing the things that every coach likes, or maybe you're doing some of the things the coach doesn’t like.

What are some of the things every coach likes?  You can put honest effort on the top of your list.  And the list will also contain things like these:

· an honest effort when you practice.

· an honest effort when you play. 

· being courteous, that is: being on time, telling him in advance if you cannot be at a game or practice, listening when he speaks.

· being respectful of him, the officials, your teammates, and equipment, both yours and theirs.

· being coach-able by doing what he asks you, following his game plan, and taking suggestions to improve your game.

· being in control by not taking retaliation penalties, coming off the ice promptly when a line change is made on the fly, watching your temper and your language.

· being helpful by cleaning up your share of the tape balls in the locker room after practice and taking your turn at being water boy or picking up the pucks after practice.

· being selfless by passing the puck to a teammate on a 2-on-0 with an open net, welcoming new players to the team, or correcting the score sheet if you are credited with an assist that belongs to someone else.

· being ready to play by having all your equipment, being sure your skates sharpened, and having enough tape.

You can put all of the things on this list into a simple rule: work very hard, play very hard, and be a gentleman or lady (girls play hockey, too) in the process.  Do these things and chances are the coach will like and appreciate you and the contribution you make to the team.  Most likely, you will stand out from the me-first attitudes that are so common in sports these days, and that will not go unnoticed by the coach.

What are some of the things that hockey brats do that coaches don’t like?  Put being lazy at the top of the list.  My father use to address lazy play by saying, “I don’t hear any music playing!”  What we knew he meant was that we were playing hockey, not going to a public skate session where one can leisurely skate to waltz music.  The rest of the list would include these:

· being discourteous by missing practice or a game without warning or explanation or coming late.

· being disrespectful by talking back to the coach, mocking a teammate or opponent, mouthing off to the officials, or using foul language.

· refusing to accepting coaching by having your own game plan instead of the coach’s, or whining when things don’t go the way you think they should go.

· being undisciplined by being a puck hog, staying out a little or a lot longer after the lines have changed (and cutting into the next guy’s shift), taking bad penalties, or not being in control of your temper or your tongue.

· being a slob by not cleaning up after yourself.

· neglecting your equipment and being careless with the equipment of others.

· being unprepared by not having enough tape, needing to get your skates sharpened ten minutes before game time, or forgetting some of your equipment.

You can condense all these things on this list into a simple rule, too: be a lazy, inconsiderate jerk.  The reason coaches dislike the kind of behavior listed in this second list is because it goes against the reason they coach in the first place: to help kids and to win.  The kinds of kids who do the things on the second list usually don’t want any help and this kind of behavior often prevents the team from winning.  Furthermore, having one inconsiderate player on a team can diminish the fun for everyone else.

It may be possible that you have all the good characteristics on the first list and your coach still doesn’t appreciate you or you have a hard time getting along with him.  There are some coaches whose behavior we can find on the second list.  But I believe those are the rare exceptions.  And the good thing about it is you will only have them for one or two years, and it shouldn’t be an excuse for holding up your career.

But if you really can't get along with the coach, and particularly if this is the second coach you or your parents are having trouble with, it may be because you do some of the things on the second list.  If that’s even partially true, I’m not sure you're someone I’d like to coach or play with either.

If you would like to print out a TO DO LIST and a DO DON'T LIST as a reminder of what coaches like and don't like - click here.

Dan Bylsma

ÿThis month's newsletter comes with our best wishes  for a happy, blessed holiday season, whatever your religious tradition.  We celebrate Christmas V.   We know some of you come from other traditions YW\ and we pray you find joy and peace in your celebrations as well.   If ever there was a time to ¯crown thy good with brotherhood¯", perhaps we can all agree it is now. 

Please accept the holiday greeting card found here  as our good wishes for you and your families during this special holiday season.                           

                    '   '  '            Dan  and Jay Bylsma

THIS MONTH'S BEST QUESTION ON THE WEB SITE…

Dear Dan: My son is 11 and plays AA hockey in the Toronto area.  His strengths are in game sense (specifically knowing where to be without the puck, and reading the ice well), playmaking, and passing.  Although he has a good shot, he gets many more assists than goals because he is unselfish (passing quickly to an open man rather than carrying it in himself and taking a shot).  His weakness is that although his skating is technically good - thanks to a lot of extra technical skating instruction outside the team - every year he tends to look a little slower because he does not have great "foot speed".  And because he does not score a lot of goals (but gets a lot of assists) he does not seem to get the appreciation or attention of the coaches relative to the flashy goal scorers (who tend to skate all over the ice), which seems to be affecting his confidence in his abilities.  It seems to be a downward spiral that I am not sure I know how to help.

 My question is twofold: first, what would you recommend in order to improve his foot speed.  Second, I feel that most coaches appear to look mostly for speed, the ability to make dramatic rushes and score flashy goals, and undervalue the other skills which are his strengths.  This seems to be hurting his chances of making the team he really wants to play for next year, or even in allowing him to achieve his potential wherever he ends up.  Should we be encouraging him to carry the puck more himself and trying to score, or what can we do to help address these confidence issues? C.B.

Dear C.B. While I don't doubt your observation that your son "looks slower," often players with the correct technique look slower but are actually faster.  That's usually because skaters with bad technique have to churn their legs for speed and that makes them appear to be faster.  I'm sure that several kids in my youth hockey program were thought to be much faster than I was and when I play pick-up hockey with them in the summer, they still look faster as I'm going by. I think most fans would be surprised (as are some players) to learn the results of the timed speed trials that are usually conducted at the beginning of each NHL training camp.   So the investment made in good technique is a sound one. 

It could also be that your son's physical development is such that his quick twitch muscles haven't kicked in yet while other player's may have.  See Scott Moulson's comments at the bottom of Q&A # 90 on the web site for a more definitive discussion about quick twitch muscles.

As far as play is concerned, compared to other flashier players, call up my November newsletter  and see the section "ONE KID'S TRIP TO THE NHL... current installment" and the discussion there about why some flashy players don't make it in the NHL.  Furthermore, a player has his stick on the puck 30 - 40 seconds in a game.   A casual observer will watch the player with the puck and analyze his skills.  The knowledgeable person when evaluating players will also watch to see what the player does the other 900 or so seconds he's playing without the puck. This is because what a player does when he doesn't have the puck is just as (sometimes more) important than what he does when he has it.  If your son knows what to do when he doesn't have the puck, believe me when I tell you it will be noticed by (more than likely stand out to) any knowledgeable coach watching him play.

Then, there is a demand for players like your son.  One of the reasons cited for Paul Kariya not getting off to as great a start as the Ducks had hoped for this year is because he doesn't have the right kind of players - assist players - playing with him.

At your son's age, we're talking about a young boy.  I'd be encouraging him to have fun with the game.  Revel with him in the fact that he leads the team in assists or is the smartest player on the ice or that his skating technique is so outstanding.  Most serious hockey skill development comes after puberty. If he remains concerned about his foot speed, check into the Frappier Acceleration program in your area (see Q&A #103 for a discussion of this program). Frankly, they typically don't accept kids until they are 11 or 12 because a player needs to have certain muscular and skeletal development before intensive training like the Acceleration program is effective.  It sounds to me like your son is developing into a fine player (a lot like someone else I know).  If he continues to have fun with hockey, he'll continue to work on his game.  As his body develops, some of the difference you perceive will go away.  If he stops having fun, his interest will wane and turn to something else.

I conclude with the words of Sparky Anderson, the famous baseball coach that emphasizes your role in his development better than I can. "Your son will it make to the (NHL) in spite of what you do for him, not because of what you do for him."  So sit back, help him enjoy, encourage him, and realize that his progress is not up to you.

Dan Bylsma

MY CHARITABLE TRUST FUND...

If you subscribed to my Newsletter last year, you know that I have a Charitable Trust Fund - a means by which Mary Beth and I can support research into stillbirths (a favorite cause of ours since we lost our little daughter) and also give young athletes who are struggling financially some monetary help to play the sport they love.  I fund my Trust by personal contributions and by auctioning some of my collection of hockey memorabilia.  Well, to whet the appetite of all you Red Wings fans, my good friend and former teammate Luc Robitaille has donated an autographed game stick to put on my auction.  I will add a copy of our second book - So You Want to Play in the NHL - the one with the forward by Luc - also autographed by Luc as well as my father and I.  The bidding will start now at $25 and will be closed on December 28 at 12 midnight EST.  You can see the rules for bidding and place a bid by going to the Charitable Trust Fund page on my web site www.DanBylsma.com or by clicking here and going to the bottom of the page. 

NOTES FROM MY HOCKEY CAMP...

My father tells me that the brochures for next summer's hockey camp sessions were put in the mail on December 15 to all the players on our snail mail list.  That list includes all the players that have attended my camp over the last three years.  That will give prior attendees time to get their registrations in before we'll begin taking registrations on the web site on January 2nd.

If you've been to my camp before, you know it fills up very quickly, so if you want to come, you need to act soon if you want to avoid being disappointed.  If you haven't been to my camps in the past, you will have about two weeks after January 2 before it will be filled.  We will post how many spots are left each day on the web site and if it says we're filled... that's what it means.  Don't try to have your  mother or father soft talk my father into letting you in after it's filled.  He's soft touch but I'm not.  Thirty-two of you little angels is all we can handle on the ice at one time.

 Your parents will notice that the price went up a little, but we've included the Camp T-shirt in the price.  Now we won't appear quite so mercenary on Friday trying to get the last dollar out of your parents and you don't have to be begging them for money for a Camp T-shirt.

* * * * *

At hockey camp our big emphasis is on learning the fundamentals of skating and one of those fundamentals is how to stop.  I like to think of stopping as a controlled slide.  By that I mean to stop you slide sideways on your skates until you get to the point or place where you want to come to a halt.  Then you allow the edges of your blades to dig into the ice and stop you. 

Teaching someone to stop is easier shown than told but I'm here and you're there so I can't show you, so I'm going to have to tell you.  One way to get the feeling of how to stop is to stand with your skates together, plant one foot, and slide the other straight out to the side so that you shave the ice with your blade.  That's what a stop is in it's simplest form.  So you should plant your left foot and slide out to the side ten times or so with the right skate.  Then plant the right foot and slide out with the left skate ten times or so.  Then alternate the sliding, first one foot then the other - just like a goalie does at the beginning of the period.  He's doing it to shave the ice in his crease, but you do it to get the feeling of sliding to a stop.

As you feel comfortable and get the feeling of sliding to a stop, instead of planting one foot and pushing off to the side, plant one foot and take a stride with the other and do the slide with it - toe pointing to the inside, of course.  Plant your left foot, push off and slide to a stop with the right foot and as you do let the inside leg (the one you planted and pushed off with) fall underneath the other leg so that both legs are doing the sliding.  Do ten stops or so striding off your left leg, then reverse the process and plant your right leg and take a stride and slide the left one, again letting your inside (right) leg fall underneath your left so that both skates are sliding to a stop.

As you get comfortable and can advance, you can learn to stop at will by applying more pressure against the ice with your edges.  Go faster and using the same technique, practice until you can stop any place going at any speed.

Things to remember:
1) you need sharp skates.
2) the best skating position is the seated position.  It's very important to maintain that deep knee bend when we're stopping as well.
3) keep you feet about a foot apart as you're stopping.
4) stagger your feet a bit.
5) if, when you are sliding, your blades chatter, that is; your blades cut, cut, cut, cut instead of a smooth slide, your feet are too close together or you don't have a good knee bend.

Using this technique, you should be able to stop at will in either direction at any speed in a short period of time.  If you don't, go back to the beginning and try it again.

Dan Bylsma

NHLER TO COACHES from Dan....

This is a little different - I'm writing to coaches this month.  I'm doing that because of the following letters we received:

From a player:

"We did bad this weekend in a tournament and during the middle of the game our coach pulled us over to the side for a timeout. He told us that we sucked and used the F-word every time he spoke."

From a parent:

"I would like to tell you what is going on with 7 year old son's travel Mite B team.  The coach knows his hockey, but has an attitude and favors some kids over others.  The coach will pull kids off the ice if he thinks they're not skating "fast enough" but doesn't explain what happened or why he pulled him.  My son asked him at a tournament if checking was allowed and he said to him "that is a dumb question" and walked away although there was talk in the arena lobby that checking was allowed.  He also stated that my son should not listen to his father about hockey. 

I have issues with him and want to approach him in a diplomatic manner and find out exactly what is going on and why he leaves these kids hanging with no explanation on what they need to work on or what went wrong in a game.  He is also focused on strategy and when players don't play their positions he pulls them off the ice - again no explanation.  But this doesn't happen to all the kids - he has his favorites and it shows.  His favorites can play anywhere on the ice they want to - with only high praise.  My son has good skating skills, understands the game and wants to be a team player.   Your input would be greatly appreciated." 

I include these letters because they are typical of many of the letters - about one a week - we get from parents and a few from players about coaches.  You can see my answer to this parent on the web site at Q&A #114.  But essentially I want to say that if you are coaching little children a few years out of kindergarten - you don't have to "know your hockey" because coaching at this level isn't about hockey.  It's first and foremost about little children having fun.  You don't need to go much farther than to create an atmosphere that allows them to have fun.  Because if they're not having fun or it's a bad experience - they won't stick around long enough to need to use the left wing lock or the reverse break-out.  The next priority is  to teach them skating, passing, shooting, etc. so they will develop the skills necessary to play the game with confidence. 

To punish a little child by taking him off the ice because he made a strategy blunder is criminal.  I have a rule that a child ought not to be concerned about anything he's not old enough to spell - that would include words like strategy, commitment, leadership, synergism, cohesiveness, etc.  They should be concerned about words like play, fun, joy, skate, shoot, and score.

I once led a hockey camp for a Squirt AAA travel team that had a 104 page play book.  (I had just come from the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs where the Kings' playbook had 4 pages).  Yet these Squirts couldn't throw a pass from behind the net around the boards to their forwards - who didn't know how to catch it.  I wondered how much fun they had trying to execute 104 plays they didn't have the skills to make. 

I frankly don't care if a coach "knows his hockey".  When I entrust my young son to at coach, I only want him to "know his children" - as in parenting skills.  My father was speaking to a group of hockey administrators in Huntsville this summer.  They asked him, "You have a lot of hockey people up in Michigan, but in the South, finding qualified coaches is very difficult.  What do you suggest we do?"  I'm sure his answer stunned them.  He said, "You have a lot of very qualified hockey coaches in the South.  You go to the very finest person you know, a person of character and  integrity.  A caring person who loves and relates well to children and ask him to be your children's coach.  If he doesn't have skates, buy him a pair.  It will be the best investment you can make for your children and your program."

We believe coaching hockey for little kids isn't about "knowing hockey", it's about "knowing children".  And frankly, coaching in the NHL isn't so much about "knowing hockey", as it is about "knowing people".  By that I mean what does any NHL coach know about hockey (some have never played at the NHL level) that he can teach Steve Yzerman?  But he better know Steve Yzerman and have the interpersonal skills to handle him.

So drop the puck.  Let them play.  Let them have fun.  Let them discover the joy of the game.  Teach them how to skate - sound fundamentals.  And please don't rob them of their childhood and remember that an ounce of encouragement after a mistake is worth a pound of praise after an accomplishment.

As for the coach the young player writes about, you can read my answer to this player at Q&A #117.  I think there's a verse in the Bible that applies.  "..who ever offends one of these little ones..., it were better for a millstone be hung around his neck and he be drowned in the depth of the sea."  Modern day translation to this coach - apologize, get out of coaching children, and get some help for yourself. 

 Dan Bylsma

THIS MONTH'S SAYING TO PUT IN YOUR LOCKER...

"If you put your head down

 and work as hard as you can,

you will be surprised where you are

when you pick your head back up." 

Kevin Sawyer                                        

ONE KID'S TRIP TO THE NHL - current installment...

The quote just above is one that my roommate on the road - Kevin Sawyer - says has been a motivational factor in his trip to the NHL.  Kevin spent 9 years in the minors playing for seven different teams before he landed a permanent job with the Ducks this season.  Kevin has nothing if not perseverance and is the poster boy for my father's saying about perseverance.  I use Kevin as an example that not all NHL'ers step right out of Juniors or college and become superstars.  Most of us, certainly myself included, had to battle a lot of odds and overcome a lot of disappointments to finally realize our dream of playing in The Show.

And a lot of us are still battling to keep the spots we have.  Ducks are a lot like the team you play on.  We have a superstar or two, more guys in the middle who are 10 to 20 goal scorers, and there are about six or seven players who are not altogether certain about their future and know they have to impress the coach and the GM every game or there might be a plane ticket to the minors in their locker the next morning. 

You have the same thing on your team, a few kids who are the best on your team, more in the middle and then there are five or six kids who - well, let's just say they could be better.  And every team has a worst player.  I'm writing this especially to the kids who could be better and that includes the worst player.

I want you to know that I know how it feels to be the worst player on the team.  In previous newsletters I hinted at it but now I can tell you what really happened earlier this year (you get the inside skinny).  When I got to training camp, it was clear to me that I was not in the Ducks' plans for this season.  The "A" was not on my sweater, and I was playing on lines with guys who were surely going to be sent to the minors the next day.  I phoned my father and told him it didn't look like I was going to make the team.  He didn't believe that could be true and tried to encourage me, but as the training camp went on, the signs that I most likely wouldn't make the 22 man roster became ever more clear to me.  I wondered if my career was over, whether this was all a dream and I would wake up with my accounting degree in my hand and have to get a real job.

At the start of the season, I didn't play in the first three games, played in the fourth, and sat out the fifth.  If you had told me then that I would play in all of the following games until now, I would have asked you who was going to get hurt.

But I put my head down and worked as hard as I could.  I never gave up in practices, never stopped being a leader in the locker room, and never expressed