Minnetonka Youth Hockey

There is no asset more important to the health and future of our association than having fantastic coaches.   Since you are the direct and constant connection to the players, you are the ones with the most influence on them.  We believe that we are fortunate to have this opportunity to spend time serving these kids. Along with this opportunity comes great responsibility.  We can all remember some of the coaches / teachers / mentors that made impacts in our own lives.  We can remember people in those roles that were positive and life changing and some that were actually negative.   It is not easy and it is far more than teaching kids to skate, pass and shoot.  Every kid comes without an instruction manual, comes from a different parenting style, bring different levels of interest, athletic ability, drive, and hours on their blades.  Some kids have confidence beyond their skills and some have unbelievable skills with a lack of confidence.

This is also what makes coaching so fun and rewarding.  Coaching is about relationships.

Your coaching staff is responsible for teaching the life skills of teamwork, discipline, sportsmanship, competition, hard work, respect, and perseverance.  Your staff also is responsible for creating a safe place for every kid on your team to come and have fun and positive experience on and off the ice.

Over the years we have decided that we too should put into practice what we expect the kids to do.  Keep learning and strive to be better at what we do.  We need to be asking all of the people that would make great coaches to get involved. We would like to keep improving our coaches training and support.  Be more consistent throughout our coaching program from team to team at all age levels. Continually work to create the very best practices and communicate these to each other.  Have fun!