Volume 4, Issue 3 - December, 2003

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TThis month's issue contains:

 DAN'S TIP OF THE MONTH   THIS MONTH'S QUESTION   TRUST FUND AUCTION   TIPS FROM HOCKEY CAMP   DAN'S HONOR ROLL

  COACH'S TIP   THE SAYING OF THE MONTH   DAN TRIP IN THE NHL   DAN & JAY'S BOOKS   A WAY TO SUBSCRIBE

DAN’S TIP OF THE MONTH FOR PLAYERS…

I get more than a few letters from players who are asked by their coach to play a different position than they are accustomed to or even want to play.  Typically my answer depends on what you want out of hockey.  If you see hockey as a fun pastime to play with your friends and as something to pass the winter months until baseball starts, my answer is play where you think you will have the most fun.  You're playing the game to have fun - so if you have fun playing forward and don't want to play defense, I'd try to remain playing forward.

Preparation may mean learning to play more than one position.

Dan Bylsma

THIS MONTH'S BEST QUESTIONS ON THE WEB SITE…

Dan: I just returned from a very disturbing weekend of hockey.  I accompanied my sons AAA midget team to a weekend of hockey and found the conduct of the team to be very disturbing. The coach of this team has a very negative attitude and the team reflects this in their play on and off the ice.  The coach allowed un-licenced and inexperienced players move the rental vans in the parking lot at the ice arena.  The teams conduct in the van was inappropriate while on the way to the airport.  It was not a good reflection upon our team and I felt uncomfortable as did the driver from the rental agency.  There was also bad behavior on the airplane on the trip home.  I was in the front of the plane and I overheard the flight attendants talking about a few of the players and the behavior that they were displaying.  I felt helpless because to do anything about it because the other adults there tolerated this.  My son has played travel hockey for four years and the team conduct, dress and attitude on his prior teams were always the highest standards.  Please advise me on how to proceed my son is not having a positive experience and I would like to help him achieve his goals in hockey and life. Concerned Mother
 

Dear C.M. Sad story.  More because it reflects shame on the lack of parenting on the part of those adults who tolerate (and thereby accede to) this kind of behavior, whether the group was hockey players or a school science trip.  We think there are only three reasons to allow our children to play youth sports: to have fun, to develop athleticism, and to learn life lessons.

This was an excellent opportunity for all three.  But because the life lessons learned (through tolerated misbehavior) were negative, we would extricate our children from this environment.  There is no child's game so vital to a child's maturation process that inappropriate behavior needs to tolerated.

For a person to achieve his goals in hockey, he must develop character right along with his hockey skills because character (integrity, appropriateness, and self-discipline being among the most important attributes) is a necessary ingredient for anyone having goals in hockey.  There is not a recruiter I am aware of who doesn't ask, "What kind of a kid is he?" - referring to his character.  This because no self-respecting program (and here I've tipped my hand as to what I think of the one your son is presently involved in) wants players who are a discredit to their program.  Credibility is all too hard to build and all too easily lost.

To play and coach in a youth sports program at this level is an honor and a privilege.  People who treat such an honor and the accompanying privileges with a cavalier attitude at best, and distain at worst, are not ones I want my name or my children to be associated with.  If I were a sponsor, I would be unwilling to put my company reputation in the hands of people like you
describe and would like to know of this and withdraw my support.

And a coach (his negative attitude aside) who would allow this is, in my opinion, not worthy to be a leader of young people.  And if this behavior was not checked and called into account, my children would be out of there.  Games are just not that important to the development of a child. My father spoke at at a hockey leadership conference in New Brunswick in February and one of the presenters was a child psychologist who implored her listeners not to aggrandize or turn a blind eye to inappropriate behavior in superior child athletes.  Her reason was that when these children become adults, they will believe that the rules of society need not be heeded.  She cited the numerous publicized cases of spousal abuse, rape, brawling, drunken driving, and other crimes that are all too prevalent among professional athletes. 

As I said, if the situation wasn't corrected, my child would find another place to play or not play at all.

Dan Bylsma  

DAN'S TIP OF THE MONTH   THIS MONTH'S QUESTION   TRUST FUND AUCTION   TIPS FROM HOCKEY CAMP   DAN'S HONOR ROLL

  COACH'S TIP   THE SAYING OF THE MONTH   DAN TRIP IN THE NHL   DAN & JAY'S BOOKS   A WAY TO SUBSCRIBE

NOTES FROM DAN'S HOCKEY CAMP...

My father tells me that the PeeWee/Bantam section of the day school has only about 2 more openings.  So if you are planning to come, you best fax your application or call my father at 616-846-4830 to reserve your spot.  The web site begins accepting applications on Jan.  2 and last year it was filled by 10:30.  You snooze, you lose!  As those of you who have attended in the past, I believe you can't have very much fun playing this game if you can't skate.  To say it another way, the better you can skate, the more fun you will have playing the game.  So, while we teach other skills, we emphasize improving your skating skills and the most important thing any of us can do to improve our skating skills is to work on getting low to the ice.  As we like to say, if you think you're low, you can get lower.   This concept is expressed by different skating instructors differently but it comes down to achieving about a 90 degree knee bend in your weight-bearing leg (we'd like to see your striding leg straight at the end of your stride and at that point - your weight bearing leg should be at 90 degrees,

The photo at the left is of a skater at camp a few years ago (his dad wrote us and identified the skater as Aaron Lanning who is now playing hockey at Butler University and is a chemistry major - way to go Aaron!) and it demonstrates a very good knee bend.  You can take a piece of paper and put one of the points at his knee and the edges of the paper (which is a perfect 90 degree angle) will trace his thigh and his calf.  And there is about a 60 degree angle where his calf meets his boot.  Why is this 90 degree angle (or as we sometimes call it - "skating in a seated position" -  so important?

P.S. Someone left a Muskegon Chiefs soft shell lunch box at hockey camp.  My parents have it at their home.  If you left it or know someone who did... call them.

DAN'S TIP OF THE MONTH   THIS MONTH'S QUESTION   TRUST FUND AUCTION   TIPS FROM HOCKEY CAMP   DAN'S HONOR ROLL

  COACH'S TIP   THE SAYING OF THE MONTH   DAN TRIP IN THE NHL   DAN & JAY'S BOOKS   A WAY TO SUBSCRIBE

A TIP For COACHES and PARENTS from Jay...  

From time to time in this corner, I've indicated that if you are really concerned about your child's development as a hockey player, the best way is to have a backyard rink or a neighborhood rink where endless games of shinny can be played.  I've said that you don't develop much skill in the 30 to 40 seconds you have your stick on the puck in an organized game and have equated an hour on a pond playing two on two as being about the equivalent of 20 organized games in terms of stickhandling time and shooting opportunities (also called "opportunities to develop your skills"). 

I've also pointed out that our system of playing ever more organized games (especially in travel hockey) is not producing more NHLers - actually less, and worse, the players we are producing are typically not the skilled players - those players are coming from Europe where they practice more and play less organized games.

Dan in his columns has often asked his important rhetorical question, "When did hockey stop being a game?"

The following article appeared in the Grand Rapids Press recently.  The byline is The Associated Press so it may have appeared in your paper as well.

"Playing hockey outside on a frozen rink made Wayne Gretzky feel like a kid again.

The Great One has resisted playing in old-timers games since he retired from the NHL in 1999, and he says last weekend's Heritage Classic was his first and last appearance in such a contest.

He and the rest of the former Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens that laced up their skates and put on their ski caps were taken back to a simpler time when the game was just that - a game.

But now hockey's greatest scorer thinks the free fun he recalled from his childhood has disappeared.

"We have lost out creativity," Gretzky said.  "Guys like Jean Beliveau, who grew up on the pond, and Bob Orr, who grew up skating on lakes, the imagination, everything is so structured now.

I mean this in every sport - I don't mean it just in ice hockey.  If you remember as kids we would go down and play scrub baseball or Wiffle ball, you just went down there and played."

I don't think Dan has ever spoken to groups in my presence that he didn't say that he made it to the NHL because of the rink we had in our backyard.  And that he only played one year of travel hockey.

My point?  Time after time, from Gretzky to Dan, they all say, "For us it was a game, it was fun, it wasn't learning the left wing lock or a strong-side breakout."  The best practice you can plan is to divide up the team, drop the puck, and go have coffee.  Just let them play.

Jay M. Bylsma

THIS MONTH'S SAYING to put on your locker...

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

Dan Bylsma

DAN'S TIP OF THE MONTH   THIS MONTH'S QUESTION   TRUST FUND AUCTION   TIPS FROM HOCKEY CAMP   DAN'S HONOR ROLL

  COACH'S TIP   THE SAYING OF THE MONTH   DAN TRIP IN THE NHL   DAN & JAY'S BOOKS   A WAY TO SUBSCRIBE

OUR BOOKS....

So You Want to Play In The NHL Published in November, 2000, by NTC/ Contemporary/McGraw-Hill. Trade paperback—$14.95. Thirty-five questions that aspiring young athletes have and Dan’s and Jay’s alternating answers. Forward by Luc Robitaille. This book won’t help you play the game better, but we think it will help you live the game better. “I am making this book required reading for my team because it confirms everything I have ever said in the locker room and to parents.” Coach John M. You can read a chapter by clicking here. Autographed and personalized copies available at www.DanBylsma.com.

Pitcher’s Hands is OUT! Is finally out! (released) and you can get it at on line on the web site or at Barnes & Noble. Published in February by River Road Publications. HC $15.95. A historical novel about what it was like to be a kid living in the Great Depression. It’s a great baseball tale. “…a wonderful story – rich in historical detail, full of excitement, warmth, and humor – a story that readers of all ages will not want to end.” "These father-son authors... made a literary double play." Grand Rapids Press. You can read a chapter by clicking here. You can get autographed, personalized copies at www.DanBylsma.com.

Slam Dunks Not Allowed! - another historical novel is here!  This one about basketball and World War II. Many of the same characters you will read about in Pitcher Hands is OUT! – Scooter, Woody, Doolie and Dutchie - are now on the High School basketball team.  "The Bylsma writing team takes a page from the history of basketball and sets it against the backdrop of WWII to create a dramatic, touching and often funny novel."  Published by River Road Publications.  HC $15.95.  You can read part of a chapter from the original manuscript by clicking here.  You can get autographed, personalized copies at www.DanBylsma.com. 

DAN’S ON THE WEB

AT www.DanBylsma.com

If you are reading the Newsletter because someone passed it along and would like to receive the Newsletter for yourself, Email your first and last name to newsletter@DanBylsma.com.

You are also welcome to reprint articles of the newsletter in your hockey newsletter. See Q&A # 51 on the website for the proper way to do that.

If you have a question you would like to ask Dan or Jay, Email your question to questions@DanBylsma.com. You can see the questions asked and answered on the Q&A page on Dan’s web site unless you ask that the response be confidential.

Email: Number21@DanBylsma.com

“Remember… it takes three things to succeed:

J.M.B.

TOP  DAN'S TIP OF THE MONTH   THIS MONTH'S QUESTION   TRUST FUND AUCTION   TIPS FROM HOCKEY CAMP   

DAN'S HONOR ROLL   COACH'S TIP   THE SAYING OF THE MONTH   DAN TRIP IN THE NHL   DAN & JAY'S BOOKS   A WAY TO SUBSCRIBE